To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Natural Gas find near Gaza
From: bpr-list@philologos.org(BPR)
Date: Sat, 18 Sep 1999 09:46:58 +0000

From: "Moza" <moza@butterfly.mv.com>

TITANIC DISCOVERER FINDS NATURAL GAS NEAR GAZA

          A US explorer searching for ancient ship-wrecks has found
a large undersea field seeping natural gas off the coast of Gaza
Strip and Egypt.

          The discovery was made by marine geologist, Robert Ballard,
[resident of the Institute for Exploration], a longtime ocean
explorer, probably best known for locating the wreck of the Titanic.
It was announced last week by the National Geographic Society, which
sponsored his research.

          In June, a natural gas reserve was found undersea off
the Israeli city of Ashdod, north of Gaza, estimated to be able to
produce 30 million cubic feet (0.9 m. cubic meters) of gas per day.

          Ballard's discovery indicates the gas field extends
south, along the full length of the Gaza Strip and the coast of
Egypt. (Jerusalem Post, September 10, 1999)

via : Bridges for Peace
 BFP <106024.3346@compuserve.com>

--- BPR

BPR Web Site - http://philologos.org/bpr

========
To: bpr-list@philologos.org (BPR Mailing List)
Subject: [BPR] - Religion Puts Israel on Two Clocks (Infobeat)
From: bpr-list@philologos.org(BPR)
Date: Sat, 18 Sep 1999 09:48:44 +0000

From: "Moza" <moza@butterfly.mv.com>

Religion Puts Israel on Two Clocks

By RON KAMPEAS
Associated Press Writer

JERUSALEM (AP) _ The switch from daylight-saving time to
standard time is usually an excuse to sleep an extra hour.

In the Mideast, it's a political act.

Israelis switched early to promote religious redemption.
Palestinians decided to wait two weeks, citing patriotism.

As a result, the region has operated on two clocks _ throwing a
lot of people off schedule: Businessmen were kept waiting, peace
negotiators double-checked their schedules, diplomats found
their parties pooped.

It apparently even muddled terrorists, who killed themselves
instead of their targets when their bombs detonated an hour early.

Ahmed Saman, a Jerusalem confectioner, said he was grateful the
confusion would end today, when the Palestinians were to switch
to standard time.

On Thursday, as for every day in the past two weeks, he had
gotten up at dawn to get his kids to a Palestinian-run school,
and then twiddled his thumbs at his shop for an hour, waiting
for Israeli candy lovers to get their first fixes.

Palestinian cab driver Muawia Bureidi was still seething over a
passenger who asked to be picked up at 10 a.m. Bureidi presumed
Israeli time, and when he arrived, the client was long gone. ``I
lost 150 shekels ($35).''

Israel made the switch overnight on Sept. 2 to accommodate
``Slihot,'' or Apologies, pre-sunrise penitential prayers that
run from a week before the Jewish New Year through the Day of
Atonement, Yom Kippur.

Orthodox parties in government have for years insisted on a
switch that precedes the rest of the northern hemisphere by at
least two weeks, saying that 5 a.m. sunrises discouragestinians
chafed at switching early to please religious Jews.

That led to tensions before Palestinians and Israelis talked
peace. Palestinians who adjusted to Israeli time were derided by
their neighbors for ``living on Zionist time.'' Israeli soldiers
would check Palestinian wrists: Timepieces set an hour ahead
would sometimes get smashed.

The breakthrough 1993 Oslo peace agreement didn't change much.
``The Palestinians told us it is a matter of national pride,
that they have to choose their own time and be seen to be doing
so,'' recalled Shlomo Dror, a high-ranking official in the
outgoing Israeli administration of the West Bank.

Israeli negotiators understand, he said, but there have been
some diplomatic snafus.

``Yesterday we hosted a dinner. Israelis came an hour late,''
said Charles Winnington-Ingram, the British deputy consul-
general, who called the problem ``irritating.''

Ask a Palestinian the date of this month's breakthrough Sharm
el-Sheikh peace accord, and he'll name Sept. 5, just past
midnight. An Israeli will say Sept. 4, just after 11 p.m.

Journalists wanting comment from Palestinian negotiators after
a long day of talks would scramble to get them on their
cellphones before they went to bed; the Israeli team, by
contrast, was likely enjoying a late supper.

Issues of national pride affected preparations for this week's
ceremony launching final status talks.

``We agreed that the ceremony should begin at 8:00 and they
asked, `Yours or ours?''' Dror recalled. ``So we said, `Ours.'
Then we had to fix a meeting of officials earlier the same
evening to make the final arrangements. They suggested five
o'clock. So we asked, `Yours or ours?' And they said, `Ours.' So
we compromised _ one according to their clock, the other
according to ours.''

The peace process may have been saved by the gap, when two car
bombs exploded simultaneously in different Israeli cities the
day after the Sharm el-Sheikh signing _ apparently timed by
Islamic militants to scuttle the new accords. The only dead were
the three Israeli Arabs in the cars.

One theory reportedly being considered by police is that the
Israeli drivers had made the switch to standard time, while the
Palestinian bombmakers set the device according to summer time.
The cars appeared to be headed toward crowded areas, although
they exploded well away from crowds.

The result: no Israeli dead and minimal anti-peace process
outrage.

Other effects have been less dramatic. George el-Hadwah, a
receptionist at a Palestinian hospital, said he appreciates an
easy ride to work. ``When both sides have the same time, the
roads are often congested.''

Sister Hortense Nakhleh noticed the effect on her Palestinian
charges at Jerusalem's Rosary Sisters School, which runs on
Israel time.

``They're happy about the time difference,'' she said.

``They get an extra hour's sleep.''