[tz] Proposal to use Asia/Tel_Aviv for Israel - Jerusalem is not internationally recognized as part of Israel

[Tobias Conradi]

== Current IANA time zone database situation ==

ftp://ftp.iana.org/tz/data/zone.tab
contains one zone for ISO country code "IL" named Asia/Jerusalem.

IL decodes to ISRAEL
http://www.iso.org/iso/home/standards/country_codes/iso-3166-1_decoding_table.htm#IL

== Problem ==
Jerusalem is internationally not recognized as part of Israel. Using
Jerusalem as reference location for Israel in the IANA time zone
database may thus violate UN resolutions.

== Solution ==
ftp://ftp.iana.org/tz/code/Theory reads
"Use the most populous among locations in a country's time zone", this
seems to be Tel Aviv.

That would mean using Asia/Tel_Aviv.

== Information on the status of Jerusalem ==

No UN member has an embassy in Jerusalem says:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Positions_on_Jerusalem

There is no UN LOCODE for Jerusalem in the IL-file:
http://www.unece.org/fileadmin/DAM/cefact/locode/il.htm

The page
http://www.un.org/Depts/dpi/palestine/
links to "The Status of Jerusalem"
http://www.un.org/Depts/dpi/palestine/ch12.pdf

The penultimate paragraph reads:

"The General Assembly revisited the question of Jerusalem at
its fifty-fifth session. In a resolution adopted on 1 December
2000, the Assembly determined that the decision of Israel to
impose its laws, jurisdiction and administration on the Holy
City of Jerusalem was illegal and, therefore, null and void. The
Assembly also deplored the transfer by some States of their
diplomatic missions to Jerusalem in violation of Security
Council resolution 478 (1980)."

The UN SC Resolution 478 can be found at
http://www.un.org/documents/sc/res/1980/scres80.htm


-- 
Tobias Conradi
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