2006年VOA标准英语-Abbas, Olmert Agree to Hold Talks

By Jim Teeple
Jerusalem
22 June 2006

The prime minister of Israel and the president of the Palestinian Authority met informally on Thursday in Jordan, and agreed to hold formal talks in the near future.

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Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, left, shakes hands with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, Thursday June 22, 2006   
  
Ehud Olmert and Mahmoud Abbas met, shook hands, kissed each other on the cheek and said they want to meet again soon. It was the first time the two men had met in a year, although the two leaders hold fairly regular phone conversations.

Their meeting was informal. It came at a conference of Nobel Prize winners in the ancient city of Petra, Jordan, being hosted by Jordan's King Abdullah. After the breakfast get-together¹, Prime Minister Olmert said he will meet again with President Abbas, but that he doubted that much progress could come in talks between the two sides, as long as the Palestinian government is controlled by Hamas, considered a terrorist group by Israel, the United States and the European Union.

Israeli officials refused to comment publicly on when a summit might take place, except to say that Israel will dedicate the coming weeks to trying to coordinate² and bring about a meeting between the two men. Palestinian officials say a meeting could take place in two or three weeks. Saeb Erekat, a close aide to Mr. Abbas, says a meeting is long overdue³ and necessary.

"It is very important for these two men to meet and sit down, and that is why it is essential to prepare for the meeting," he said.

Erekat says, because there has been so little contact between the two sides, those preparations will focus on getting the two leaders to address basic issues.

"Reviving the trust between the two sides, reviving the confidence and getting back to a partnership⁴ level," he added.

A spokesman for Hamas expressed doubt that any progress could come from a meeting between the two leaders, saying Palestinians have not come to expect much from high-level contacts between Palestinian and Israeli leaders.

The informal meeting between Mr. Abbas and Mr. Olmert took place just hours after an Israeli air strike killed two Palestinian civilians⁵ in a Gaza Strip refugee camp. It was the latest in a series of botched air-strikes targeting Palestinian militants⁶ that have missed their targets and struck Palestinian civilians instead. Mr. Olmert addressed the issue, saying he was sorry for the civilian deaths that have occurred over the past two weeks, and that they were against Israeli policy

1 get-together   

n.(使)聚集；(使)集合

参考例句：

• Well,Miss Huang,we are planning to have a casual get-together.嗯，黄小姐，我们打算大家小聚一番。
• Will you help me prepare for the get- together of the old classmates?你能否帮我为这次老同学聚会做好准备工作？

2 coordinate   

adj.同等的，协调的；n.同等者；vt.协作，协调

参考例句：

• You must coordinate what you said with what you did.你必须使你的言行一致。
• Maybe we can coordinate the relation of them.或许我们可以调和他们之间的关系。

3 overdue   

adj.过期的，到期未付的；早该有的，迟到的

参考例句：

• The plane is overdue and has been delayed by the bad weather.飞机晚点了，被坏天气耽搁了。
• The landlady is angry because the rent is overdue.女房东生气了，因为房租过期未付。

4 partnership   

n.合作关系，伙伴关系

参考例句：

• The company has gone into partnership with Swiss Bank Corporation.这家公司已经和瑞士银行公司建立合作关系。
• Martin has taken him into general partnership in his company.马丁已让他成为公司的普通合伙人。

5 civilians   

平民，百姓( civilian的名词复数 )； 老百姓

参考例句：

• the bloody massacre of innocent civilians 对无辜平民的血腥屠杀
• At least 300 civilians are unaccounted for after the bombing raids. 遭轰炸袭击之后，至少有300名平民下落不明。

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。