2007年VOA标准英语-Syria: Return of Golan Heights Central to Middl

By Sonja Pace
Quneitra, Golan
08 February 2007

Syria's president has repeatedly called for a renewal¹ of peace talks between his country and neighboring Israel, and some in Israel say now might be a good time to deal.  Central to any negotiations² will be the strategic Golan Heights, an area Israel occupied after the 1967 Arab-Israeli war and later annexed³ - and an area Syria wants back.  In this report from the Syrian town of Quneitra in the Golan, VOA's Sonja Pace takes a look at what is at stake.

This may once have been a bustling⁴ town of 37,000 people, but that was decades ago.  Now, it is a ghost town.

 All that is left of Quneitra are flattened⁵ homes, bullet-riddled buildings, a burnt-out church, a mosque⁶, a destroyed hospital, empty fields, barbed wire and land mines.

The few people here tend to be plain-clothes security police, the few cars on the road belong either to them or to the United Nations, which monitors this demilitarized area.

Quneitra is the capital of the Syrian province of Golan, most of which lies on the other side of the so-called Red Line - under Israeli control.

 
Israeli soldiers have a snowball fight after the first snowfall of the season on Mt. Hermon, in the Golan Heights, Dec. 26, 2006
The Golan was captured by Israel in the 1967 Arab-Israeli war.  Quneitra was part of a strip of land returned to Syria seven years later as part of a cease-fire agreement to end the 1973 war with Israel.

The Syrian government has kept Quneitra the way they got it back, in ruins.  It is a reminder⁷, they say, of the devastation⁸ Israel caused.

Ramadan Ramadan, 70, has lived here with his family for over 50 years.

He welcomes visitors to his modest home and readily talks about the war.  He says the family left for a while, but moved back when it was all over.  He says he does not mind that hardly anyone else lives here now.  He also talks of his family's original home, on the far side of the Red Line, and says maybe one day the children will be able to return.

And that is the sticking point.

"Syria has one major demand.  It needs to recuperate⁹ the Golan Heights," says political analyst¹⁰ Samir al Taqi, who heads the Orient Center research group in Damascus.  He says regaining¹¹ the Golan is a top priority for Syria and impacts Syria's dealings in the region and with the United States.

 
Syrian Druse clergymen from Israeli-occupied Golan Heights visit the unknown martyr's tomb at Qassion Mountain hill in western Damascus (Aug. 2006)
"If you go south of Damascus eight kilometers you will begin to see the Israeli positions on Mount Hermon and nobody can rule Damascus without putting the priority on recuperating¹², I am not saying liberating¹³, but recuperating the Golan Heights," al Taqi says.

Syria has held discussions with Israel about the return of the Golan in the past.  It took part in Middle East peace talks in Madrid in 1991.  Later efforts broke down in the year 2000 without definitive¹⁴ progress.  Then, the Israeli newspaper, Haaretz recently revealed that Syria and Israel had been involved in secret, informal talks between 2004 and 2006.

Syria's Information Minister Mohsen Bilal, tells VOA secret talks are not the answer.

"Always we were against secret negotiations," he says. "We negotiate with honor, with full light [in the open].  Our Syrian style is clear negotiations and to go on to conclude the principles of Madrid [Madrid peace conference] and to get back our Golan Heights."

Bilal says Syria is ready to talk.  But, he says Israel must also be ready to accept and implement¹⁵ U.N. resolutions for its full withdrawal¹⁶ from occupied territory.  And, he says an agreement should be reached within a broader Middle East context, to include resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, which he says is at the center of the problems in the region.

An hour's drive southwest of Damascus in Quneitra, time seems to have stood still. 

Two Syrian officers welcome visitors to this last outpost, just outside of town.  There is a Syrian security checkpoint and a barrier.  Beyond that only U.N. vehicles travel and just down the road flies the Israeli flag where the Israeli occupied part of the Golan begins.  The fields and orchards¹⁷ on the other side may be just a kilometer or two away, but they remain far out of reach, at least for now.

1 renewal   

adj.(契约)延期，续订，更新，复活，重来

参考例句：

• Her contract is coming up for renewal in the autumn.她的合同秋天就应该续签了。
• Easter eggs symbolize the renewal of life.复活蛋象征新生。

2 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。

3 annexed   

[法] 附加的，附属的

参考例句：

• Germany annexed Austria in 1938. 1938年德国吞并了奥地利。
• The outlying villages were formally annexed by the town last year. 那些偏远的村庄于去年正式被并入该镇。

4 bustling   

adj.喧闹的

参考例句：

• The market was bustling with life. 市场上生机勃勃。
• This district is getting more and more prosperous and bustling. 这一带越来越繁华了。

5 flattened   

[医]（水）平扁的，弄平的

参考例句：

• She flattened her nose and lips against the window. 她把鼻子和嘴唇紧贴着窗户。
• I flattened myself against the wall to let them pass. 我身体紧靠着墙让他们通过。

6 mosque   

n.清真寺

参考例句：

• The mosque is a activity site and culture center of Muslim religion.清真寺为穆斯林宗教活动场所和文化中心。
• Some years ago the clock in the tower of the mosque got out of order.几年前，清真寺钟楼里的大钟失灵了。

7 reminder   

n.提醒物，纪念品；暗示，提示

参考例句：

• I have had another reminder from the library.我又收到图书馆的催还单。
• It always took a final reminder to get her to pay her share of the rent.总是得发给她一份最后催缴通知，她才付应该交的房租。

8 devastation   

n.毁坏；荒废；极度震惊或悲伤

参考例句：

• The bomb caused widespread devastation. 炸弹造成大面积破坏。
• There was devastation on every side. 到处都是破坏的创伤。 来自《简明英汉词典》

9 recuperate   

v.恢复

参考例句：

• Stay in the hospital for a few more days to recuperate.再住院几天，好好地恢复。
• He went to the country to recuperate.他去乡下养病去了。

10 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。

11 regaining   

复得( regain的现在分词 )； 赢回； 重回； 复至某地

参考例句：

• She was regaining consciousness now, but the fear was coming with her. 现在她正在恢发她的知觉，但是恐怖也就伴随着来了。
• She said briefly, regaining her will with a click. 她干脆地答道，又马上重新振作起精神来。

12 recuperating   

v.恢复（健康、体力等），复原( recuperate的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• He's still recuperating from his operation. 他动了手术，还在恢复。
• He is recuperating from a serious back injury. 他背部受了重伤，目前正在康复中。 来自辞典例句

13 liberating   

解放，释放( liberate的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• Revolution means liberating the productive forces. 革命就是为了解放生产力。
• They had already taken on their shoulders the burden of reforming society and liberating mankind. 甚至在这些集会聚谈中，他们就已经夸大地把改革社会、解放人群的责任放在自己的肩头了。 来自汉英文学 - 家（1-26） - 家（1-26）

14 definitive   

adj.确切的，权威性的；最后的，决定性的

参考例句：

• This book is the definitive guide to world cuisine.这本书是世界美食的权威指南。
• No one has come up with a definitive answer as to why this should be so.至于为什么该这样，还没有人给出明确的答复。

15 implement   

n.(pl.)工具，器具；vt.实行，实施，执行

参考例句：

• Don't undertake a project unless you can implement it.不要承担一项计划，除非你能完成这项计划。
• The best implement for digging a garden is a spade.在花园里挖土的最好工具是铁锹。

16 withdrawal   

n.取回，提款；撤退，撤军；收回，撤销

参考例句：

• The police were forced to make a tactical withdrawal.警方被迫进行战术撤退。
• They insisted upon a withdrawal of the statement and a public apology.他们坚持要收回那些话并公开道歉。

17 orchards   

（通常指围起来的）果园( orchard的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• They turned the hills into orchards and plains into granaries. 他们把山坡变成了果园，把平地变成了粮仓。
• Some of the new planted apple orchards have also begun to bear. 有些新开的苹果园也开始结苹果了。