VOA标准英语2009年-Gap Widens Between Israelis and Palestinia

By Luis Ramirez
Charasha settlement, West Bank
24 September 2009

Despite calls by President Obama for peace negotiations¹ to begin, Israel and the Palestinians are not making plans to resume talks. One issue holding up the peace process is Israel's continuing construction inside Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank. The Palestinians have said they will not return to talks unless Israel freezes construction. Israelis living in the settlements say they should have a right to build homes to accommodate growing families.

 
Houses in West Bank settlement of Dolev
For thousands of Israelis, life in the settlements of the occupied West Bank means spacious² homes, tight-knit communities, and peace - at least inside the barbed wire.

 
Pnina Ariel
Pnina Ariel is originally from the U.S. She welcomes journalists on an organized tour, into her home, where she raised several children. "In here, for the children, it's great for them. It's very nice to raise the children here. The ties, the connections, it makes for very strong community ties. A lot of people relate to that and want it for themselves, forgetting about what's around us," she said.

What's around them is a Palestinian population that increasingly wants the settlers to go.

 
Ali Yacoub
In the village of A'yn Qenya near Dolev, Ali Yacoub is unemployed³, four years after losing his job as a cook inside the settlement. "There are no permits to go into the settlement anymore. I should qualify for a permit because I am 57 years old, but I do not have one. The school where I used to work as a cook does not want Arabs working there," he said.

Like all Palestinians who worked on the settlement, Yacoub was laid off after the last Palestinian uprising in 2000. It prompted Israel's government to seal off Jewish communities in the West bank to stop attacks by Arabs against Jews.

The road between Arab A'yn Qenya and Jewish Dolev is now sealed.

With jobs and all semblance⁴ of interaction gone, Yacoub says for him, there is even less reason to want the settlers around. "There is not one person in the world who does not hope for peace. But there is one basic thing: As long as the settlements exist, there will be no peace," he said.

The tour, organized by Jewish settlers, is on a bullet-proof bus. It takes reporters into another settlement.

 
Zimra Siegman
Zimra Siegman, originally from the United States, lived on a settlement in the Gaza Strip until Israel evicted⁵ all Jewish settlers from Gaza in 2005. Her family has been living in a trailer here at the Charasha settlement. "I would like to build a home here. We have seven children and the caravan⁶ is a little small for us. We need very much to expand our home, but right now, we're unable to," she siad. "Since I lived through this once already, I have to admit that putting all your life savings⁷ into building a home and having it mowed⁸ over by a tractor is very difficult."

With peace negotiations stalled and the future of the settlements unclear, Zimra, like thousands of other young settlers, are watching and waiting.

1 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。

2 spacious   

adj.广阔的，宽敞的

参考例句：

• Our yard is spacious enough for a swimming pool.我们的院子很宽敞，足够建一座游泳池。
• The room is bright and spacious.这房间很豁亮。

3 unemployed   

adj.失业的，没有工作的；未动用的，闲置的

参考例句：

• There are now over four million unemployed workers in this country.这个国家现有四百万失业人员。
• The unemployed hunger for jobs.失业者渴望得到工作。

4 semblance   

n.外貌，外表

参考例句：

• Her semblance of anger frightened the children.她生气的样子使孩子们感到害怕。
• Those clouds have the semblance of a large head.那些云的形状像一个巨大的人头。

5 evicted   

v.（依法从房屋里或土地上）驱逐，赶出( evict的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• A number of tenants have been evicted for not paying the rent. 许多房客因不付房租被赶了出来。
• They had evicted their tenants for non-payment of rent. 他们赶走了未交房租的房客。

6 caravan   

n.大蓬车；活动房屋

参考例句：

• The community adviser gave us a caravan to live in.社区顾问给了我们一间活动住房栖身。
• Geoff connected the caravan to the car.杰弗把旅行用的住屋拖车挂在汽车上。

7 savings   

n.存款，储蓄

参考例句：

• I can't afford the vacation,for it would eat up my savings.我度不起假，那样会把我的积蓄用光的。
• By this time he had used up all his savings.到这时，他的存款已全部用完。

8 mowed   

v.刈，割( mow的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The enemy were mowed down with machine-gun fire. 敌人被机枪的火力扫倒。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• Men mowed the wide lawns and seeded them. 人们割了大片草地的草，然后在上面播种。 来自辞典例句