VOA标准英语2010年-US Mideast Envoy in Region for Start o

Palestinian girls walk near a billboard¹ with a picture of US President Barack Obama, in the West Bank city of Ramallah, 3 May 2010. The US Mideast envoy² George Mitchell returned to the region on Monday to wrap up preparations for the resumption of indirect Israeli-Palestinian peace talks after more than a year of painstaking³ efforts.

U.S. Special Envoy George Mitchell has arrived in Israel for what the United States hopes will be the start of indirect negotiations⁴ in the next few days between Israel and the Palestinians.  Neither side has been talking to the other for almost a year and a half.

 

All sides are expressing cautious optimism that after more than a year and a-half, the peace process may start moving again.

U.S. envoy George Mitchell's agenda this week includes meetings with Israeli officials and shuttling to the West Bank to speak with Palestinian leaders.  His job is to prepare the ground for indirect talks that the United States will mediate⁵.

The Israeli prime minister's spokesman, Mark Regev, tells VOA Israel is seeing signs the Palestinians are ready to get the process going again.

"We have received positive indications and we are hopeful that we are about to start now a process of negotiation," said Regev.  "We hope that these proximity⁷ talks will lead very quickly to direct talks." 

The Palestinians say direct talks will not happen until Israel stops building in the occupied West Bank and in East Jerusalem, a precondition they had not placed in prior rounds of negotiations.

A senior Middle East analyst⁸ with the International Crisis Group in Jerusalem, Rob Blecher, says frustration⁹ over continued expansion of Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem, and the general lack of progress toward achieving a Palestinian state, has prompted the Palestinian leadership to look for new strategies.

"In order to reverse the situation and to give themselves a little bit more leverage¹⁰, they are turning towards new kinds of ideas or at least ideas that they are pushing forward and making more prominent than they were before," said Blecher.

Those strategies include lobbying the international community, building institutions, and encouraging acts of popular, non-violent resistance against the Israeli occupation.

Palestinian officials say they received assurances from Washington that all core issues would be discussed in the indirect talks.  Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat spoke⁶ at a meeting of the Arab League last week in Cairo.

"What we have from the Americans today satisfied our requests and demands and we hope that we will [see] the deeds not the words," said Erekat.

Blecher says Washington has much confidence-building to do.

"The U.S. needs to demonstrate that its mediation¹¹ can bear fruit," added Blecher.  "This is what the Palestinians are convinced Obama has not shown in the past 18 months.  They were expecting a much stronger intervention¹² by Obama last year, in 2009, when Obama stepped back from his demand for a complete settlement freeze and this led Palestinians to feel betrayed and abandoned."

At the same time, the Israeli leadership is suspicious of the Obama administration, which many in Israel believe has not been as favorable as previous U.S. administrations.

Envoy Mitchell's task now is to renew the faith of both Palestinians and Israelis that the United States can produce results - something both sides agree they have not seen so far.
 

1 billboard   

n.布告板，揭示栏，广告牌

参考例句：

• He ploughed his energies into his father's billboard business.他把精力投入到父亲的广告牌业务中。
• Billboard spreads will be simpler and more eye-catching.广告牌广告会比较简单且更引人注目。

2 envoy   

n.使节，使者，代表，公使

参考例句：

• Their envoy showed no sign of responding to our proposals.他们的代表对我方的提议毫无回应的迹象。
• The government has not yet appointed an envoy to the area.政府尚未向这一地区派过外交官。

3 painstaking   

adj.苦干的；艰苦的，费力的，刻苦的

参考例句：

• She is not very clever but she is painstaking.她并不很聪明，但肯下苦功夫。
• Through years of our painstaking efforts,we have at last achieved what we have today.大家经过多少年的努力，才取得今天的成绩。

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 mediate   

vi.调解，斡旋；vt.经调解解决；经斡旋促成

参考例句：

• The state must mediate the struggle for water resources.政府必须通过调解来解决对水资源的争夺。
• They may be able to mediate between parties with different interests.他们也许能在不同利益政党之间进行斡旋。

6 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。

7 proximity   

n.接近，邻近

参考例句：

• Marriages in proximity of blood are forbidden by the law.法律规定禁止近亲结婚。
• Their house is in close proximity to ours.他们的房子很接近我们的。

8 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。

9 frustration   

n.挫折，失败，失效，落空

参考例句：

• He had to fight back tears of frustration.他不得不强忍住失意的泪水。
• He beat his hands on the steering wheel in frustration.他沮丧地用手打了几下方向盘。

10 leverage   

n.力量，影响；杠杆作用，杠杆的力量

参考例句：

• We'll have to use leverage to move this huge rock.我们不得不借助杠杆之力来移动这块巨石。
• He failed in the project because he could gain no leverage. 因为他没有影响力，他的计划失败了。

11 mediation   

n.调解

参考例句：

• The dispute was settled by mediation of the third country. 这场争端通过第三国的斡旋而得以解决。
• The dispute was settled by mediation. 经调解使争端得以解决。

12 intervention   

n.介入，干涉，干预

参考例句：

• The government's intervention in this dispute will not help.政府对这场争论的干预不会起作用。
• Many people felt he would be hostile to the idea of foreign intervention.许多人觉得他会反对外来干预。