2006年VOA标准英语-Human Rights Group Slams Hezbollah Civilian Att

By Gary Thomas
London
14 September 2006

The international human rights group Amnesty International has criticized the Lebanon-based militant¹ group Hezbollah for its actions during the recent conflict with Israel. The report follows a earlier one that criticized Israeli actions. 

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A fireman extinguishes a blaze following Katyusha missile attack on  northern Israeli port of Haifa (file photo)   
  
In a report released Thursday, Amnesty International accused Hezbollah of what it called "serious violations³ of international humanitarian⁴ law" during the recent conflict with Israel.

The group said that Hezbollah's stream of rockets fired from Lebanon into northern Israel amounted to the deliberate targeting of civilians⁶. Hezbollah fired thousands of rockets into Israel, killing⁷, Amnesty says, 43 people, including four who died of heart attacks. The rockets used by Hezbollah were Kyatushas, which are not precision weapons.

The group reiterated⁸ its call for an independent, impartial⁹ inquiry¹⁰ into the conduct of both Israel and Hezbollah during the 34-day conflict.

Phillip Luther, one of the researchers and authors of the report, tells VOA that people from all the Arab, Druze, and Jewish communities living in northern Israel were affected¹¹ by the Hezbollah attacks. But, he adds, Hezbollah appears to have tried to deliberately¹² target the Jewish community.

"What we've been particularly looking at as well as the destruction on the ground and the lives that have been shattered in Israel itself has been to try to analyze¹³ the statements made by Hezbollah during the conflict in which they clearly set out the intent not only to hit and kill Israeli civilians, but also in some statements to specifically target Israeli Jews," he said.
 

Hassan Nasrallah  
  
He noted¹⁴ that at one point, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah specifically urged the Arab residents of Haifa to leave, implying that the group only wanted to kill the Jewish population.

Last month, Amnesty International issued a report that was sharply critical of Israeli actions during the conflict, particularly attacks on civilian⁵ targets. Israel denies that it targeted civilians, saying it only went after legitimate¹⁵ Hezbollah targets.

Luther says that Hezbollah also denied any misconduct during the conflict.

"Hezbollah leadership responded essentially¹⁶ that it had abided by as far as possible the laws of war, that any actions that it had taken which had targeted Israeli civilians were limited, were merely done as a form of reprisal¹⁷ against they termed as a disproportionate attack by Israel on Lebanon and the killing of hundreds of civilians," he continued.

But Luther says that is an insufficient¹⁸ excuse in Amnesty International's view.

"Our response to that essentially is that the excuse of reprisals¹⁹, even if that were to be the case, is not one that one can use legitimately²⁰, that the attacking the civilian population of another country in reprisal for attacks on your civilians is another violation² of international humanitarian law in itself in addition to the occasions when one directly and deliberately attacks civilians, if you like, as an action and not a reaction," noted Luther.

Luther says Amnesty International is also investigating Israeli allegations that Hezbollah used the civilian population as human shields. Hezbollah denies the charge, and Luther says there is not enough data to come to any firm conclusion on the issue.

1 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。

2 violation   

n.违反(行为)，违背(行为)，侵犯

参考例句：

• He roared that was a violation of the rules.他大声说，那是违反规则的。
• He was fined 200 dollars for violation of traffic regulation.他因违反交通规则被罚款200美元。

3 violations   

违反( violation的名词复数 )； 冒犯； 违反（行为、事例）； 强奸

参考例句：

• This is one of the commonest traffic violations. 这是常见的违反交通规则之例。
• These violations of the code must cease forthwith. 这些违犯法规的行为必须立即停止。

4 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。

5 civilian   

adj.平民的，民用的，民众的

参考例句：

• There is no reliable information about civilian casualties.关于平民的伤亡还没有确凿的信息。
• He resigned his commission to take up a civilian job.他辞去军职而从事平民工作。

6 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。

7 killing   

n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财

参考例句：

• Investors are set to make a killing from the sell-off.投资者准备清仓以便大赚一笔。
• Last week my brother made a killing on Wall Street.上个周我兄弟在华尔街赚了一大笔。

8 reiterated   

反复地说，重申( reiterate的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• "Well, I want to know about it,'she reiterated. “嗯，我一定要知道你的休假日期，"她重复说。 来自英汉文学 - 嘉莉妹妹
• Some twenty-two years later President Polk reiterated and elaborated upon these principles. 大约二十二年之后，波尔克总统重申这些原则并且刻意阐释一番。

9 impartial   

adj.(in,to)公正的，无偏见的

参考例句：

• He gave an impartial view of the state of affairs in Ireland.他对爱尔兰的事态发表了公正的看法。
• Careers officers offer impartial advice to all pupils.就业指导员向所有学生提供公正无私的建议。

10 inquiry   

n.打听，询问，调查，查问

参考例句：

• Many parents have been pressing for an inquiry into the problem.许多家长迫切要求调查这个问题。
• The field of inquiry has narrowed down to five persons.调查的范围已经缩小到只剩5个人了。

11 affected   

adj.不自然的，假装的

参考例句：

• She showed an affected interest in our subject.她假装对我们的课题感到兴趣。
• His manners are affected.他的态度不自然。

12 deliberately   

adv.审慎地；蓄意地；故意地

参考例句：

• The girl gave the show away deliberately.女孩故意泄露秘密。
• They deliberately shifted off the argument.他们故意回避这个论点。

13 analyze   

vt.分析，解析 (=analyse)

参考例句：

• We should analyze the cause and effect of this event.我们应该分析这场事变的因果。
• The teacher tried to analyze the cause of our failure.老师设法分析我们失败的原因。

14 noted   

adj.著名的，知名的

参考例句：

• The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
• Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。

15 legitimate   

adj.合法的，合理的，合乎逻辑的；v.使合法

参考例句：

• Sickness is a legitimate reason for asking for leave.生病是请假的一个正当的理由。
• That's a perfectly legitimate fear.怀有这种恐惧完全在情理之中。

16 essentially   

adv.本质上，实质上，基本上

参考例句：

• Really great men are essentially modest.真正的伟人大都很谦虚。
• She is an essentially selfish person.她本质上是个自私自利的人。

17 reprisal   

n.报复，报仇，报复性劫掠

参考例句：

• There is no political alternative but a big reprisal.政治上没有旁的选择只能是大规模报复。
• They bombed civilian targets in reprisal.他们炮轰平民目标作为报复。

18 insufficient   

adj.(for，of)不足的，不够的

参考例句：

• There was insufficient evidence to convict him.没有足够证据给他定罪。
• In their day scientific knowledge was insufficient to settle the matter.在他们的时代，科学知识还不能足以解决这些问题。

19 reprisals   

n.报复（行为）( reprisal的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• They did not want to give evidence for fear of reprisals. 他们因为害怕报复而不想作证。
• They took bloody reprisals against the leaders. 他们对领导进行了血腥的报复。 来自《简明英汉词典》

20 legitimately   

ad.合法地；正当地，合理地

参考例句：

• The radio is legitimately owned by the company. 该电台为这家公司所合法拥有。
• She looked for nothing save what might come legitimately and without the appearance of special favour. 她要的并不是男人们的额外恩赐，而是合法正当地得到的工作。 来自英汉文学 - 嘉莉妹妹