VOA常速英语2105--巴勒斯坦人寻求以色列身份

巴勒斯坦人寻求以色列身份

WASHINGTON— Most Palestinians living in East Jerusalem have long rejected the option of full Israeli citizenship¹, seeing it as a betrayal to their political cause - the formation of a Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital. But as that dream remains² elusive³, more and more Palestinians are applying for Israeli citizenship.

Palestinians seeking Israeli citizenship usually say they do not have a choice.

希望获得以色列公民身份的巴勒斯坦人通常会说自己别无选择。

"I have a bad feeling because I prefer to have the passport of my country as a Jerusalemite, as a Palestinian, so I should have a Palestinian passport. But unfortunately I cannot get one. Instead, I got something that will only connect me more to Jerusalem," said a Palestinian teacher, who asked not to be identified.

“我感觉不好，因为我更愿意拥有作为耶路撒冷人和巴勒斯坦人的护照，所以我是应该持有巴勒斯坦护照的。但不幸的是我无法得到，我只能得到唯一能让我与耶路撒冷有关的护照。”

While some Palestinians say that full-fledged citizenship enables them to get better jobs and more benefits, others disagree.

尽管一些巴勒斯坦人称全面的公民身份能让他们获得更好的工作和更多福利，但也有人不赞同。

"For someone that has children, expenses, a house and a shop and all these things, the citizenship could never help. If they give us a passport and take away our IDs, it is the same for me,” said Ghassan Nofal, an East Jerusalem resident.

“对于那些有孩子、需要开支，有房屋、店铺等东西的人来说，这个公民身份根本不管用。如果他们给我们护照，带走我们的身份证，这对我来说一样。”

It is not all about benefits. The suburban⁴ Jerusalem homes of some Palestinians got separated from the rest of the city by an Israeli concrete wall built ten years ago after a rash of suicide bombings. Those Palestinians fear they may lose Jerusalem residency.

也不全与福利有关，在经历系列自杀式爆炸后，10年前以色列修建了一道水泥墙，这面墙使得一些巴勒斯坦人在耶路撒冷郊区的房子与该市其他区域相隔离，这些巴勒斯坦人担心会失去在耶路撒冷的居住权。

Interior Ministry⁵ figures obtained by the Reuters news agency show that there were 1,434 passport applications for the year 2012-2013, of which 189 have been approved. Most of the rest are still being processed.

路透社从内政部获得的数据显示，2012到2013年期间有1434个护照申请，其中批准了189个，其余的大多仍在处理中。

"We are indeed witnessing an increase in the number of East Jerusalemites who have permanent residency status in the state of Israel who are seeking Israeli citizenship. The question of how big this increase is - is debatable," said Amnon Ramon, a researcher at the Jerusalem Institute for Israel Studies.

“我们确实看到，在以色列国拥有永久居住权的东耶路撒冷人中有越来越多的人在申请以色列公民身份，至于这个增长幅度有多大仍有争议。”

Palestinian officials pushing for a state that would include the territory of East Jerusalem are concerned.

那些倡导建立包括东耶路撒冷在内一个国家的巴勒斯坦官员们对此表示担忧。

"There is a big risk that if the situation continues, what will the Palestinians negotiate about? They want to negotiate about land - they already lost the land. They want to negotiate for the population and the population is being lost," said Khalil Tafakji, a former member of the Palestinian negotiating team.

“如果这个局面继续下去，就会出现巨大风险，巴勒斯坦人会协商什么呢？他们希望协商土地，他们已经失去了土地，他们希望协商人口问题，但人口已经在减少。”

 

The demographic impact could be even wider, they say, when one considers that the children of those who become Israeli are born Israeli citizens. Officials in Jerusalem deny that the demographics will affect Israel's negotiations⁶ with Palestinians.

他们说，考虑到对于成为以色列公民的人来说，其孩子生下来就是以色列公民，那么人口结构的影响会更大。耶路撒冷官方称人口因素将影响着以色列与巴勒斯坦的协商。

1 citizenship   

n.市民权，公民权，国民的义务(身份)

参考例句：

• He was born in Sweden,but he doesn't have Swedish citizenship.他在瑞典出生，但没有瑞典公民身分。
• Ten years later,she chose to take Australian citizenship.十年后，她选择了澳大利亚国籍。

2 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

3 elusive   

adj.难以表达(捉摸)的；令人困惑的；逃避的

参考例句：

• Try to catch the elusive charm of the original in translation.翻译时设法把握住原文中难以捉摸的风韵。
• Interpol have searched all the corners of the earth for the elusive hijackers.国际刑警组织已在世界各地搜查在逃的飞机劫持者。

4 suburban   

adj.城郊的，在郊区的

参考例句：

• Suburban shopping centers were springing up all over America. 效区的商业中心在美国如雨后春笋般地兴起。
• There's a lot of good things about suburban living.郊区生活是有许多优点。

5 ministry   

n.(政府的)部；牧师

参考例句：

• They sent a deputation to the ministry to complain.他们派了一个代表团到部里投诉。
• We probed the Air Ministry statements.我们调查了空军部的记录。

6 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。