Palestinians in East Jerusalem are protesting what they say are preparations by Israel to demolish scores of Arab homes. The Arab residents accuse the Israelis of trying to push them out of Jerusalem, which both Israel and the Palestinians claim as their capital.
在东耶路撒冷的巴勒斯坦人说，以色列准备拆除几十处阿拉伯人的住宅，为此他们提出抗议。阿拉伯居民指责以色列试图将他们赶出耶路撒冷。以色列和阿拉伯人都声称耶路撒冷是他们的首都。
Ayda Risheq prepares her morning meal, and wonders if this will be her last day in this modest, concrete block home she shares with her husband and six children.
艾伊达.里谢克正在准备早餐，她怀疑这会不会就是她和丈夫以及六个孩子在这所朴素的水泥房中居住的最后一天。
She says the demolition could be today, tomorrow, or the day after tomorrow. She does not know. She says crews came to the neighborhood this week, surveyed the area and saw how, with what tools and equipment, they could knock it down.
她说，拆除行动可能就在今天、明天或者后天，具体日期她无法得知。她说拆迁人员这个星期已经来到这个地方，进行了实地观察，看看怎么拆，用什么工具和设备才能把这些住宅拆掉。
Risheq's is one of more than 80 families in this neighborhood near Jerusalem's Temple Mount and Al-Aqsa mosque whose homes Israel plans to tear down.
艾伊达的家就在是这个社区80多户民宅之一，这里邻近耶路撒冷圣殿山和阿克萨清真寺，以色列计划拆除这些民居。
Arabs have historically known the neighborhood as Silwan. In the past two decades, Jews have called it the City of David, a part of what thousands of years ago was the ancient Jewish capital.
阿拉伯历史上将这个社区叫作西尔万。过去二十年来，犹太人将这里叫作大卫城，那是几千年前古代犹太人首都的一部分。
The neighborhood has become a flashpoint in the fight over Jerusalem. Arab families like Ayda Risheq's inherited the land and built homes on it mostly in the years after the 1967 Arab-Israeli conflict, when Israel seized the land and annexed East Jerusalem in a move that has never been sanctioned by the international community.
在耶路撒冷的争议中，这个社区已经成了争论的焦点。像艾伊达这样的阿拉伯家庭从前辈那里承继了土地产权，大部分在1967年阿拉伯和以色列冲突以后在这里盖起了房屋。1967年以色列夺取了这片土地并吞并了东耶路撒冷，这个举动一直都没有得到国际社会的认可。
Israeli authorities say the dwellings, which largely went up without building permits, are illegal construction. For the past three years, the municipality has wanted the buildings demolished and turned into a park.
以色列当局说，这些住宅多数都是没有建筑许可就建造的，属非法建筑。过去三年来，市政当局警告说，要将这些房屋拆除，将这里建成公园。
A few meters from the Risheq home, protesters have set up a tent where they have been staging a sit-in for months. Activist Abdel Halim Shaloudi, a member of the Committee for the Defense of the Territory of Silwan, believes the Israelis' real motive is to drive out the Arabs and make this a Jewish area.
距离艾伊达住房仅几米远的地方，抗议人士打起了帐篷，在那里静坐抗议已经长达几个月了。活动人士夏洛迪是保护西尔万领土委员会的成员，他认为以色列真实的动机是要将阿拉伯人撵走，改为犹太人的家园。
"[There are] 88 houses, which include more than 2,000 people that live in it," he said. "They want to throw them out because King David was here more than 3,000 years ago and they want to make this King David's garden, according to their religion."
“这里一共有88栋房子，有两千多人居住在那里。他们想把居民轰出去，因为大卫王曾于3000多年前在那里住过，他们要根据他们的宗教把这里改建成大卫王公园。”
As with the broader Arab-Israeli conflict, religion, history, and land are at the heart of this dispute.
随着阿拉伯人和以色列人的冲突越来越广，宗教、历史、土地都聚集在这个争论的中心。
For residents like Ayda Risheq, being forced to leave her home is more than a matter of finding a new place to live. She said this is Muslim land and she believes it will always continue to be Muslim land. She said Jewish claims are only an excuse to drive people like her from the land.
像艾伊达这样的居民被迫离开家园不仅仅是找到一个新地方居住的问题。她说，这是穆斯林的土地，她相信一直都将是穆斯林的土地。她说犹太人的说法仅仅是将她这样的居民从自己的土地上驱逐出去的借口。
Risheq and other residents have been hoping to avert the demolition by applying for building permits and offering to pay fines.
艾伊达和其他居民希望能通过获得建筑许可并交纳罚金来改变拆迁的局面。
The Jerusalem municipal authorities, however, are showing no signs of budging. A statement by the mayor's office this week said no new orders have been issued on the matter of the neighborhood and affirmed that the area is not intended for residential development, but rather for use as an open public space.
不过，耶路撒冷市政当局没有显示任何可能让步的态度。市长办公室这个星期发表的一项声明说，有关这个社区的问题没有新的命令发布，并强调说，这个地区不能用于开发居民区，而应该是一个开放的公共场地。 |