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How Did the Israel-Palestinian Conflict Start? The fighting between Israelis and Hamas militants is the latest clash in a conflict that some people believe dates back to events described in the Bible.
Over the weekend, Hamas launched a surprise attack in Israel from the Palestinian territory of Gaza. Hamas gunmen killed more than 1,200 people, including women and children. The group also took more than 150 people as hostages.
Israel answered with airstrikes of what it said were Hamas targets in Gaza. Officials in the Palestinian-controlled area said more than 1,000 have been killed, including some children. Thousands have also been wounded on both sides.
What started the conflict?
The modern conflict between Israelis and Palestinians is mainly a territorial dispute in Palestine, an area now known as Israel, the Gaza Strip, and the West Bank. Parts of the land are also considered the holiest places to Jews, Christians and Muslims.
The Roman Empire controlled the area at the time Jesus was believed to have been born in Bethlehem. Following the death of Rome’s ally, King Herod, the land was divided into five locally administered areas under Rome.
Later, the land then came under the Ottoman Empire's control for about 400 years until the end of World War I. After World War I, Britain controlled the area it called Palestine and expressed support for “the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people.”
In November 1947, the United Nations General Assembly passed a resolution dividing the British-ruled area of Palestine into two states, one Jewish and one Arab, with Jerusalem under a UN administration. On May 14, 1948, the modern State of Israel was established for Jews fleeing persecution and seeking a homeland.
Arab countries rejected the UN plan, arguing that it was unfair and violated the UN Charter. In the war that followed, some 700,000 Palestinians, half the Arab population in Palestine, fled or were driven from their homes. They ended up in Jordan, Lebanon, and Syria as well as in Gaza, the West Bank, and East Jerusalem.
Israel denied that it sought to drive Palestinians from their homes. The new country said it was attacked by five Arab states the day after its creation. Armistice agreements halted the fighting in 1949, but there was no official peace treaty.
Palestinians call the creation of Israel the “Nakba” in Arabic. It means a disaster, or catastrophe, that resulted in mass displacement and blocked their dreams of statehood.
Other major wars
In 1967, Israel launched the Six-Day War against Egypt and Syria. Israel has occupied the West Bank, Arab East Jerusalem, which it captured from Jordan, and Syria's Golan Heights ever since.
In 1973, Egypt and Syria attacked Israeli positions along the Suez Canal and Golan Heights, beginning the Yom Kippur War. Israel pushed both armies back within three weeks.
Israel invaded Lebanon in 1982 aiming to remove Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) fighters under Yasser Arafat. In 2006, war erupted in Lebanon again when Hezbollah militants captured two Israeli soldiers and Israel retaliated.
What is Hamas?
In 1987, Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, a Palestinian refugee living in Gaza, during the first intifada, or uprising, founded Hamas. The name in Arabic means the Islamic Resistance Movement.
The group does not recognize Israel's right to exist. It has launched many deadly attacks, including suicide bombings against Israelis. In 1997, the U.S. State Department named Hamas a terrorist organization. So has the European Union and other Western countries.
In 2005, Israel withdrew from the Gaza Strip, which it had captured in 1967. Hamas won the 2006 parliamentary elections over the Palestinian Authority and took control of Gaza. The Palestinian Authority still administers the semi-autonomous, or partly self-ruling, areas of the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
Israel answered the Hamas takeover with a blockade on Gaza. It restricted the movement of people and goods to keep the group from developing weapons. Over the years, Hamas received support from many Arab countries. Recently, it has moved closer to Iran and its allies.
Current issues
For over 40 years, efforts have aimed to bring peace to the area.
In 1979, Egypt and Israel signed a peace treaty. Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and PLO chief Arafat agreed in 1993 to set up Palestinian autonomy in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. The following year, Israel signed a peace treaty with Jordan.
In 2002, an Arab plan offered Israel normal ties with all Arab countries in return for a full withdrawal from the lands it took in the 1967 Middle East war, the creation of a Palestinian state, and a "just solution" for Palestinian refugees.
The two sides, however, are far apart on most issues.
Hamas has rejected the two-state solution. It has sworn to destroy Israel. Israel has increasingly built new Jewish settlements on occupied land over Palestinian objections.
Palestinians want East Jerusalem to be the capital of the Palestinian state. East Jerusalem has areas that are holy to Muslims, Jews, and Christians. But Israel has established “indivisible” Jerusalem as the country’s capital.
Today about 5.6 million Palestinian refugees still live in Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, the Israeli-occupied West Bank and Gaza. Palestinians have long demanded that refugees should be permitted to return home. But Israel says any resettlement of Palestinian refugees must take place outside of its borders.
I’m Anna Matteo.
And I'm Dan Novak.View -
What Is Causing Toxic Smoke across Southeast Asia? The problem of cross-country smoke, or haze, has caused a new disagreement in Southeast Asia.
Malaysia’s environment minister wrote to Indonesia’s government this week calling for action to help reduce smoke across Malaysia.
The letter comes just weeks after countries in Southeast Asia agreed to a haze-free area by 2030.
What is going on?
In recent weeks, air quality reports in parts of Malaysia and Indonesia have reached readings above 150. This puts conditions at a level where people can experience unhealthy effects. And those with existing health problems could suffer greater greater health problems.
On the Indonesian side of Borneo Island, visibility was reduced to less than 10 meters. Schools are closed in both Indonesia and Malaysia to reduce the health effects on young children.
Malaysia has blamed the haze on Indonesia, saying smoke from forest fires is being pushed across the border.
Every few years, during the dry season, smoke from “slash and burn” land clearing takes over much of the area. Slash and burn is a method in agriculture to cut down and burn plants to clear land for planting.
This method is used to clear land for planting palm trees. Products from palm trees include oil, pulp, and paper. But this method threatens public health, education, and businesses like tourism.
How are officials dealing with the problem?
Even after Malaysia called on Indonesia this week to avoid “normalizing” the haze, Indonesian officials have denied any responsibility.
Indonesia’s environment minister Siti Nurbaya Bakar said recently that forest fires had decreased and no haze was found moving toward any neighboring country.
She said Indonesia has been dealing with the fires by dropping water bombs from helicopters.
In the past, Indonesia has taken legal action against companies suspected of illegal burning. But each year fires continue with different degrees of severity.
In 2015 and 2019, Indonesia saw large fires that burned millions of hectares of land. It caused record-breaking pollution and some places were surrounded by toxic yellow smoke.
Why does this keep happening?
Under Indonesian law, burning by small, local farmers is permitted. But it must happen on an area no greater than two hectares and necessary prevention measures must be in place.
All large farm holders must follow sustainable palm oil standards, which do not permit burning.
The rules mean that slash and burn methods continue to be used by small-holder farmers. Additionally, following the guidelines is voluntary.
Unclear supply chains, land claims, and laws mean that large companies can sometimes avoid responsibility for illegal land clearing. The large operations are sometimes owned by companies based in countries like Malaysia and Singapore.
How is the area responding?
The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) recently launched a center for Transboundary Haze Pollution Control (known as ACC THPC).
Its aim is to help members prevent, deal with, and follow cross-country haze. The center is in line with ASEAN’s agreement to reach a haze-free area by 2030.
This week ASEAN agriculture and forestry ministers also agreed to take collective action to reduce and eventually remove crop burning.
Is climate change making it worse?
Environmentalists say Indonesia is home to the world’s third largest rainforest area and the government needs to take more action. The country is experiencing increased dry conditions because of a weather system called El Niño.
Greenpeace Indonesia says climate warming is making forest and land fires more intense, which is adding to the climate crisis.
I’m Dan Friedell.View -
Largest Modern Hindu Temple outside India Ready to Open in US The largest Hindu religious site outside India in modern times opens to the public Monday in the American state of New Jersey. Its creators began planning the BAPS Swaminarayan Akshardham 12 years ago.
Artisans and volunteers spent 4.7 million hours carving by hand the temple’s two million cubic feet of rock. The rock material includes marble from Italy and limestone from Bulgaria. The material was sent to India for the carving work.
Then, the finished pieces arrived in New Jersey. Workers fitted them together in the city of Robbinsville to build the temple. The building stands on a 51-hectare property.
The largest Hindu temple in the world is in Cambodia. The Ankgor Wat was built in the 12th century during the Khmer Empire.
It is now described as a Hindu-Buddhist temple, and is a UNESCO World Heritage site.
The Robbinsville temple is one of many built by BAPS, a worldwide religious and civic organization within the Swaminarayan sect of Hinduism.
The organization has built two other Akshardhams, or houses of the divine. One is in the capital of New Delhi and the other is in the Gujarat state, where BAPS is based. The sect operates more than 1,200 temples and 3,850 centers around the world. It will celebrate its 50th year in North America next year.
BAPS faced criticism in recent years after workers launched a legal action against the group in 2021. The action accused BAPS of carrying out policies including forced labor, low wages and bad working conditions.
Twelve of the 19 plaintiffs have now withdrawn their accusations and the legal action is suspended while an investigation continues.
The legal action claimed that Dalits, or members of the lowest caste in India, were being abused. Caste is an ancient system of social standing based on ancestry.
Yogi Trivedi is an expert on Hinduism at Columbia University, and a member of the religion. He said these accusations weighed heavily on community members because their religion has always taught them “to see the divine in all…”
“Caste and class do not divide us,” Trivedi said.
He said the temple would not have been possible without the service of thousands of volunteers. Many of them took time off school and work to serve in different areas. This might be the first Hindu temple where women were involved in building it, Trivedi added.
This week, families from across the country, have been going to the site to see it from the outside.
Nikita Patel and her husband were among the volunteers who gave their time to create the temple.
“All religions, all communities are welcome here,” she said, “And here, they will feel the peace.”
Trivedi holds a similar opinion. To him, the temple stands for universal values that can be found in writings and ideas of all religions.
“It’s not even just Indian or Indian American,” Trivedi said. “What we’ve tried to do is express these universal values in a way that relate to all visitors.”
I’m Dan Novak.View -
The Bad Side of Roses And now, Words and Their Stories, from VOA Learning English.
On today’s program, let’s talk about flowers; but not just any flowers -- roses.
Who doesn’t love a beautiful, sweet-smelling rose? The ancient Greeks and Romans connected roses with Aphrodite and Venus, the goddess of love. In modern times, you give a red rose to your true love and a yellow one to your true friend.
But roses also have a bad side -- thorns.
A thorn is the very sharp part of some woody plants, like blackberry bushes and roses. A prick from a thorn is painful and can cause you to bleed. So, a rose has both beauty and pain.
That is where the saying every rose has its thorns comes from. It means that rarely is something completely good. Even a very pleasant thing, event, or situation can have a bad or unpleasant side. You also could say, there’s no rose without a thorn.
Actually, there are some kinds of roses without thorns. But let’s not go down that garden path and just stay with our expression for today.
Now, here is an example of how to use the expression, every rose has its thorns.
Let’s say you were on a game show and won a new car and a trip to Mexico. You are very excited but then find out that you must pay taxes on all the winnings. As you get ready to pay the big tax bill, you could say: “Well, every rose has its thorns.”
“Thorn” has another meaning. It can also be something or someone that bothers you. A thorn in your side is a small problem, not a serious one. After all, thorns cause pain, but they are not going to kill you.
A friend who always borrows money from you could become a thorn in your side. She is annoying but not a serious problem. But what if her money troubles led to bigger problems for her?
Let’s say she cannot pay her bills, and she is in danger of losing her home. In that situation, we can say she has made for herself a bed of thorns. This expression describes a painful, difficult, or unpleasant situation.
On the other hand, if she finds a way to make a lot of money, and she can pay off her debt, we can say she is now sleeping in a bed of roses. That is a really pleasant place to be.
Sometimes though, we use a bed of roses in a negative form to describe an unpleasant situation, like in this example:
A: Hey, how’s everything going? A couple of months ago you told me you were struggling to pay your bills.
B: I was totally broke. I had no money at all.
A: That sounds really stressful.
A: It was no bed of roses; I can tell you that! I can’t tell you how happy I am to be out of debt!
And that’s all the time we have for this Words and Their Stories. We hope that your English studies have not become a thorn in your side. Until next time … I’m Anna Matteo.
Anna Matteo wrote this lesson for VOA Learning English.View -
As Tensions Rise, Canadian Colleges Confirm Indian Students Welcome Canadian universities are confirming the safety of their Indian students and providing resources after a diplomatic crisis between the two countries.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau publicly accused the Indian government of being involved in the killing of an Indian separatist leader in Canada. India deplores the accusation.
As Canadian colleges prepare to open classes, some students are considering delaying their studies. Others are wondering whether higher education could be damaged in the current crisis.
India by far supplies the most students to Canada's fast-growing international education business. About 40 percent of study permit holders are from India. International students provide over $14.6 billion to the Canadian economy each year.
Estimates by professionals in India show that over 100,000 students are preparing for an English language test and organizing financing to study in Canada next year.
Top universities offer programs costing up to $29,000 a year. Colleges provide short-term, less costly programs. They are connecting with students to confirm the diplomatic disagreement does not damage one of Canada's better-known exports.
Reporters from Reuters news agency spoke to numerous universities and professionals in Canada and India who said they were taking measures to reduce students’ questions or fears.
Joseph Wong is vice president of the University of Toronto. He said the university has reached out to many partners in India to confirm they are committed to continuing cooperation. The University of Toronto had more than 2,400 international students from India in 2022-2023.
Canadian universities say the diplomatic disagreement may only be temporary. But Ashok Kumar Bhatia, President of the Association of Consultants for Overseas Studies, said many Indian students have become concerned about their safety.
Companies like IDP Education have been sending video messages in an effort to calm nerves.
John Tibbits is president of Conestoga College in Ontario. He noted about a hundred students out of the thousands that register every year were asking about delaying their study. Some current students were also seeking to attend classes online.
"Our biggest concern is the uncertainty. What might the Indian government do as far as visas and how might people react," Tibbits said. "We are spending $36 million a year for college on just support for students."
International education has seen strong growth in recent years, helping the industry become one of Canada's biggest exports. Education tops auto parts, building materials and airplanes.
York University's President Rhonda Lenton was in India when news of the dispute broke. She said she is sure the two governments will be able to eventually resolve the situation.
But in the Indian state of Punjab, families and hopeful students are worried. An estimated 25 percent of families in the state have a member studying or preparing to study in Canada. Over 5,000 students from one city in Punjab moved to Canada last year.
Taxi-driver Jiwan Sharma is considering whether his son should complete his recent travel plans to Canada.
"I have put my lifelong savings worth over 250 million rupees ($4 million) for sending our son to Canada, hoping he would settle there, and help us in old age."
Tensions do not seem to be decreasing. After a report that India’s government asked Canada to withdraw 41 diplomats, Canadian Foreign Minister Melanie Joly said Canada wants private talks with India to resolve the diplomatic dispute.
Gurbakhshish Singh, a student in Punjab, told Reuters he is sad that India's relationship with a welcoming country like Canada has worsened.
"The government has put our future in jeopardy," the student said.
I’m Gena Bennett.View