VOA常速英语2008年-Abbas in Moscow to Push for Mideast Peace Confe

By Colin McCullough
Moscow
17 April 2008

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas arrived in Moscow earlier this week.  In meetings with Russian officials, Mr. Abbas will discuss the Mideast peace process and plans for a Mideast conference Russia is expected to host. Abbas says talks with Israel have stalled, and a new conference is needed to restart the peace process. From Moscow, Colin McCullough reports for the VOA.

Mr. Abbas arrived Wednesday evening and is scheduled to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday.

On Thursday, the Palestinian president spoke¹ at Moscow's State Institute for International Relations, where he was awarded an honorary doctorate².

He told the audience that the international conference will be held in Moscow in June.

He said the conference is needed to move the peace process between Israel and the Palestinians forward.  He added that he hopes it will also lay the groundwork for peace agreements between Israel and Syria and Lebanon.

He said talks with Israel since the Annapolis, Maryland conference last November have hit roadblocks.

The talks, which aim to reach a peace agreement by the end of this year, have stalemated over Palestinian rocket attacks on Israel, launched from the Gaza Strip, and Israeli settlement expansion in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

Russia has recently strengthened its ties with the Palestinian Authority, which governs the West Bank.

But although it is a member of the so-called Middle East Quartet, Moscow also has relations with Hamas, and senior members of Hamas have been invited to Moscow for talks with Russian officials.

The Quartet, which also includes the U.N., Europe and the United States, says Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip, is a terrorist group.

Alexey Malashenko is a Scholar-in-Residence at the Carnegie Moscow Center.

He says Russia has recognized Hamas to enhance its influence in the region and to establish its niche³ in the Middle East.  He adds that Russia's Middle East policy allows the government to talk with radical⁴ Islamic groups. 

A Russian foreign ministry⁵ official confirmed Thursday that Hamas representatives would not be invited to the upcoming summit.

Israel's government has expressed reservations about a Mideast conference in Moscow and has not yet said whether it will attend.

1 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

2 doctorate   

n.(大学授予的)博士学位

参考例句：

• He hasn't enough credits to get his doctorate.他的学分不够取得博士学位。
• Where did she do her doctorate?她在哪里攻读博士？

3 niche   

n.壁龛；合适的职务(环境、位置等)

参考例句：

• Madeleine placed it carefully in the rocky niche. 玛德琳小心翼翼地把它放在岩石壁龛里。
• The really talented among women would always make their own niche.妇女中真正有才能的人总是各得其所。

4 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。

5 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。