2007年VOA标准英语-Syria, Hezbollah Condemn UN Vote to Establish H

By Challiss McDonough
Cairo, Egypt
31 May 2007

Syria's state-run press has roundly criticized the U.N. Security Council's vote to set up an international tribunal for suspects in the killing¹ of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.  Damascus has long said it will refuse to turn over any Syrian suspects to the court.  Establishing the tribunal has also been an extremely divisive issue in Lebanon, where the Shi'ite armed group Hezbollah denounced the Security Council move as a violation² of Lebanon's sovereignty.  VOA's Challiss McDonough has more from our Middle East bureau in Cairo.

Rafik Hariri's son, Saad Hariri, called the UN move a "historic moment" and a victory for justice.  But his political rivals in Hezbollah issued a statement calling the new U.N. resolution "a violation of Lebanese sovereignty and aggressive interference in Lebanon's internal affairs."

Syria's state-run newspapers condemned³ the U.N Security Council decision, calling it an American-Israeli plot for "political vengeance⁴" against Syria.

Damascus has previously⁵ said it will refuse to cooperate with the tribunal if it indicts⁶ any Syrian officials, and the state news agency, SANA, said Syria's position has not changed.  An early report by the investigator⁷ probing the killings⁸ implicated⁹ several senior Syrian officials, and Damascus has said it will not allow its citizens to be tried by foreign courts.

But after the Security Council voted, Damascus made an effort to portray¹⁰ its objections as rooted in concern for Lebanese interests, rather than its own.

Analyst11 Sami Baroudi" hspace="2" src="/upimg/allimg/070608/1044380.jpg" width="210" vspace="2" border="0" />

Political Analyst Sami Baroudi

 Political science professor Sami Baroudi of the Lebanese American University says it is possible that Syria's outright¹² rejection¹³ of the tribunal is part of a long-term negotiating tactic¹⁴.

"I'm not really sure whether the Syrian regime can completely [do] just blanket rejection of any cooperation.  I think that would sort of complicate¹⁵ relations with other Arab countries and with the international community, and I don't think they're really ready for a step like that," Baroudi says.

The morning after the vote, the Iranian foreign minister paid a surprise visit to Damascus for talks with President Bashar al-Assad that included Lebanese developments.

In Lebanon, where Rafik Hariri and 22 others were killed by a massive car bomb blast more than two years ago, an international court to try the killers¹⁶ has long been an extremely divisive issue.  The prime minister supports it; the president does not.  The cabinet and the anti-Syrian majority bloc¹⁷ in parliament support it, but most of the opposition¹⁸ parties oppose it, especially those allied¹⁹ with Syria.

Speaker of Parliament Nabih Berry, an opposition leader with close ties to Damascus, has refused to convene²⁰ the legislature for months to avoid holding a vote on the court.  So the Security Council approved the tribunal under the legally-binding Chapter 7, without the plans being ratified²¹ by the Lebanese parliament. 

The longtime U.N. spokesman in Lebanon, Timur Goksel, now teaches at the American University of Beirut.  He said given the domestic political deadlock²², the Security Council had little choice

"It had to be done, there's no doubt about it.  We need justice in this country, in Lebanon.  The problem is, it's too much personalized here. It's become not an affair of the state, an affair about justice, or a country or anything, but sort of a competition or a contest between the different political groups in the country. This is very unhealthy."

Opposition leaders have mostly been careful to say they do not necessarily object to the idea of the tribunal itself, but to the way it has been set up.  Despite months of wrangling²³, they were unable to agree.  Goksel says they still object to the idea of a court being "imposed" on Lebanon from outside.

"This is something Lebanon should have done by itself," Goksel says.  "After all, this court is going to apply Lebanese law.  But the judges will not be Lebanese, the majority of judges, and some people are not comfortable with that, which is understandable.   On the main opposition side, especially on the Hezbollah side, I believe it's not against the court, but they just are afraid that this court might be used against them."

But since it will likely be at least a year before the court starts its work, Goksel is optimistic that there is time to resolve the outstanding issues.

"If a few political leaders can keep their mouths shut and not try to score points out of this for their own ends, I think this will be all right," Goksel says.

France and the United States have both hailed the tribunal as a positive step for Lebanon.  And Lebanese government officials who supported the establishment of the tribunal say they hope it will help push the country back toward political consensus²⁴. 

But some analysts²⁵ say the way the Security Council vote fell shows that the international community is also divided on the issue.  Five countries -- Russia, China, Indonesia, South Africa and Qatar -- abstained²⁶ from the vote and have voiced concerns about imposing²⁷ the tribunal on Lebanon in the absence of a political consensus there. 

When the international court convenes²⁸, which will be somewhere outside Lebanon, it will become the first U.N.-backed tribunal in the Middle East.  Similar courts have been held for the former Yugoslavia, Rwanda and Sierra Leone.  It is still not clear where the court will be located.  The Netherlands, which has hosted other tribunals, says it is not interested. 

1 killing   

n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财

参考例句：

• Investors are set to make a killing from the sell-off.投资者准备清仓以便大赚一笔。
• Last week my brother made a killing on Wall Street.上个周我兄弟在华尔街赚了一大笔。

2 violation   

n.违反(行为)，违背(行为)，侵犯

参考例句：

• He roared that was a violation of the rules.他大声说，那是违反规则的。
• He was fined 200 dollars for violation of traffic regulation.他因违反交通规则被罚款200美元。

3 condemned   

adj. 被责难的, 被宣告有罪的 动词condemn的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• He condemned the hypocrisy of those politicians who do one thing and say another. 他谴责了那些说一套做一套的政客的虚伪。
• The policy has been condemned as a regressive step. 这项政策被认为是一种倒退而受到谴责。

4 vengeance   

n.报复，报仇，复仇

参考例句：

• He swore vengeance against the men who murdered his father.他发誓要向那些杀害他父亲的人报仇。
• For years he brooded vengeance.多年来他一直在盘算报仇。

5 previously   

adv.以前，先前（地）

参考例句：

• The bicycle tyre blew out at a previously damaged point.自行车胎在以前损坏过的地方又爆开了。
• Let me digress for a moment and explain what had happened previously.让我岔开一会儿，解释原先发生了什么。

6 indicts   

控告，起诉( indict的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• If the grand jury indicts the suspect, he will go to trial. 如果大陪审团指控嫌疑犯，他就得上法庭。
• The grand jury indicts or refuses to indict accused persons. 大陪审团可起诉或拒绝起诉被告。

7 investigator   

n.研究者，调查者，审查者

参考例句：

• He was a special investigator for the FBI.他是联邦调查局的特别调查员。
• The investigator was able to deduce the crime and find the criminal.调查者能够推出犯罪过程并锁定罪犯。

8 killings   

谋杀( killing的名词复数 )； 突然发大财，暴发

参考例句：

• His statement was seen as an allusion to the recent drug-related killings. 他的声明被视为暗指最近与毒品有关的多起凶杀案。
• The government issued a statement condemning the killings. 政府发表声明谴责这些凶杀事件。

9 implicated   

adj.密切关联的；牵涉其中的

参考例句：

• These groups are very strongly implicated in the violence. 这些组织与这起暴力事件有着极大的关联。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Having the stolen goods in his possession implicated him in the robbery. 因藏有赃物使他涉有偷盗的嫌疑。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

10 portray   

v.描写，描述；画(人物、景象等)

参考例句：

• It is difficult to portray feelings in words.感情很难用言语来描写。
• Can you portray the best and worst aspects of this job?您能描述一下这份工作最好与最坏的方面吗？

11 analyst   

n.分析家，化验员；心理分析学家

参考例句：

• What can you contribute to the position of a market analyst?你有什么技能可有助于市场分析员的职务？
• The analyst is required to interpolate values between standards.分析人员需要在这些标准中插入一些值。

12 outright   

adv.坦率地；彻底地；立即；adj.无疑的；彻底的

参考例句：

• If you have a complaint you should tell me outright.如果你有不满意的事，你应该直率地对我说。
• You should persuade her to marry you outright.你应该彻底劝服她嫁给你。

13 rejection   

n.拒绝，被拒，抛弃，被弃

参考例句：

• He decided not to approach her for fear of rejection.他因怕遭拒绝决定不再去找她。
• The rejection plunged her into the dark depths of despair.遭到拒绝使她陷入了绝望的深渊。

14 tactic   

n.战略，策略；adj.战术的，有策略的

参考例句：

• Reducing prices is a common sales tactic.降价是常用的销售策略。
• She had often used the tactic of threatening to resign.她惯用以辞职相威胁的手法。

15 complicate   

vt.使复杂化，使混乱，使难懂

参考例句：

• There is no need to complicate matters.没有必要使问题复杂化。
• These events will greatly complicate the situation.这些事件将使局势变得极其复杂。

16 killers   

凶手( killer的名词复数 )； 消灭…者； 致命物； 极难的事

参考例句：

• He remained steadfast in his determination to bring the killers to justice. 他要将杀人凶手绳之以法的决心一直没有动摇。
• They were professional killers who did in John. 杀死约翰的这些人是职业杀手。

17 bloc   

n.集团；联盟

参考例句：

• A solid bloc of union members support the decision.工会会员团结起来支持该决定。
• There have been growing tensions within the trading bloc.贸易同盟国的关系越来越紧张。

18 opposition   

n.反对，敌对

参考例句：

• The party leader is facing opposition in his own backyard.该党领袖在自己的党內遇到了反对。
• The police tried to break down the prisoner's opposition.警察设法制住了那个囚犯的反抗。

19 allied   

adj.协约国的；同盟国的

参考例句：

• Britain was allied with the United States many times in history.历史上英国曾多次与美国结盟。
• Allied forces sustained heavy losses in the first few weeks of the campaign.同盟国在最初几周内遭受了巨大的损失。

20 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。

21 ratified   

v.批准，签认（合约等）( ratify的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The treaty was declared invalid because it had not been ratified. 条约没有得到批准，因此被宣布无效。
• The treaty was ratified by all the member states. 这个条约得到了所有成员国的批准。

22 deadlock   

n.僵局，僵持

参考例句：

• The negotiations reached a deadlock after two hours.两小时后，谈判陷入了僵局。
• The employers and strikers are at a deadlock over the wage.雇主和罢工者在工资问题上相持不下。

23 wrangling   

v.争吵，争论，口角( wrangle的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• The two sides have spent most of their time wrangling over procedural problems. 双方大部分时间都在围绕程序问题争论不休。 来自辞典例句
• The children were wrangling (with each other) over the new toy. 孩子为新玩具（互相）争吵。 来自辞典例句

24 consensus   

n.(意见等的)一致，一致同意，共识

参考例句：

• Can we reach a consensus on this issue?我们能在这个问题上取得一致意见吗？
• What is the consensus of opinion at the afternoon meeting?下午会议上一致的意见是什么？

25 analysts   

分析家，化验员( analyst的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• City analysts forecast huge profits this year. 伦敦金融分析家预测今年的利润非常丰厚。
• I was impressed by the high calibre of the researchers and analysts. 研究人员和分析人员的高素质给我留下了深刻印象。

26 abstained   

v.戒（尤指酒），戒除( abstain的过去式和过去分词 )；弃权（不投票）

参考例句：

• Ten people voted in favour, five against and two abstained. 十人投票赞成，五人反对，两人弃权。
• They collectively abstained (from voting) in the elections for local councilors. 他们在地方议会议员选举中集体弃权。 来自《简明英汉词典》

27 imposing   

adj.使人难忘的，壮丽的，堂皇的，雄伟的

参考例句：

• The fortress is an imposing building.这座城堡是一座宏伟的建筑。
• He has lost his imposing appearance.他已失去堂堂仪表。

28 convenes   

召开( convene的第三人称单数 )； 召集； （为正式会议而）聚集； 集合

参考例句：

• The Premier convenes and presides over the executive meetings and plenary meetings of the State Council. 总理召集和主持国务院常务会议和国务院全体会议。 来自汉英非文学 - 中国宪法
• Chinese woman tenth the National People Congress convenes grandly today in Beijing. 中国妇女第十次全国代表大会今天在北京隆重召开。