2015年经济学人 西方国家是否将会停止对巴勒斯坦援助？

Palestine and Western aid

Will it be cut off?

The Israelis ponder their next move in the wake of Palestinian reconciliation¹

FEW Arab towns collect rubbish as smoothly² as Bethlehem.

No sooner have the merchants lowered their shutters³ at the end of the day than the dustmen under the command of Iyad abu Rudeineh are primed to enter its tangle⁴ of restored old alleys⁵.

Much of this success, he admits, is due to an American road-building project that has eased access.

Yet in the wake of a recent reconciliation agreement between Palestine's two main rival parties, the secular⁶ Fatah and the Islamist Hamas,

he fears that American support may cease. For the United States and many Arab and European countries deem Hamas a terror group.

They are prepared to support the Palestinian Authority (PA) run by Mahmoud Abbas of Fatah (pictured), but not if Hamas is involved.

By the time the pope visits Bethlehem on May 25th, he may find the streets strewn with rubbish.

The risks are real. Barely two years have passed since America ended its most recent boycott⁷ of Bethlehem.

That lasted seven years, after its townspeople had elected representatives from two factions⁸ designated by America as terror groups to its council.

Mr Abu Rudeineh worries that the billboards⁹ recently erected¹⁰ hailing the accomplishments¹¹ of America's aid arm, USAID, could soon look out of date.

Palestinian officials say USAID officials cancelled meetings, albeit¹² apologetically, the day after Hamas and Fatah announced their agreement.

Congress, the American officials explained, would not let them “finance terror”.

Whereas the agreement offers Gazans the prospect¹³ that their seaside enclave, run by Hamas, may no longer be boxed in by Israel and Egypt,

Mr Abbas's fief in the West Bank, inland, could end up paying the price.

But America has not yet cut ties as a result of the deal. The day that USAID officials cancelled the meeting,

the World Bank awarded 13m for wastewater projects and America's secretary of state, John Kerry,

hosted a banquet for businessmen to drum up cash for a scheme for investment in Palestine. On the same day, says a senior Palestinian,

Barack Obama talked to Mr Abbas for half an hour on the telephone. While new projects may be put on hold, American officials say old ones may continue.

A music festival backed by USAID in Jericho, in the Jordan valley, for instance, went ahead.

Israel's government says it wants the West to show “moral clarity” by cutting support for any Palestinian government backed by Hamas,

a group that has been responsible for killing¹⁴ more than 1,000 Israelis, many of them civilian¹⁵.

America's Congress may concur¹⁶ with the Israelis, and cut funds to the Palestinians in response to the Fatah-Hamas deal.

But other American officials see a possible benefit if Hamas comes to accept the notion of a two-state settlement with Israel.

These Americans argue that Hamas's dire¹⁷ straits in Gaza may enable Mr Abbas to secure an advantageous¹⁸ deal for himself,

paving the way for his return to power there. And they fear that past boycotts¹⁹ of Hamas may have deprived Western countries of influence in Gaza and helped the Islamists to tighten²⁰ their grip there.

In any case, says one, it would be good if Europeans and Arabs were to make up the shortfall in aid to the Palestinians,

should Congress prompt the American administration to pull out.

So far the Israeli government's response has been more bark than bite. In response to the Fatah-Hamas deal,

Binyamin Netanyahu, Israel's prime minister, declared that he was suspending negotiations²¹ with Mr Abbas and stopping the transfer of customs revenues which comprise two-thirds of Mr Abbas's PA budget.

But he did so only after first allowing the monthly transfer to proceed, nervous lest the PA might collapse²² without it,

thereby²³ stoking general mayhem in the West Bank. Israel, it has been noted²⁴, has itself bargained with Hamas in the past,

arranging repeated ceasefires with it since 2004.

Some Israelis think that they have something to gain by having Hamas on board.

“Political accommodation between the two major Palestinian factions offers Israel the assurance that its negotiating partner has the political legitimacy²⁵,

even if not the full backing, of the Palestinian people,” says Yonatan Touval of Mitvim, a liberal foreign-policy think-tank in Tel Aviv.

Before cutting aid for good, Mr Netanyahu may wait to see who exactly will be in the Palestinians' unity²⁶ government and what its programme will be—indeed,

whether it will happen at all.

1 reconciliation   

n.和解，和谐，一致

参考例句：

• He was taken up with the reconciliation of husband and wife.他忙于做夫妻间的调解工作。
• Their handshake appeared to be a gesture of reconciliation.他们的握手似乎是和解的表示。

2 smoothly   

adv.平滑地，顺利地，流利地，流畅地

参考例句：

• The workmen are very cooperative,so the work goes on smoothly.工人们十分合作，所以工作进展顺利。
• Just change one or two words and the sentence will read smoothly.这句话只要动一两个字就顺了。

3 shutters   

百叶窗( shutter的名词复数 )； （照相机的）快门

参考例句：

• The shop-front is fitted with rolling shutters. 那商店的店门装有卷门。
• The shutters thumped the wall in the wind. 在风中百叶窗砰砰地碰在墙上。

4 tangle   

n.纠缠；缠结；混乱；v.(使)缠绕；变乱

参考例句：

• I shouldn't tangle with Peter.He is bigger than me.我不应该与彼特吵架。他的块头比我大。
• If I were you, I wouldn't tangle with them.我要是你，我就不跟他们争吵。

5 alleys   

胡同，小巷( alley的名词复数 )； 小径

参考例句：

• I followed him through a maze of narrow alleys. 我紧随他穿过一条条迂迴曲折的窄巷。
• The children lead me through the maze of alleys to the edge of the city. 孩子们领我穿过迷宫一般的街巷，来到城边。

6 secular   

n.牧师，凡人；adj.世俗的，现世的，不朽的

参考例句：

• We live in an increasingly secular society.我们生活在一个日益非宗教的社会。
• Britain is a plural society in which the secular predominates.英国是个世俗主导的多元社会。

7 boycott   

n./v.(联合)抵制，拒绝参与

参考例句：

• We put the production under a boycott.我们联合抵制该商品。
• The boycott lasts a year until the Victoria board permitsreturn.这个抗争持续了一年直到维多利亚教育局妥协为止。

8 factions   

组织中的小派别，派系( faction的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The gens also lives on in the "factions." 氏族此外还继续存在于“factions〔“帮”〕中。 来自英汉非文学 - 家庭、私有制和国家的起源
• rival factions within the administration 政府中的对立派别

9 billboards   

n.广告牌( billboard的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Large billboards have disfigured the scenery. 大型告示板已破坏了景色。 来自辞典例句
• Then, put the logo in magazines and on billboards without telling anyone what it means. 接着我们把这个商标刊在杂志和广告看板上，却不跟任何人透漏它的涵意。 来自常春藤生活英语杂志-2006年4月号

10 ERECTED   

adj. 直立的，竖立的，笔直的 vt. 使 ... 直立，建立

参考例句：

• A monument to him was erected in St Paul's Cathedral. 在圣保罗大教堂为他修了一座纪念碑。
• A monument was erected to the memory of that great scientist. 树立了一块纪念碑纪念那位伟大的科学家。

11 accomplishments   

n.造诣；完成( accomplishment的名词复数 )；技能；成绩；成就

参考例句：

• It was one of the President's greatest accomplishments. 那是总统最伟大的成就之一。
• Among her accomplishments were sewing,cooking,playing the piano and dancing. 她的才能包括缝纫、烹调、弹钢琴和跳舞。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

12 albeit   

conj.即使；纵使；虽然

参考例句：

• Albeit fictional,she seemed to have resolved the problem.虽然是虚构的，但是在她看来好象是解决了问题。
• Albeit he has failed twice,he is not discouraged.虽然失败了两次，但他并没有气馁。

13 prospect   

n.前景，前途；景色，视野

参考例句：

• This state of things holds out a cheerful prospect.事态呈现出可喜的前景。
• The prospect became more evident.前景变得更加明朗了。

14 killing   

n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财

参考例句：

• Investors are set to make a killing from the sell-off.投资者准备清仓以便大赚一笔。
• Last week my brother made a killing on Wall Street.上个周我兄弟在华尔街赚了一大笔。

15 civilian   

adj.平民的，民用的，民众的

参考例句：

• There is no reliable information about civilian casualties.关于平民的伤亡还没有确凿的信息。
• He resigned his commission to take up a civilian job.他辞去军职而从事平民工作。

16 concur   

v.同意，意见一致，互助，同时发生

参考例句：

• Wealth and happiness do not always concur.财富与幸福并非总是并存的。
• I concur with the speaker in condemning what has been done.我同意发言者对所做的事加以谴责。

17 dire   

adj.可怕的，悲惨的，阴惨的，极端的

参考例句：

• There were dire warnings about the dangers of watching too much TV.曾经有人就看电视太多的危害性提出严重警告。
• We were indeed in dire straits.But we pulled through.那时我们的困难真是大极了，但是我们渡过了困难。

18 advantageous   

adj.有利的；有帮助的

参考例句：

• Injections of vitamin C are obviously advantageous.注射维生素C显然是有利的。
• You're in a very advantageous position.你处于非常有利的地位。

19 boycotts   

（对某事物的）抵制( boycott的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Their methods included boycotts and court action, supplemented by'sit-ins". 他们的主要方法包括联合抵制、法庭起诉，还附带进行静坐抗议。
• Are boycotts for other purposes illegal? 至于用于其它目的的联合抵制行动是否也是非法的呢？

20 tighten   

v.(使)变紧；(使)绷紧

参考例句：

• Turn the screw to the right to tighten it.向右转动螺钉把它拧紧。
• Some countries tighten monetary policy to avoid inflation.一些国家实行紧缩银根的货币政策，以避免通货膨胀。

21 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。

22 collapse   

vi.累倒；昏倒；倒塌；塌陷

参考例句：

• The country's economy is on the verge of collapse.国家的经济已到了崩溃的边缘。
• The engineer made a complete diagnosis of the bridge's collapse.工程师对桥的倒塌做了一次彻底的调查分析。

23 thereby   

adv.因此，从而

参考例句：

• I have never been to that city,,ereby I don't know much about it.我从未去过那座城市，因此对它不怎么熟悉。
• He became a British citizen,thereby gaining the right to vote.他成了英国公民，因而得到了投票权。

24 noted   

adj.著名的，知名的

参考例句：

• The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
• Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。

25 legitimacy   

n.合法，正当

参考例句：

• The newspaper was directly challenging the government's legitimacy.报纸直接质疑政府的合法性。
• Managing from the top down,we operate with full legitimacy.我们进行由上而下的管理有充分的合法性。

26 unity   

n.团结，联合，统一；和睦，协调

参考例句：

• When we speak of unity,we do not mean unprincipled peace.所谓团结，并非一团和气。
• We must strengthen our unity in the face of powerful enemies.大敌当前，我们必须加强团结。