2006年VOA标准英语-Human Rights Group Slams Israel for Lebanon Act

By Gary Thomas
London
23 August 2006

The international human rights group Amnesty International has sharply criticized Israel for what it says were deliberate and indiscriminate attacks on civilian¹ targets in Lebanon. Israel denied the charge.

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Residents of Hezbollah strongholds in the southern suburbs of Beirut recover furniture from their destroyed apartment, Aug. 23, 2006   
  
In a lengthy² report released Wednesday, Amnesty International accuses Israeli forces of deliberately³ striking striking civilian targets in Lebanon.

Donatella Rovra, who headed the group's mission to Lebanon, told VOA that Israel zeroed in on Lebanon's infrastructure⁴, knowing full well that the attacks would harm civilians⁵.

"When Israeli forces decide to bomb and destroy power plants, electricity, water networks, roads, bridges, when they decide to bombard and reduce to rubble⁶ entire neighborhoods, then obviously those decisions are made to go ahead with those attacks with the full knowledge of what the consequences will be for the civilian population," she said.

After two Israeli soldiers were kidnapped by the Lebanon-based militia⁷ Hezbollah, Israel launched a wave of attacks from land, sea, and air in a bid to destroy the group. For a month, Israel pounded Lebanon, and Hezbollah fired thousands of Katyusha rockets into northern Israel. Some 1,000 civilians are believed to have died and much of Lebanon's infrastructure was destroyed in the conflict.

Rovra says Amnesty International is calling for an impartial⁸, independent inquiry⁹ into both Israel's and Hezbollah's actions in the conflict.

"Those who made those decisions to go ahead with certain attacks, to use certain methods, obviously must be held accountable for their actions. And that is why we're calling for an international investigation¹⁰ to investigate both the attacks committed by Israel and by Hezbollah," said Rovra.

Responding to the Amnesty report on British television, Israeli Foreign Ministry¹¹ spokeswoman Orly Gil denied that civilians were deliberately targeted.

"No, there was no deliberate policy of targeting any civilian targets," she said. "The only policy that we did have was to defend our northern borders, our northern villages, which [were] attacked by a few thousand of Katyushas, of rockets and all kinds of other munitions¹². Amnesty did also have a mission also to Israel, and we showed them all these kinds of missile and ammunition¹³ and so on. And I must say that from the very little time I had to look on their report, I didn't see any trace of that."

Amnesty's Rovra says Amnesty condemns¹⁴ Hezbollah's attacks as well as Israel's, and that Hezbollah actually takes credit for its actions. 

Israeli policemen examine rocket fired by Hezbollah guerrillas that killed three Israeli Arabs in northern town of Maalot, Aug. 3, 2006  
  
"Our position on Hezbollah attacks is extremely clear," she said. "The rockets that they use, Katyushas, as are other kinds of rockets, are indiscriminate because they cannot be directed and therefore are indiscriminate by nature. And as such, they are entirely¹⁵ unlawful. Therefore, every single attack committed by Hezbollah, every single rocket launched by Hezbollah into Israeli towns and villages is an unlawful act."

A ceasefire went into effect last week, but Israeli troops remain inside southern Lebanon while the United Nations organizes international peacekeeping force.

1 civilian   

adj.平民的，民用的，民众的

参考例句：

• There is no reliable information about civilian casualties.关于平民的伤亡还没有确凿的信息。
• He resigned his commission to take up a civilian job.他辞去军职而从事平民工作。

2 lengthy   

adj.漫长的，冗长的

参考例句：

• We devoted a lengthy and full discussion to this topic.我们对这个题目进行了长时间的充分讨论。
• The professor wrote a lengthy book on Napoleon.教授写了一部有关拿破仑的巨著。

3 deliberately   

adv.审慎地；蓄意地；故意地

参考例句：

• The girl gave the show away deliberately.女孩故意泄露秘密。
• They deliberately shifted off the argument.他们故意回避这个论点。

4 infrastructure   

n.下部构造，下部组织，基础结构，基础设施

参考例句：

• We should step up the development of infrastructure for research.加强科学基础设施建设。
• We should strengthen cultural infrastructure and boost various types of popular culture.加强文化基础设施建设，发展各类群众文化。

5 civilians   

平民，百姓( civilian的名词复数 )； 老百姓

参考例句：

• the bloody massacre of innocent civilians 对无辜平民的血腥屠杀
• At least 300 civilians are unaccounted for after the bombing raids. 遭轰炸袭击之后，至少有300名平民下落不明。

6 rubble   

n.（一堆）碎石，瓦砾

参考例句：

• After the earthquake,it took months to clean up the rubble.地震后，花了数月才清理完瓦砾。
• After the war many cities were full of rubble.战后许多城市到处可见颓垣残壁。

7 militia   

n.民兵，民兵组织

参考例句：

• First came the PLA men,then the people's militia.人民解放军走在前面，其次是民兵。
• There's a building guarded by the local militia at the corner of the street.街道拐角处有一幢由当地民兵团守卫的大楼。

8 impartial   

adj.(in,to)公正的，无偏见的

参考例句：

• He gave an impartial view of the state of affairs in Ireland.他对爱尔兰的事态发表了公正的看法。
• Careers officers offer impartial advice to all pupils.就业指导员向所有学生提供公正无私的建议。

9 inquiry   

n.打听，询问，调查，查问

参考例句：

• Many parents have been pressing for an inquiry into the problem.许多家长迫切要求调查这个问题。
• The field of inquiry has narrowed down to five persons.调查的范围已经缩小到只剩5个人了。

10 investigation   

n.调查，调查研究

参考例句：

• In an investigation,a new fact became known, which told against him.在调查中新发现了一件对他不利的事实。
• He drew the conclusion by building on his own investigation.他根据自己的调查研究作出结论。

11 ministry   

n.(政府的)部；牧师

参考例句：

• They sent a deputation to the ministry to complain.他们派了一个代表团到部里投诉。
• We probed the Air Ministry statements.我们调查了空军部的记录。

12 munitions   

n.军火，弹药；v.供应…军需品

参考例句：

• The army used precision-guided munitions to blow up enemy targets.军队用精确瞄准的枪炮炸掉敌方目标。
• He rose [made a career for himself] by dealing in munitions.他是靠贩卖军火发迹的。

13 ammunition   

n.军火，弹药

参考例句：

• A few of the jeeps had run out of ammunition.几辆吉普车上的弹药已经用光了。
• They have expended all their ammunition.他们把弹药用光。

14 condemns   

v.（通常因道义上的原因而）谴责( condemn的第三人称单数 )；宣判；宣布…不能使用；迫使…陷于不幸的境地

参考例句：

• Her widowhood condemns her to a lonely old age. 守寡使她不得不过着孤独的晚年生活。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The public opinion condemns prostitution. 公众舆论遣责卖淫。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

15 entirely   

ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The fire was entirely caused by their neglect of duty. 那场火灾完全是由于他们失职而引起的。
• His life was entirely given up to the educational work. 他的一生统统献给了教育工作。