Current Affairs

1. IRELAND, NORWAY AND SPAIN HAS RECENTLY ANNOUNCED THAT THEY WILL FORMALLY RECOGNISE THE STATE OF PALESTINE –

• The announcement came even as reports emerged of Israel pushing its way further into Rafah in southern Gaza. Israel reacted furiously to the announcements by recalling its Ambassadors to the three countrie s.
• The conflict traces its roots back to the 1917 Balfour Declaration, where the British Foreign Secretary Arthur James Balfour expressed official support for the establishment of a Jewish “national home” in Palestine.
• In 1948, Britain, unable to quell Arab-Jewish violence, withdrew its forces from Palestine, leaving the responsibility of resolving competing claims to the newly formed United Nations.
• The UN proposed a partition plan to establish independent Jewish and Arab states in Palestine, but it was not accepted by most Arab nations.
• Israel’s declaration of independence in 1948 led to attacks by surrounding Arab states. Israel ended up controlling about 50% more territory than originally envisioned by the UN partition plan.
• The UN partition plan saw Jordan control the West Bank and Jerusalem’s holy sites, while Egypt controlled the Gaza Strip. However, it didn’t resolve the Palestinian crisis, resulting in the formation of the Palestinian Liberation Organisation (PLO) in 1964.
• Founded with the goal of freeing Palestine from Israeli rule and Jewish dominance, establishing Muslim Brotherhood dominance in the Arab world. The United Nations granted PLO observer status in 1975, recognizing Palestinians’ right to self- determination.
• Six-Day War (1967)- Israeli forces seized the Golan Heights from Syria, the West Bank and East Jerusalem from Jordan, and the Sinai Peninsula and Gaza Strip from Egypt.
• Camp David Accords (1978)- The “Framework for Peace in the Middle East,” brokered by the U.S.
• In 1987, Hamas, a violent offshoot of Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood, was founded. It sought to fulfill its agenda through violent jihad and is regarded as a terrorist organization by the U.S. government.
• In 2006, Hamas won the Palestinian Authority’s legislative elections, leading to its control of Gaza and the expulsion of Fatah in 2007, resulting in a geographical split in the Palestinian movement.
• First Intifada (1987)- The First Intifada (Palestinian Uprising) began in 1987 as tensions in the occupied territories of the West Bank and Gaza reached a boiling point. This uprising evolved into a small war between Palestinian militants and the Israeli army.
• Oslo Accords (1993)- In 1993, Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) signed the Oslo Accords. The agreements led to both parties officially recognizing each other and renouncing the use of violence.
• In 2005, Israel initiated a unilateral withdrawal of Jewish settlements from Gaza, while maintaining tight control over all border crossings, effectively imposing a blockade on the region.

 

2. SURVEY ON AGNIPATH SCHEME –

• The Army is conducting an internal survey on the Agnipath scheme to assess its impact on its recruitment process so far, ba sed on which it is likely to draw up recommendations for possible changes to the scheme.
• Introduced in 2022, the Agnipath scheme — also called the Tour of Duty scheme is a short-term recruitment scheme for the Indian Army.
• Under the policy, soldiers — called ‘Agniveers’ — are recruited for four years, at the end of which only 25 percent of recruits from a batch are retained for regular service.

• Age Limit- Candidates between the age of 17.5 years to 21 years will be eligible for enrolling in the Agnipath scheme.
• The scheme provides an avenue to Indian youth, desirous of serving the country to get recruited in the Armed Forces for a short duration. The scheme enhances the youth profile of the Armed Forces.

 

3. FIRST INDIAN SPACE TOURIST COMPLETES SUB-ORBITAL FLIGHT

• Gopi Thotakura, a commercial pilot from India, made history by b ecoming the first person from India to go on a recreational space trip.
• This happened on May 19 on a Blue Origin-owned spaceship. Participants in the flight, which lasted only ten minutes from start to finish, reached an altitude of about 105 km above Earth, crossing the Karman line, which is the line between Earth’s atmosphere and space.
• Suborbital space trips, like the one Thotakura took, don’t go around the Earth in an orbit. Instead, they cross the Karman line for a short time and then go back. People who go on these trips usually get to feel weightless for a few minutes and see Earth from space in a very different way.
• Over 50 people have already been on suborbital trips, which were made possible by private aerospace companies like Blue Origin and took less than a day.