VOA常速英语2007年-Palestinian Authority Sends Police Force to Vol

By Jim Teeple
Nablus
22 November 2007

Israeli and Palestinian negotiators hold their first peace conference in seven years next week in the U.S. city of Annapolis, Maryland. Palestinians say they want Israel to ease restrictions¹ on Palestinians in the West Bank, but Israel says for that to happen Palestinians must improve security in the territory. In a bid to do just that, the moderate government of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has deployed² hundreds of newly trained police in the volatile³ West Bank city of Nablus. VOA's Jim Teeple visited Nablus and filed this report.

The Nablus bomb squad⁴ seals off a narrow street in the heart of this volatile city - a stronghold of militants⁵ and criminal gangs in the West Bank.

Until recently, police were scarcely seen on these streets where militants of the Al-Aksa Martyrs⁶ Brigade were the law. The Al-Aksa militants belong to moderate Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah movement, but many residents of Nablus say many members of the group are also involved in criminal activities. The lawless violence of the Al-Aksa Martyrs Brigade and their daily clashes with Israeli troops who ring the city make Nablus a tense and chaotic⁷ city.

But now that is changing. Mr. Abbas' government is sending about 500 newly trained Palestinian police to Nablus - to control the militants and to try and convince Israel to ease its military occupation of the city, which is home to about 200,000 Palestinians.

Police say the security plan, which is backed by international donors⁸ including the United States, is working. Samhar Abdo, who heads the Nabus bomb squad, says police are getting new found respect from the militants.

"Now, they [militants] are feeling the danger that the security apparatus⁹ is coming back and is really forcing itself in the street really firmly," he said. "Now they are trying to be friends. If they do not, they will face jail and prison."

Nablus Police Chief Ahmed Sharqawi is in charge of the new plan. He says he has told the militants of the Al-Aksa Martyrs Brigade they will have to cooperate with the police and eventually disarm¹⁰. Chief Sharqawi says he believes he is making progress with the militants but not with the Israeli military whose continued raids into Nablus he says undercut the authority of his police force.

Chief Sharqawi says the Israelis are trying to embarrass his police force by staging raids all over Nablus that disrupt the work of his force.

Speaking in Jerusalem, Israeli Foreign Ministry¹¹ Spokesman Mark Regev says for now, Israel does not believe the Palestinian police in Nablus are capable of controlling crime and militancy¹².

"When the Palestinian government is strong enough to deal with the threat posed by the armed gangs, by the terrorist groups, then of course Israel will not have to do the sort of actions we are doing today," he said. "But if we today cease defensive¹³ actions and there will be a vacuum, of course we know who will move into the vacuum that will be the extremists, that won't be good for peace, that won't be good for anyone."

As for the Al-Aksa militants who are now being pursued by both the Palestinian police and Israeli forces, many say they want to cooperate with the Palestinian police, but as long as the Israelis continue their raids in Nablus there is no way they will disarm. Hani al-Kabi is an Al-Aksa commander in the Balata refugee camp, on the outskirts¹⁴ of Nablus.

Hani al-Kabi says the Palestinian police would not ask for his weapon, and as long as the Israelis keep coming into the Balata camp he will not surrender it.

Palestinian police rarely patrol inside the Balata camp and Hani al-Kabi and his fellow militants are the law there. The ultimate test for the Palestinian police in Nablus will be to convince both the Al-Aksa militants and the Israeli Army that they alone should be the responsible for security in this volatile and violent West Bank city.

1 restrictions   

约束( restriction的名词复数 )； 管制； 制约因素； 带限制性的条件（或规则）

参考例句：

• I found the restrictions irksome. 我对那些限制感到很烦。
• a snaggle of restrictions 杂乱无章的种种限制

2 deployed   

（尤指军事行动）使展开( deploy的过去式和过去分词 )； 施展； 部署； 有效地利用

参考例句：

• Tanks have been deployed all along the front line. 沿整个前线已部署了坦克。
• The artillery was deployed to bear on the fort. 火炮是对着那个碉堡部署的。

3 volatile   

adj.反复无常的，挥发性的，稍纵即逝的，脾气火爆的；n.挥发性物质

参考例句：

• With the markets being so volatile,investments are at great risk.由于市场那么变化不定，投资冒着很大的风险。
• His character was weak and volatile.他这个人意志薄弱，喜怒无常。

4 squad   

n.班，小队，小团体；vt.把…编成班或小组

参考例句：

• The squad leader ordered the men to mark time.班长命令战士们原地踏步。
• A squad is the smallest unit in an army.班是军队的最小构成单位。

5 militants   

激进分子，好斗分子( militant的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The militants have been sporadically fighting the government for years. 几年来，反叛分子一直对政府实施零星的战斗。
• Despite the onslaught, Palestinian militants managed to fire off rockets. 尽管如此，巴勒斯坦的激进分子仍然发射导弹。

6 martyrs   

n.martyr的复数形式；烈士( martyr的名词复数 )；殉道者；殉教者；乞怜者（向人诉苦以博取同情）

参考例句：

• the early Christian martyrs 早期基督教殉道者
• They paid their respects to the revolutionary martyrs. 他们向革命烈士致哀。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

7 chaotic   

adj.混沌的，一片混乱的，一团糟的

参考例句：

• Things have been getting chaotic in the office recently.最近办公室的情况越来越乱了。
• The traffic in the city was chaotic.这城市的交通糟透了。

8 donors   

n.捐赠者( donor的名词复数 )；献血者；捐血者；器官捐献者

参考例句：

• Please email us to be removed from our active list of blood donors. 假如你想把自己的名字从献血联系人名单中删去，请给我们发电子邮件。
• About half this amount comes from individual donors and bequests. 这笔钱大约有一半来自个人捐赠及遗赠。 来自《简明英汉词典》

9 apparatus   

n.装置，器械；器具，设备

参考例句：

• The school's audio apparatus includes films and records.学校的视听设备包括放映机和录音机。
• They had a very refined apparatus.他们有一套非常精良的设备。

10 disarm   

v.解除武装，回复平常的编制，缓和

参考例句：

• The world has waited 12 years for Iraq to disarm. 全世界等待伊拉克解除武装已有12年之久。
• He has rejected every peaceful opportunity offered to him to disarm.他已经拒绝了所有能和平缴械的机会。

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 militancy   

n.warlike behavior or tendency

参考例句：

• Full of militancy and revolutionary ardour, the people of all nationalities in the country are working hard for the realization of the four modernizations. 全国各族人民意气风发， 斗志昂扬，为实现四个现代化而奋战。
• The seniority system is another factor that leads to union militancy. 排资论辈制度也是导致工会好斗争的另一因素。

13 defensive   

adj.防御的；防卫的；防守的

参考例句：

• Their questions about the money put her on the defensive.他们问到钱的问题，使她警觉起来。
• The Government hastily organized defensive measures against the raids.政府急忙布置了防卫措施抵御空袭。

14 outskirts   

n.郊外，郊区

参考例句：

• Our car broke down on the outskirts of the city.我们的汽车在市郊出了故障。
• They mostly live on the outskirts of a town.他们大多住在近郊。