Israeli Attack 'Excessive' - US

Nick Simeone

Washington

31 Jul 2001 20:29 UTC

The Bush administration is expressing 1)alarm over an Israeli attack on Palestinians that left at least eight people dead. U.S. officials call it a new and dangerous 2)escalation in the 10 months of Arab-Israeli violence.

Rarely does an American administration criticize one side more than the other in the Middle East. But the Israeli attack Tuesday in the West Bank town of Nablus that included the deaths of two 3)innocent civilians drew an unusually blunt response from State Department Spokesman Charles Hunter, who called the Israeli action "excessive. This attack represents an escalation, is highly 4)provocative, and makes efforts to restore calm much more difficult," said the spokesman.

Two boys under the age of ten were among those killed when Israeli 5)helicopters fired into offices of the terrorist group Hamas in 6)retaliation, Israel says, for previous terrorist attacks by Arabs. It was the deadliest action since Hamas claimed responsibility for a suicide bombing of a Tel Aviv nightclub June 1 which left 21 Israelis dead.

President Bush is calling on both sides to break the cycle of violence as U.S. officials warn of what they call "disaster" if both sides do not pull back from the 7)brink.

(1)      alarm[E5lB:m]n.警报, 惊慌, 警告器vt.恐吓, 警告

(2)      escalation[9eskE`leIFLn]n.扩大, 增加

(3)      innocent[5InEsEnt]adj.无罪的, 天真的, 无知的

(4)      provocative[prE5vRkEtIv]adj.煽动的n.刺激物

(5)      helicopter[5helIkRptE(r)]n.直升(飞)机, 直升机

(6)      retaliation[rI9tAlI`eIFLn]n.报复, 报仇

(7)      brink[brINk]n.(峭岸、崖的)边缘