West Bank and the Gaza Strip will have different time zones

[John Hawkinson]

Ilya Dogolazky <ilya.dogolazky at nokia.com> wrote on Mon,  5 Sep 2011
at 11:47:56 +0300 in <4E648CBC.2030809 at nokia.com>:

> West Bank is not a location: it's not a city name, it's not an island  
> name. Is there any other name in the database using a territory name for  
> LOCATION? If not, why to break this rule?

We have US/Eastern and friends, though it is via a link. The obvious
answer to "why" is that it would be politically expedient and avoid a
significant conflict; it would align the timezone rule with the
political bodies defining them; and it would reduce overall confusion
for neighboring localities.

I don't know if those are sufficient reason to deviate from Theory,
but I have always felt that the Theory was problematic on this point.
While we may manage the history of timezones based on the times in
particular places, that is not how people think of their time
zone. Unless you happen to live in one of the capital/populous cities
we have designated, people think of their time zone as designated by
their political authority. Having to pick a city that you know is
not-where-you-are is always somewhat of a humbling exercise.

--jhawk at mit.edu
  John Hawkinson