Winter arrives as temp. midges 30

Press, 28 August 1984, Page 6

Winter arrives as temp. midges 30

NZPA-AP Jerusalem Confounding all evidence to the contrary, Israel’s Government declared winter had arrived on Sunday. Temperatures were nearly 30 deg. C, about average for this time of year. Beaches were jammed with children still on their (northern) summer holidays. Air conditioners whirred, as they have all summer. But the Interior Minister, Mr Yosef Burg, under pressure from orthodox Jews, ordered the end of Israel’s first daylight savings time and turned back the clocks by one hour at midnight on Saturday (local time). Religious Jews had protested that the late-hour dawn had made it difficult to say morning prayers before going to work. They also claimed that the late sunset would lead to violations of the Jewish Sabbath, which ends at sundown on Saturdays. But many Israelis sought the extra nour of daylight and some took their case to Israel’s Supreme Court, asking that the Government be forced to institute daylight

savings time. Mr Burg, leader of the Nation Religious Party which relies on the votes of orthodox constituents, avoided a courtroom showdown by agreeing to a three-month trial of daylight savings time in 1984 and 1985. He rejected a recommendation from an advisory committee that summer time continue until the end of September. Anti-clerical political parties argued that Mr Burg was using his office to discriminate against the 80 per cent of Israel’s Jewish population who are not religious. The weekly news magazine “Koteret Rashit,” ridiculed the early end of summer time with a picture on its cover of a pair of sandy feet propped on a deck chair on the beach. The caption read, “Burg decides it’s winter.” Although a final accounting won’t be in for about a month, the electricity comE figured that the extra of daylight saved the nation $U524,500 a day in oil bills.