VOA常速英语2007-Israel Begins Reducing Fuel Supplies to Gaza

By Jim Teeple
Jerusalem
29 October 2007

Israeli officials have begun reducing fuel supplies to the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip. VOA's Jim Teeple reports Israel has also closed a key crossing point as part of a package of sanctions Israel says is in response to Palestinian militants² firing rockets into southern Israel.

Israeli officials say they plan to reduce the amount of fuel entering Gaza by five to 11 percent but that the cuts will not affect fuel for the main power plant in Gaza.

Last month Israeli officials declared the Gaza Strip a "hostile territory" and unveiled plans to cut fuel supplies and electricity to Gaza because of daily rocket fire from the Hamas-controlled territory aimed at southern Israel. Mark Regev, a spokesman for Israel's Foreign Ministry³, says the cutbacks are in response to a very real threat from Gaza.

"We think that the people of Gaza and the regime that controls Gaza (Hamas) has to understand a simple reality - that if rockets are being shot on a daily basis into Israel - if they are trying to kill our people - if the people in southern Israel are living in fear in bomb shelters because of these ongoing⁴ volleys of rockets - day after day," he said. "They cannot expect that Israel will go ahead with business as usual while our citizens continue face this terrible threat."

Israeli officials say for now they will not cut electrical supplies to Gaza, until Israel's Supreme⁵ Court rules on a petition by human rights groups challenging the proposed measure. A ruling is expected within days.

In a related move, Israel has announced it is closing one of two remaining crossing points between the Gaza Strip and Israel used to transfer humanitarian⁶ assistance to the territory. Israel closed all commercial crossing points in June, after Hamas seized power in the Gaza Strip. John Ging directs U.N. relief operations in Gaza. He says he does not believe the cutoff of fuel, and the closing of the crossing point will succeed in ending rocket fire from the territory.

"The combination is going to have an impact on the already dreadful humanitarian situation on the ground," he said. "In addition, the stated purpose of all of this is to try and put pressure on, to bring an end to rocket fire into Israel, which we repeatedly condemn⁷. But doing it in this way, which is essentially⁸ collectively punishing the population for firing these rockets into Israel will not succeed. In fact what we suspect it will engender⁹ more hostility¹⁰ among the population of Gaza."

Hamas leaders who control Gaza say they will study the effects of the Israeli cutoff of fuel and then act accordingly. Hamas admits to attacking Israeli troops on the Gaza border, but says it is not behind the continuing rocket fire which is being carried out by other Palestinian militant¹ groups such as Islamic Jihad. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has condemned¹¹ the Israeli measures, calling them a violation¹² of international law.

1 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。

2 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。

3 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。

4 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。

5 supreme   

adj.极度的，最重要的；至高的，最高的

参考例句：

• It was the supreme moment in his life.那是他一生中最重要的时刻。
• He handed up the indictment to the supreme court.他把起诉书送交最高法院。

6 humanitarian   

n.人道主义者，博爱者，基督凡人论者

参考例句：

• She has many humanitarian interests and contributes a lot to them.她拥有很多慈善事业，并作了很大的贡献。
• The British government has now suspended humanitarian aid to the area.英国政府现已暂停对这一地区的人道主义援助。

7 condemn   

vt.谴责，指责；宣判(罪犯)，判刑

参考例句：

• Some praise him,whereas others condemn him.有些人赞扬他，而有些人谴责他。
• We mustn't condemn him on mere suppositions.我们不可全凭臆测来指责他。

8 essentially   

adv.本质上，实质上，基本上

参考例句：

• Really great men are essentially modest.真正的伟人大都很谦虚。
• She is an essentially selfish person.她本质上是个自私自利的人。

9 engender   

v.产生，引起

参考例句：

• A policy like that tends to engender a sense of acceptance,and the research literature suggests this leads to greater innovation.一个能够使员工产生认同感的政策，研究表明这会走向更伟大的创新。
• The sense of injustice they engender is a threat to economic and political security.它们造成的不公平感是对经济和政治安全的威胁。

10 hostility   

n.敌对，敌意；抵制［pl.］交战，战争

参考例句：

• There is open hostility between the two leaders.两位领导人表现出公开的敌意。
• His hostility to your plan is well known.他对你的计划所持的敌意是众所周知的。

11 condemned   

adj. 被责难的, 被宣告有罪的 动词condemn的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• He condemned the hypocrisy of those politicians who do one thing and say another. 他谴责了那些说一套做一套的政客的虚伪。
• The policy has been condemned as a regressive step. 这项政策被认为是一种倒退而受到谴责。

12 violation   

n.违反(行为)，违背(行为)，侵犯

参考例句：

• He roared that was a violation of the rules.他大声说，那是违反规则的。
• He was fined 200 dollars for violation of traffic regulation.他因违反交通规则被罚款200美元。