VOA标准英语2009年-Israel Bombs Gaza Tunnel in Response to Mo

Israeli warplanes have pounded a tunnel leading from the Gaza Strip to Egypt. Israel believes the tunnel was being used to smuggle¹ explosives to the Palestinian enclave.
　
A Palestinian man works at one of the tunnels linking the southern Gaza Strip town of Rafah with Egypt following an overnight Israeli air strike on the area, 10 Aug 2009

Israel says the pre-dawn raid on the tunnel at Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip was in response to mortar² and rocket attacks from militants⁴ in Gaza against the Jewish State.

The Israeli military says Palestinian militants fired mortars⁵ Sunday at the main border crossing between Israel and Gaza while medical patients were being transferred to Israel for treatment.

The Rafah tunnel is part of a system that Gaza residents have been using to bypass the blockade Israel and Egypt have maintained on the militant³ Hamas group that rules Gaza.

Israel's aim is to weaken Hamas, which opposes peace with the Jewish state. The group has controlled the Gaza Strip since ousting⁶ the rival Fatah faction⁷ of moderate Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in 2007. Since then, Fatah has controlled only the West Bank.

In the West Bank town of Bethlehem, members of Fatah voted at the end of the faction's first convention in 20 years.

Results will determine whether the organization is able to bring in new faces or maintain its old guard, who many within the organization accuse of inaction and corruption⁸.

Mr. Abbas' government in recent months has staged a crackdown on Hamas militants in the West Bank. His efforts to hold the convention and establish a more united faction are meant to further undermine Hamas.

Rami Nasrallah heads the International Peace and Cooperation Center, a research organization in Jerusalem.

"Abbas wants to prevent a situation like in Gaza [where] Hamas will be able to control. He really wants to show that Hamas is not an option and this option is going to fail," Nasrallah said.

Fatah members at the convention, which started last week, endorsed⁹ the peace process with Israel.

But Israeli officials expressed skepticism after the Palestinian faction also said it maintained the right to armed resistance.

1 smuggle   

vt.私运；vi.走私

参考例句：

• Friends managed to smuggle him secretly out of the country.朋友们想方设法将他秘密送出国了。
• She has managed to smuggle out the antiques without getting caught.她成功将古董走私出境，没有被逮捕。

2 mortar   

n.灰浆，灰泥；迫击炮；v.把…用灰浆涂接合

参考例句：

• The mason flushed the joint with mortar.泥工用灰浆把接缝处嵌平。
• The sound of mortar fire seemed to be closing in.迫击炮的吼声似乎正在逼近。

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 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。

5 mortars   

n.迫击炮( mortar的名词复数 )；砂浆；房产；研钵

参考例句：

• They could not move their heavy mortars over the swampy ground. 他们无法把重型迫击炮移过那片沼泽地。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Where the hell are his mortars? 他有迫击炮吗？ 来自教父部分

6 ousting   

驱逐( oust的现在分词 )； 革职； 罢黜； 剥夺

参考例句：

• The resulting financial chaos led to the ousting of Bristol-Myers' s boss. 随后引发的财政混乱导致了百时美施贵宝的总裁下台。
• The ousting of the president has drawn widespread criticism across Latin America and the wider world. 洪都拉斯总统被驱逐时间引起拉丁美洲甚至全世界的广泛批评。

7 faction   

n.宗派，小集团；派别；派系斗争

参考例句：

• Faction and self-interest appear to be the norm.派系之争和自私自利看来非常普遍。
• I now understood clearly that I was caught between the king and the Bunam's faction.我现在完全明白自己已陷入困境，在国王与布纳姆集团之间左右为难。

8 corruption   

n.腐败，堕落，贪污

参考例句：

• The people asked the government to hit out against corruption and theft.人民要求政府严惩贪污盗窃。
• The old man reviled against corruption.那老人痛斥了贪污舞弊。

9 endorsed   

vt.& vi.endorse的过去式或过去分词形式v.赞同( endorse的过去式和过去分词 )；在（尤指支票的）背面签字；在（文件的）背面写评论；在广告上说本人使用并赞同某产品

参考例句：

• The committee endorsed an initiative by the chairman to enter discussion about a possible merger. 委员会通过了主席提出的新方案，开始就可能进行的并购进行讨论。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The government has broadly endorsed a research paper proposing new educational targets for 14-year-olds. 政府基本上支持建议对14 岁少年实行新教育目标的研究报告。 来自《简明英汉词典》