美国为退出联合国种族大会辩护（在线收听）

US Defends Withdrawal from Racism Conference

Scott Stearns

White House

4 Sep 2001 

The Bush Ministration said that it withdrew from U.N. anti-racism conference in South Africa because the meeting's proposed final document included anti-Israeli language. But, Arab groups 1)blame the United States for failing to 2)compromise on the issue.

White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said the United States and Israel walked out of the conference Monday because the meeting's draft declaration included a condemnation of the Israeli treatment of Palestinians. "It is an unfortunate 3)throwback to the old days where these conferences worked in a 4)counterproductive fashion," he said. "This has been a lost opportunity for America and people throughout the world who are concerned about 5)racism, and it is unfortunate that people in this conference brought it to the point where America and Israel had no choice but to leave the conference."

Arab delegates at the conference insisted on including language attacking "the racist practices of Zionism" and calling Israel's treatment of Palestinians a "new kind of 6)apartheid." 7)Zionism is the movement that helped found the modern state of Israel. Mr. Fleischer called that language anti-Semitic. "I think there is no question that at a conference that should have been dedicated to fighting 8)intolerance, the language that it has chosen to use in describing Israel is laced with intolerance," he said.

President Bush said repeatedly the United States would not take part in a conference that 9)isolates a "friend and strong 10)ally" in Israel. He did send a state department official to the start of the conference in hopes of convincing organizers to drop the anti-Israeli language.

When delegates refused, Secretary of State Colin Powell withdrew the official on Monday. Mr. Powell said he did so with regret "because of the importance of the international fight against racism." But he said, "you do not combat racism by conferences that produce declarations containing hateful language."

U.S. and Norwegian diplomats met with Palestinian and other Arab officials to try and 11)amend the language. Arab leaders say the Bush administration failed to compromise by insisting only that Israel and the Palestinians return to the peace process without mentioning the Israeli army's role in the latest round of violence.

(1)      blame[bleIm]n.过失, 责备vt.责备, 谴责

(2)      compromise[5kRmprEmaIz]n.妥协, 折衷v.妥协, 折衷

(3)      throwback[ `WrEJbAk ]n.掷回, 挫折, 阻止, 大倒退

(4)      counterproductive adj.反生产的, 使达不到预期目标的

(5)      racism n.种族主义, 人种偏见, 种族歧视

(6)      apartheid[E5pB:theIt]n.(南非)种族隔离

(7)      Zionism[5zaIEnIz(E)m]n.犹太复国主义,犹太复国运动

(8)      intolerance[In`tClErLns]n.(尤指对别人的意见)不能忍耐, 不容异说

(9)      isolate[5aIsEleIt]vt.使隔离, 使孤立n.隔离种群

(10)      ally[5AlaI]v.结盟, 同盟n.同盟国, 支持者

(11)      amend[E5mend]v.修正, 改进, 改正