2006年VOA标准英语-Israel Rejects Palestinian Truce Offer

By Robert Berger
Jerusalem
24 November 2006
 
Palestinian factions¹ have proposed a truce² with Israel aimed at ending months of fighting in the Gaza Strip. But Israel has rejected the offer, as we hear from Robert Berger at the VOA bureau in Jerusalem.

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Residents of Sderot in southern Israel run for shelter as a siren is heard signaling an incoming rocket, 24 Nov. 2006

The ruling Hamas group and other Palestinian militant³ factions including Islamic Jihad have agreed to halt rocket attacks against Israel. However, the truce, or "hudna" in Arabic, is conditional⁴ on Israel halting all military operations against the Palestinians in Gaza.

"If the Israeli is ready to stop their aggression⁵, so at that time we can give [a] long term hudna or long-term truce, and after that let time heal," said Palestinian Foreign Minister Mahmoud al-Zahar.

Palestinian rocket attacks and the kidnapping of an Israeli soldier in June have prompted a five-month Israeli offensive in Gaza, and militants⁶ have suffered heavy casualties in almost daily raids.

Israel is not prepared to ease up. It says a ceasefire would be meaningless unless Palestinian terror groups disarm⁷. Israeli spokeswoman Miri Eisen says the Palestinians are smuggling⁸ tons of weapons through tunnels under the Egyptian border, and a truce would enable them to rearm for the next round of conflict.

"The smuggling of weapons through these tunnels of terror into the Gaza Strip is a threat," said Eisen. "These are potential weapons that would be exceedingly lethal⁹, even more than the rockets that we see nowadays."

So despite the truce offer, violence is continuing unabated. Rockets were fired at Israel, and Palestinians say a 10-year-old boy was killed in an Israeli raid.

And underscoring the angry mood in Gaza, hundreds of Palestinians buried a 64-year-old grandmother who blew herself up in a failed attack against Israeli troops. She was by far the oldest of more than a hundred suicide bombers¹⁰ who have attacked Israelis since the Palestinian uprising began six years ago.

1 factions   

组织中的小派别，派系( faction的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The gens also lives on in the "factions." 氏族此外还继续存在于“factions〔“帮”〕中。 来自英汉非文学 - 家庭、私有制和国家的起源
• rival factions within the administration 政府中的对立派别

2 truce   

n.休战，(争执，烦恼等的)缓和；v.以停战结束

参考例句：

• The hot weather gave the old man a truce from rheumatism.热天使这位老人暂时免受风湿病之苦。
• She had thought of flying out to breathe the fresh air in an interval of truce.她想跑出去呼吸一下休战期间的新鲜空气。

3 militant   

adj.激进的，好斗的；n.激进分子，斗士

参考例句：

• Some militant leaders want to merge with white radicals.一些好斗的领导人要和白人中的激进派联合。
• He is a militant in the movement.他在那次运动中是个激进人物。

4 conditional   

adj.条件的，带有条件的

参考例句：

• My agreement is conditional on your help.你肯帮助我才同意。
• There are two forms of most-favored-nation treatment:conditional and unconditional.最惠国待遇有两种形式:有条件的和无条件的。

5 aggression   

n.进攻，侵略，侵犯，侵害

参考例句：

• So long as we are firmly united, we need fear no aggression.只要我们紧密地团结，就不必惧怕外来侵略。
• Her view is that aggression is part of human nature.她认为攻击性是人类本性的一部份。

6 militants   

激进分子，好斗分子( militant的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The militants have been sporadically fighting the government for years. 几年来，反叛分子一直对政府实施零星的战斗。
• Despite the onslaught, Palestinian militants managed to fire off rockets. 尽管如此，巴勒斯坦的激进分子仍然发射导弹。

7 disarm   

v.解除武装，回复平常的编制，缓和

参考例句：

• The world has waited 12 years for Iraq to disarm. 全世界等待伊拉克解除武装已有12年之久。
• He has rejected every peaceful opportunity offered to him to disarm.他已经拒绝了所有能和平缴械的机会。

8 smuggling   

n.走私

参考例句：

• Some claimed that the docker's union fronted for the smuggling ring.某些人声称码头工人工会是走私集团的掩护所。
• The evidence pointed to the existence of an international smuggling network.证据表明很可能有一个国际走私网络存在。

9 lethal   

adj.致死的；毁灭性的

参考例句：

• A hammer can be a lethal weapon.铁锤可以是致命的武器。
• She took a lethal amount of poison and died.她服了致命剂量的毒药死了。

10 bombers   

n.轰炸机( bomber的名词复数 )；投弹手；安非他明胶囊；大麻叶香烟

参考例句：

• Enemy bombers carried out a blitz on the city. 敌军轰炸机对这座城市进行了突袭。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The Royal Airforce sill remained dangerously short of bombers. 英国皇家空军仍未脱离极为缺乏轰炸机的危境。 来自《简明英汉词典》