VOA标准英语2008年-Palestinians Savor Open Gaza Border

By Jim Teeple
Gaza
24 January 2008

Palestinians by the thousands continue to pour across the now open border between the Gaza Strip and Egypt - shopping, visiting relatives and enjoying their new-found freedom of movement. VOA's Jim Teeple reports from Gaza that Egyptian troops are increasing security in a bid to control the chaos¹ along the border, and most people in Gaza believe their border with Egypt will be closed again very soon.

The once impregnable border between Gaza and Egypt seems a distant memory as tens of thousands of people flood in both directions across the remnants of a huge steel wall. It was constructed by Israeli military engineers to last for decades and toppled early Wednesday. Since then, Palestinians have been pouring into the Egyptian border town of Rafah, buying everything in sight.

Egyptian merchants are doing their best to serve this brand new market. Shopkeeper Sayed says he was surprised when a 200-meter section of the Gaza border wall came down early Wednesday. Since then, he has sold more than $7,000 worth of merchandise from his store on Rafah's main street.

Sayed says he was not ready for the thousands of Palestinians who converged² on his small shop, and he was surprised by how badly they needed basic goods.

As thousands of Palestinians pour into Rafah, and Egyptians pour into the town to sell them everything from goats to motorcycles to cement, Egyptian security forces have moved into the town in force - sealing Rafah's outer borders to keep Palestinians from Gaza from leaving for other parts of Egypt.

Imad Mustapha was a senior Fatah security official in the Palestinian unity³ government, which was overthrown⁴ by Hamas last year as it took control of the Gaza Strip. He says the chaos in Rafah is a concern, but he is enjoying being able to leave Gaza - if only for a few hours.

"In fact I was surprised," said Imad Mustapha. "I did not expect that. It was really something you cannot even see in a dream - just to open the borders between us and Egypt. But it is ok for us just to go out from that big prison."

Israel sealed all of its crossings into the Gaza Strip last week in a bid to halt Palestinian rocket fire into southern Israel. The move was criticized by many, but Israel says it proved effective and that it will keep the borders sealed except for humanitarian⁵ aid. The Gaza Strip has been under international embargo⁶ ever since Hamas ousted⁷ Fatah forces from the area last June.

Mustapha says he believes the Egyptians will seal its border soon, and Gazans will return to their "prison" as he puts it.

That belief is shared by nearly everyone now converging⁸ on Rafah, and by senior Hamas leaders like Ahmed Yousef. Yousef says Hamas would like Egypt to take this opportunity to try and broker⁹ reconciliation¹⁰ between Hamas and Fatah, which controls the West Bank.

"We never stopped talking to the Egyptians," said Ahmed Yousef. "From day one after the takeover [of Gaza by Hamas], we talked to them, and tried to explain to them what happened. We told them, we are not going to have a Gaza state, but are willing to have unity among the Palestinians, to keep Gaza and the West Bank as a Palestinian state. And, if they are willing, we would like them to mediate¹¹ the situation between Fatah and Hamas to reconcile the rift¹² between the brothers in Fatah and Hamas."

For his part, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas says his Fatah forces are willing to assume security at Gaza's border crossings, but a reconciliation with Hamas will only come when Hamas agrees to restore his governing authority in Gaza.

Hamas leaders like Ahmed Yousef also deny responsibility for bringing down the Gaza border wall. Yousef says who brought down the wall is not important, but why it was brought down is. He says Muslims around the world were outraged¹³ by what was happening in Gaza, and that is why the Gaza border wall came down.

1 chaos   

n.混乱，无秩序

参考例句：

• After the failure of electricity supply the city was in chaos.停电后，城市一片混乱。
• The typhoon left chaos behind it.台风后一片混乱。

2 converged   

v.（线条、运动的物体等）会于一点( converge的过去式 )；（趋于）相似或相同；人或车辆汇集；聚集

参考例句：

• Thousands of supporters converged on London for the rally. 成千上万的支持者从四面八方汇聚伦敦举行集会。
• People converged on the political meeting from all parts of the city. 人们从城市的四面八方涌向这次政治集会。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 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。

4 overthrown   

adj. 打翻的，推倒的，倾覆的 动词overthrow的过去分词

参考例句：

• The president was overthrown in a military coup. 总统在军事政变中被赶下台。
• He has overthrown the basic standards of morality. 他已摒弃了基本的道德标准。

5 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。

6 embargo   

n.禁运（令）；vt.对...实行禁运，禁止（通商）

参考例句：

• This country put an oil embargo on an enemy country.该国对敌国实行石油禁运。
• During the war,they laid an embargo on commerce with enemy countries.在战争期间，他们禁止与敌国通商。

7 ousted   

驱逐( oust的过去式和过去分词 )； 革职； 罢黜； 剥夺

参考例句：

• He was ousted as chairman. 他的主席职务被革除了。
• He may be ousted by a military takeover. 他可能在一场军事接管中被赶下台。

8 converging   

adj.收敛[缩]的，会聚的，趋同的v.（线条、运动的物体等）会于一点( converge的现在分词 )；（趋于）相似或相同；人或车辆汇集；聚集

参考例句：

• Plants had gradually evolved along diverging and converging pathways. 植物是沿着趋异和趋同两种途径逐渐演化的。 来自辞典例句
• This very slowly converging series was known to Leibniz in 1674. 这个收敛很慢的级数是莱布尼茨在1674年得到的。 来自辞典例句

9 broker   

n.中间人，经纪人；v.作为中间人来安排

参考例句：

• He baited the broker by promises of higher commissions.他答应给更高的佣金来引诱那位经纪人。
• I'm a real estate broker.我是不动产经纪人。

10 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。

11 mediate   

vi.调解，斡旋；vt.经调解解决；经斡旋促成

参考例句：

• The state must mediate the struggle for water resources.政府必须通过调解来解决对水资源的争夺。
• They may be able to mediate between parties with different interests.他们也许能在不同利益政党之间进行斡旋。

12 rift   

n.裂口，隙缝，切口；v.裂开，割开，渗入

参考例句：

• He was anxious to mend the rift between the two men.他急于弥合这两个人之间的裂痕。
• The sun appeared through a rift in the clouds.太阳从云层间隙中冒出来。

13 outraged   

a.震惊的，义愤填膺的

参考例句：

• Members of Parliament were outraged by the news of the assassination. 议会议员们被这暗杀的消息激怒了。
• He was outraged by their behavior. 他们的行为使他感到愤慨。