Borders

On April 5, the final Friday in the Islamic holy month of Ramadan this year — a special time for Muslims worldwide — more than 3,500 Israeli police were deployed at the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem. Here, an estimated 57,000 Muslims attended Friday prayers. 

In Israel, most Jewish men are drafted into three years of military service soon after they graduate from high school. Jewish women serve two-year stints. The ultra-Orthodox community has been exempt. But this is beginning to change. Israel’s Supreme Court just ruled that religious seminaries called yeshivas are being cut off from government funding because they don’t send students into the military.

Across northeastern Syria, makeshift refineries pump out fuel for cars, heating and electricity. They are also a major source of income for local residents who have endured more than a decade of conflict. But this critical resource is also harmful.

The Dominican Republic has stationed 10,000 soldiers on its border with Haiti. Officials there are worried that chaos in Haiti will send migrants streaming into their country. The Dominican Republic’s Foreign Minister Roberto Álvarez tells The World’s Carolyn Beeler his country’s national security is his top priority, and he doesn’t back the establishment of a humanitarian corridor into Haiti. 

The Dominican Republic has decided to impose tighter border restrictions to keep people from Haiti out of the country. The World’s host, Carolyn Beeler, speaks with Osvaldo Concepción, a Jesuit priest who works closely with Haitians who have crossed into the Dominican Republic, about the situation.