2006年VOA标准英语-Israelis, Palestinians Blame Each Other for Lat

By Stephanie Ho
Washington
02 July 2006

Violence continues to escalate¹ in the latest confrontation² between Israel and the Palestinians, as both sides blame each other for the crisis. Israeli and Palestinian representatives repeated their accusations³ Sunday, shortly after the new United Nations Human Rights Council approved a resolution to conduct an annual review of alleged⁴ human rights abuses by Israel.

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Shimon Peres (file photo)   
  
Israel's vice-premier Shimon Peres told CNN's Late Edition his government believes Hamas, which heads the Palestinian authority, is waging what he described as "an undeclared war of terror against Israel."

"They've become responsible for the firing of rockets on Israeli settlements, out of Gaza, and endangering the lives of innocent people," said Shimon Peres. "And secondly⁵, they took hostage an Israeli soldier, while penetrating⁶ our sovereignty and our land, despite of the fact that we have left Gaza completely. Now we feel like we have to defend ourselves."

Hamas gunmen who took part in a raid on an Israeli army base last week are believed to have kidnapped the 19-year-old Israeli soldier.

Peres said releasing the soldier would lead to an end to Israeli retaliation⁷, which has included repeated air strikes against Palestinian targets.

"If they release the soldier, the operation can be over in a moment's time," he said. "It's up to them. But they cannot keep the soldier as a hostage and then complain. By the way, when it comes to electricity, we checked beforehand. If the hospitals have generators⁸ to supply necessary electricity to people who are in hospital, we wouldn't bomb otherwise."

The Israeli air strikes are creating a growing humanitarian⁹ crisis in the Palestinian territories, which moderate Palestinian legislator Saeb Erakat says could actually hurt efforts to win the soldier's freedom.

 
Saeb Erekat (file photo)
  
"When you begin bombarding the electricity and the water and the bridges and the institutions, and abducting¹⁰ parliamentarians and ministers, what I'm afraid this is doing is undermining efforts for the release of the soldier," said Saeb Erakat.

Erakat added that he is concerned that the violence will derail efforts to find a diplomatic solution to the crisis.

"Now, things are slipping outside our fingers like sand," he said. "I'm really very worried tonight. I have a lot to be concerned about. If the Israelis, I expect, expand and escalate the situation in Gaza by going in with tanks and planes and F-16s and so on, I'm afraid that this will not only widen the circle of violence and counter-violence and extremism in this part of the world between us and the Israelis, but this will transmit to the whole region."

Shimon Peres and Saeb Erakat appeared on CNN Sunday, two days after the U.N. Human Rights Council approved a resolution to review Israel's alleged human rights abuses and report on the situation at the U.N. group's next regular session in September.

Israel is not a member of the council, but protested the vote as "imbalanced and intentionally¹¹ one-sided." The United States, which is also not a council member, expressed disappointment.

Britain, Canada, France, Germany and Japan voted against the resolution.

1 escalate   

v.(使)逐步增长(或发展)，(使)逐步升级

参考例句：

• It would tempt Israel's neighbors to escalate their demands.它将诱使以色列的邻国不断把他们的要求升级。
• Defeat could cause one side or other to escalate the conflict.失败可能会导致其中一方将冲突升级。

2 confrontation   

n.对抗，对峙，冲突

参考例句：

• We can't risk another confrontation with the union.我们不能冒再次同工会对抗的危险。
• After years of confrontation,they finally have achieved a modus vivendi.在对抗很长时间后，他们最后达成安宁生存的非正式协议。

3 accusations   

n.指责( accusation的名词复数 )；指控；控告；（被告发、控告的）罪名

参考例句：

• There were accusations of plagiarism. 曾有过关于剽窃的指控。
• He remained unruffled by their accusations. 对于他们的指控他处之泰然。

4 alleged   

a.被指控的，嫌疑的

参考例句：

• It was alleged that he had taken bribes while in office. 他被指称在任时收受贿赂。
• alleged irregularities in the election campaign 被指称竞选运动中的不正当行为

5 secondly   

adv.第二，其次

参考例句：

• Secondly,use your own head and present your point of view.第二，动脑筋提出自己的见解。
• Secondly it is necessary to define the applied load.其次，需要确定所作用的载荷。

6 penetrating   

adj.（声音）响亮的，尖锐的adj.（气味）刺激的adj.（思想）敏锐的，有洞察力的

参考例句：

• He had an extraordinarily penetrating gaze. 他的目光有股异乎寻常的洞察力。
• He examined the man with a penetrating gaze. 他以锐利的目光仔细观察了那个人。

7 retaliation   

n.报复，反击

参考例句：

• retaliation against UN workers 对联合国工作人员的报复
• He never said a single word in retaliation. 他从未说过一句反击的话。 来自《简明英汉词典》

8 generators   

n.发电机，发生器( generator的名词复数 )；电力公司

参考例句：

• The factory's emergency generators were used during the power cut. 工厂应急发电机在停电期间用上了。
• Power can be fed from wind generators into the electricity grid system. 电力可以从风力发电机流入输电网。 来自《简明英汉词典》

9 humanitarian   

n.人道主义者，博爱者，基督凡人论者

参考例句：

• She has many humanitarian interests and contributes a lot to them.她拥有很多慈善事业，并作了很大的贡献。
• The British government has now suspended humanitarian aid to the area.英国政府现已暂停对这一地区的人道主义援助。

10 abducting   

劫持，诱拐( abduct的现在分词 )； 使（肢体等）外展

参考例句：

• She was charged with abducting a six-month-old child. 她被控诱拐一个6个月大的孩子。
• At the same time, the rate of abducting foreigners is going down. 同时，发生在外国人身上的绑架案正在下降。

11 intentionally   

ad.故意地，有意地

参考例句：

• I didn't say it intentionally. 我是无心说的。
• The local authority ruled that he had made himself intentionally homeless and was therefore not entitled to be rehoused. 当地政府裁定他是有意居无定所，因此没有资格再获得提供住房。