VOA标准英语2010年-For Palestinian Refugees at Shatila, '

This week's Middle East peace summit in Washington is setting a goal of one year to resolve what are known as final status issues -- the most intractable of Israeli-Palestinian problems.   Among them is the right of return, which will determine the fate of millions of Palestinian refugees.   Some people have spent decades working for what they feel should be, while others seem resigned to what is.

 

Farhat Farhat, 62, wishes his family had followed their dog. The refugee says he was lucky enough to be born in Palestine.  But in 1948, at seven months old, he and his shepherd parents fled with their sheep and goats and crossed into Lebanon.  Their dog turned around and went back home.   It was, Farhat says, far more intelligent than they were.

Sitting in a narrow alley¹ of the United Nations camp, Farhat sees no compromise on his right to return to the place of his birth.   He says he has no problem with Jews.  He says the two groups got along just fine, before those he refers to as the "foreign Jews" came and Israel was created.   His solution is simple.  The "foreigners" leave and he returns.

Even the Palestinian Authority recognizes Israel's right to exist, so, in the next 12 months, if the peace talks continue, negotiators will try to hash out a compromise.

 

Right to return?

Although the right of return has been a rallying cry of the Palestinian cause, Israel disputes such a "right" exists.   The word does not appear in a key United Nations resolution, a non-binding one at that, which says refugees "should be permitted" to return.

For people like Farhat, it is a right and rights cannot be compromised.   He is somewhat of an elder statesman in the camp, although to call it a camp is misleading.  It is more a ghetto², built up through the years, blasted away at during conflicts, a series of tunnel-like alleys³ with little light and less air, all crisscrossed with jerry-rigged electrical wiring waiting for the next accident.

Shatila, along with its sister camp Sabra, was also the scene of a 1982 massacre⁴ by Israel's Lebanese Christian⁵ allies.  Farhat would never call it home.

He says Palestinians have no basic, humanitarian⁶ rights.  He argues, "People say we live here.  But we don't live."

Can Lebanon be home?

Farhat blames not only the Israelis, but the Lebanese, who have warily⁷ hosted refugees for generations.  Part of Lebanon's argument is that giving Palestinians more rights would weaken the cause.  But absorbing them into civil society would upset a precarious⁸ ethnic-religious balance and, besides, many are still angry at what they see as the Palestinian contribution to the nation's devastating⁹ civil war.

Another problem is the sheer number of Palestinian refugees now -- from some 700,000 who left when Israel was created, to now more than four million, dispersed¹⁰ through the region.  Israel would be hard put to accommodate them all and retain its now-insistent description as a Jewish state.

The population growth can be seen in the tumble of children careening through the maze¹¹ of streets, mixing a game of soccer with a running toy gun battle.   Homemade firecrackers compete with the squeal¹² of a child escaping the pretend enemy barrage¹³.

The father of one young boy has tried to make the idea of Palestine real to his son.  Walid Taha, 47, was born in Shatila, but tells his son what he knows of the village of his heritage, the names of the streets and the people who lived there.  

But as much as Taha says he loves Palestine, he cannot envision himself there.  He says he has been here so long, he is different than his brother who remained behind.   He says the refugees have become what they have become.  Unlike his relatives in Israel, he says the refugees cannot live with the Israelis.

Price of continued conflict

Taha describes how he was born in the small room that is now the family's shop in Shatila.  But he says he does not want to talk emotions, rather realities.   He would just like to be allowed to set up business outside the camp.   He says he is Lebanese. 

The shopkeeper argues that it is not up to his generation, which he describes as one of revolution, fighting and blood.  But that the next generation -- with Israeli and Palestinian children brought together through special efforts -- will have to learn to live together.   He says, eventually, it will happen.

That is not the future Farhat sees.  He says he was a resistance fighter for 40 years.  He says he fought for his country and what he believed in.  He taught his children to have the same national beliefs.  He says, if the political path fails, they should fight too.  He says he has given them his gun.

The political path now appears to entail¹⁴ stepping away from the ideas held by people like Farhat.   It has been seen even in the Arab Peace Initiative of 2002, which refers to a "just solution" for the refugees.   Among proposals discussed is granting the symbols of Palestinian nationality, such as a passport, while offering citizenship¹⁵ in other countries.

The advantages of moving ahead are mixed, but for Israel and the United States, it would weaken an argument for Islamist extremism.   And, it would perhaps undercut the tactic¹⁶ of some Arab governments using the Palestinian cause to deflect¹⁷ attention from problems at home. 

Shopkeeper Taha holds a simpler view.  He says that, in the end, there is going to be peace -- whether the refugees like it or not.  He says there will be continued violence, therefore, he says he hopes peace will come sooner rather than later.

1 alley   

n.小巷，胡同；小径，小路

参考例句：

• We live in the same alley.我们住在同一条小巷里。
• The blind alley ended in a brick wall.这条死胡同的尽头是砖墙。

2 ghetto   

n.少数民族聚居区，贫民区

参考例句：

• Racism and crime still flourish in the ghetto.城市贫民区的种族主义和犯罪仍然十分猖獗。
• I saw that achievement as a possible pattern for the entire ghetto.我把获得的成就看作整个黑人区可以仿效的榜样。

3 alleys   

胡同，小巷( alley的名词复数 )； 小径

参考例句：

• I followed him through a maze of narrow alleys. 我紧随他穿过一条条迂迴曲折的窄巷。
• The children lead me through the maze of alleys to the edge of the city. 孩子们领我穿过迷宫一般的街巷，来到城边。

4 massacre   

n.残杀，大屠杀；v.残杀，集体屠杀

参考例句：

• There was a terrible massacre of villagers here during the war.在战争中，这里的村民惨遭屠杀。
• If we forget the massacre,the massacre will happen again!忘记了大屠杀，大屠杀就有可能再次发生！

5 Christian   

adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒

参考例句：

• They always addressed each other by their Christian name.他们总是以教名互相称呼。
• His mother is a sincere Christian.他母亲是个虔诚的基督教徒。

6 humanitarian   

n.人道主义者，博爱者，基督凡人论者

参考例句：

• She has many humanitarian interests and contributes a lot to them.她拥有很多慈善事业，并作了很大的贡献。
• The British government has now suspended humanitarian aid to the area.英国政府现已暂停对这一地区的人道主义援助。

7 warily   

adv.留心地

参考例句：

• He looked warily around him,pretending to look after Carrie.他小心地看了一下四周，假装是在照顾嘉莉。
• They were heading warily to a point in the enemy line.他们正小心翼翼地向着敌人封锁线的某一处前进。

8 precarious   

adj.不安定的，靠不住的；根据不足的

参考例句：

• Our financial situation had become precarious.我们的财务状况已变得不稳定了。
• He earned a precarious living as an artist.作为一个艺术家，他过得是朝不保夕的生活。

9 devastating   

adj.毁灭性的，令人震惊的，强有力的

参考例句：

• It is the most devastating storm in 20 years.这是20年来破坏性最大的风暴。
• Affairs do have a devastating effect on marriages.婚外情确实会对婚姻造成毁灭性的影响。

10 dispersed   

adj. 被驱散的, 被分散的, 散布的

参考例句：

• The clouds dispersed themselves. 云散了。
• After school the children dispersed to their homes. 放学后，孩子们四散回家了。

11 maze   

n.迷宫，八阵图，混乱，迷惑

参考例句：

• He found his way through the complex maze of corridors.他穿过了迷宮一样的走廊。
• She was lost in the maze for several hours.一连几小时，她的头脑处于一片糊涂状态。

12 squeal   

v.发出长而尖的声音；n.长而尖的声音

参考例句：

• The children gave a squeal of fright.孩子们发出惊吓的尖叫声。
• There was a squeal of brakes as the car suddenly stopped.小汽车突然停下来时，车闸发出尖叫声。

13 barrage   

n.火力网，弹幕

参考例句：

• The attack jumped off under cover of a barrage.进攻在炮火的掩护下开始了。
• The fierce artillery barrage destroyed the most part of the city in a few minutes.猛烈的炮火几分钟内便毁灭了这座城市的大部分地区。

14 entail   

vt.使承担，使成为必要，需要

参考例句：

• Such a decision would entail a huge political risk.这样的决定势必带来巨大的政治风险。
• This job would entail your learning how to use a computer.这工作将需要你学会怎样用计算机。

15 citizenship   

n.市民权，公民权，国民的义务(身份)

参考例句：

• He was born in Sweden,but he doesn't have Swedish citizenship.他在瑞典出生，但没有瑞典公民身分。
• Ten years later,she chose to take Australian citizenship.十年后，她选择了澳大利亚国籍。

16 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。

17 deflect   

v.(使)偏斜，(使)偏离，(使)转向

参考例句：

• Never let a little problem deflect you.决不要因一点小问题就半途而废。
• They decided to deflect from the original plan.他们决定改变原计划。