VOA常速英语2008年-Palestinian Population Grows by 30 Percent in P

By Jim Teeple
Jerusalem
11 February 2008

For the first time in a decade there is a new accurate census¹ of Palestinians living in the West Bank, the Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem. VOA's Jim Teeple has details from our Jerusalem Bureau.

The new census says the Palestinian population surveyed has grown by about 30 percent in the past 10 years, up from 2.89 million people to 3.76 million.

The census was compiled by the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics. The bureau's director, Luay Shabaneh, says his statisticians were somewhat surprised because they expected to find more Palestinians than they did.

"According to the population projections² that we did 10 years ago, we were expecting 4 million Palestinians by the end of 2007. While on the ground we were able to count about 3.8 million, about 250,000 less than was expected," he said. "This assumes that population growth is still high, but not as high as what we were expecting."

Shabaneh says another surprising finding is that Israel's 700-kilometer long separation barrier, dividing Israel from Palestinian areas, has not had much of an effect on Palestinian demographics.

But he says the Palestinian Authority needs to move quickly to help Palestinians caught on the wrong side of the barrier, before they are forced to move.

"My explanation for that is that the wall is not affecting them yet severely³ to move," said Shabaneh. "I think the Palestinian Authority should invest to empower people there otherwise I think we will face something like the old city of Hebron, were people have almost evacuated⁴ the city."

Six-thousand census takers compiled the results, and unlike 10 years ago Palestinian census takers were allowed to survey residents of East Jerusalem, which was captured by Israel in the 1967 Six-Day War and later annexed⁵.

Again there were more surprises, with census takers only counting 208,000 Palestinian residents - a number far below what was expected - and a number that is being challenged by Palestinian politicians. But Luay Shabaneh says his census takers were scrupulous⁶ to only count those they found.

"For this year we were able to get into East Jerusalem and count door-to-door. So it is the first time where we have actually what we call real data," he said. "What we counted in this census are what we call usual residents, regardless of right of having residence in Jerusalem. What we counted were the people we found during the counting period in Jerusalem."

A census taken in Israel last year counted nearly 5.1 million Jews, 1.4 million Arab Israelis and 310,000 people described as "others" living in Israel.

Demographics are at the heart of the Israeli-Palestinian dispute and are used by both sides to further their claims in the ongoing⁷ conflict.

1 census   

n.(官方的)人口调查，人口普查

参考例句：

• A census of population is taken every ten years.人口普查每10年进行一次。
• The census is taken one time every four years in our country.我国每四年一次人口普查。

2 projections   

预测( projection的名词复数 )； 投影； 投掷； 突起物

参考例句：

• Their sales projections are a total thumbsuck. 他们的销售量预测纯属估计。
• The council has revised its projections of funding requirements upwards. 地方议会调高了对资金需求的预测。

3 severely   

adv.严格地；严厉地；非常恶劣地

参考例句：

• He was severely criticized and removed from his post.他受到了严厉的批评并且被撤了职。
• He is severely put down for his careless work.他因工作上的粗心大意而受到了严厉的批评。

4 evacuated   

撤退者的

参考例句：

• Police evacuated nearby buildings. 警方已将附近大楼的居民疏散。
• The fireman evacuated the guests from the burning hotel. 消防队员把客人们从燃烧着的旅馆中撤出来。

5 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。

6 scrupulous   

adj.审慎的，小心翼翼的，完全的，纯粹的

参考例句：

• She is scrupulous to a degree.她非常谨慎。
• Poets are not so scrupulous as you are.诗人并不像你那样顾虑多。

7 ongoing   

adj.进行中的，前进的

参考例句：

• The problem is ongoing.这个问题尚未解决。
• The issues raised in the report relate directly to Age Concern's ongoing work in this area.报告中提出的问题与“关心老人”组织在这方面正在做的工作有直接的关系。