Outage Wreaks Havoc In Israel, Territories

Traffic backed up for miles behind broken stoplights and businesses ground to a halt Thursday as a power blackout crippled most of Israel and the Palestinian territories.

Hundreds of people were stranded in stopped elevators, blood supplies were ruined in the Gaza Strip, and the Tel Aviv stock exchange was forced to shut down for more than an hour because of the outage.

Banks and shops - lacking power for lights, computers and air-conditioning - closed or used stopgap measures such as paper and pencils to do business.

The blackout was caused by two high-tension wires short-circuiting about 1 p.m. A brush fire burned under the wires, according to the Israel Electric Co.