2007年VOA标准英语-Rice Prepares for New Middle East Trip

By David Gollust
Washington
15 March 2007

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice says she will begin another trip to the Middle East late next week aimed at spurring Israeli-Palestinian dialogue. Rice held talks late Wednesday with visiting Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni. VOA's David Gollust reports from the State Department.

Israel's Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni (l) and US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice

Rice is not likely on her next trip to convene¹ a three-way meeting with Israeli and Palestinian leaders. But she is expected to meet top officials on both sides, and with moderate Arab leaders, in the region to try to further clear the way for a resumption of the regional peace process.

Rice, who had just returned from accompanying President Bush on his Latin American trip, announced her Mideast travel plans at a press appearance with Israeli Foreign Minister Livni, who was concluding a private Washington visit.

Rice's meeting with her Israeli counterpart was preceded by press accounts of new interest by the U.S. and Israel in the 2002 Saudi Middle East peace plan, which basically offered Israel normal relations with the Arab world in return for a full withdrawal² from territories occupied in 1967.

But under questioning, both appeared to downplay the notion that the Saudi plan might replace the peace road map of the international Middle East Quartet - the United States, Russia, the European Union and the United Nations -- as the guide for regional peace efforts.

Rice said the plan by the then-Crown Prince Abdullah - now the Saudi king - was a commendable³ initiative but not basis for negotiations⁴:

"The Arab initiative is not a negotiating document. It is a document that sets forward a position. And as I said I think very favorably about the idea the Arab League - starting as the Crown Prince initiative - would as a whole set forward a position on which perhaps reconciliation⁵ could take place between Israel and the Arab states. But obviously it is not a negotiating position, and I'm sure that Israel would have its own views of how that reconciliation could take place," she said.

Foreign Minister Livni, for her part, said the Saudi initiative as initially⁶ published was very positive, given that it was predicated on a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

But she said as later adopted by the Arab league in Beirut, it contained language on refugees that would threaten Israel's existence as a Jewish state.

She said prospects⁷ for peace with the Palestinians would be enhanced if Arab states did not wait until the end of the peace process to normalize ties with Israel:

"I would like to see Arab leaders, pragmatic, normalize their relations with Israel without waiting for the peace between Israel and the Palestinians to be completed. Maybe if they will take these kinds of steps, that can help the moderates in the Palestinian Authority to take other steps in order to achieve peace. So this is something that we're waiting for," she said.

Aides to Rice gave no details of Rice's travel plans but Egyptian officials have already said they expect a visit from the Secretary on the upcoming trip.

Rice hosted a joint⁸ meeting in Jerusalem with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian Authority chief Mahmoud Abbas February 19th, which was billed as the first discussion in more than six years of final-status issues in the peace process.

The Israeli Prime Minister and Mr. Abbas followed up that meeting with bilateral⁹ talks last Saturday.

But efforts to re-start a formal peace process have been thwarted¹⁰ by the Palestinian power-sharing deal between Mr. Abbas' mainstream¹¹ Fatah party and the radical¹² Islamist Hamas movement, which the United States considers a terrorist organization.

1 convene   

v.集合，召集，召唤，聚集，集合

参考例句：

• The Diet will convene at 3p.m. tomorrow.国会将于明天下午三点钟开会。
• Senior officials convened in October 1991 in London.1991年10月，高级官员在伦敦会齐。

2 withdrawal   

n.取回，提款；撤退，撤军；收回，撤销

参考例句：

• The police were forced to make a tactical withdrawal.警方被迫进行战术撤退。
• They insisted upon a withdrawal of the statement and a public apology.他们坚持要收回那些话并公开道歉。

3 commendable   

adj.值得称赞的

参考例句：

• The government's action here is highly commendable.政府这样的行动值得高度赞扬。
• Such carping is not commendable.这样吹毛求疵真不大好。

4 negotiations   

协商( negotiation的名词复数 )； 谈判； 完成（难事）； 通过

参考例句：

• negotiations for a durable peace 为持久和平而进行的谈判
• Negotiations have failed to establish any middle ground. 谈判未能达成任何妥协。

5 reconciliation   

n.和解，和谐，一致

参考例句：

• He was taken up with the reconciliation of husband and wife.他忙于做夫妻间的调解工作。
• Their handshake appeared to be a gesture of reconciliation.他们的握手似乎是和解的表示。

6 initially   

adv.最初，开始

参考例句：

• The ban was initially opposed by the US.这一禁令首先遭到美国的反对。
• Feathers initially developed from insect scales.羽毛最初由昆虫的翅瓣演化而来。

7 prospects   

n.希望，前途(恒为复数)

参考例句：

• There is a mood of pessimism in the company about future job prospects. 公司中有一种对工作前景悲观的情绪。
• They are less sanguine about the company's long-term prospects. 他们对公司的远景不那么乐观。

8 joint   

adj.联合的，共同的；n.关节，接合处；v.连接，贴合

参考例句：

• I had a bad fall,which put my shoulder out of joint.我重重地摔了一跤，肩膀脫臼了。
• We wrote a letter in joint names.我们联名写了封信。

9 bilateral   

adj.双方的，两边的，两侧的

参考例句：

• They have been negotiating a bilateral trade deal.他们一直在商谈一项双边贸易协定。
• There was a wide gap between the views of the two statesmen on the bilateral cooperation.对双方合作的问题，两位政治家各自所持的看法差距甚大。

10 thwarted   

阻挠( thwart的过去式和过去分词 )； 使受挫折； 挫败； 横过

参考例句：

• The guards thwarted his attempt to escape from prison. 警卫阻扰了他越狱的企图。
• Our plans for a picnic were thwarted by the rain. 我们的野餐计划因雨受挫。

11 mainstream   

n.（思想或行为的）主流；adj.主流的

参考例句：

• Their views lie outside the mainstream of current medical opinion.他们的观点不属于当今医学界观点的主流。
• Polls are still largely reflects the mainstream sentiment.民调还在很大程度上反映了社会主流情绪。

12 radical   

n.激进份子，原子团，根号；adj.根本的，激进的，彻底的

参考例句：

• The patient got a radical cure in the hospital.病人在医院得到了根治。
• She is radical in her demands.她的要求十分偏激。