VOA标准英语10月-Israeli Prime Minister-Designate Misses Deadline

Today is the first deadline for Israel's current foreign minister to form a new government. Time is running out, as we hear from Robert Berger at the VOA bureau in Jerusalem.
　

Tzipi Livni (file)

Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni's bid to become Israel's first female prime minister in more than 30 years has suffered a setback¹. She failed to meet a deadline to form a new government, but Israel's president granted her a two-week extension.

Livni has already signed a coalition² agreement with the dovish Labor³ Party. But she has not struck a deal with the other key coalition partner, the ultra-Orthodox Shas Party, which opposes her plans to share Jerusalem with the Palestinians.

"Shas holds the key to her government's survival," said Jerusalem Post political correspondent Gil Hoffman. "Shas, as always, is the kingmaker."

In the horse trading that surrounds Israeli coalition talks, money is often an even bigger issue than the peace process. Shas wants about $28 million in child allowances to help support big religious families. The finance minister says that is impossible at the time of a global economic crisis, so Shas is refusing to join the government.

"Shas's demands of raising the child welfare payments and other demands that they have - they have not been solved in any way," Hoffman said. "There has been no progress in any of the negotiations⁴ that there have been with Shas."

If Livni fails to form a government in two weeks, there would be early elections, probably in March of next year. Elections would amount to a referendum on the peace process. Livni supports the creation of a Palestinian state, while her opponent, hawkish⁵ former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, does not.

1 setback   

n.退步，挫折，挫败

参考例句：

• Since that time there has never been any setback in his career.从那时起他在事业上一直没有遇到周折。
• She views every minor setback as a disaster.她把每个较小的挫折都看成重大灾难。

2 coalition   

n.结合体，同盟，结合，联合

参考例句：

• The several parties formed a coalition.这几个政党组成了政治联盟。
• Coalition forces take great care to avoid civilian casualties.联盟军队竭尽全力避免造成平民伤亡。

3 labor   

n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦

参考例句：

• We are never late in satisfying him for his labor.我们从不延误付给他劳动报酬。
• He was completely spent after two weeks of hard labor.艰苦劳动两周后，他已经疲惫不堪了。

4 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。

5 hawkish   

adj. 鹰派的, 强硬派的

参考例句：

• My staff's advice that first day was amazingly hawkish. 在第一天，我的僚属们的意见是令人吃惊的鹰派意见。
• Antiwar groups fear Barack Obama may create hawkish Cabinet. 反战团体担心巴拉克·奥巴马可以创建强硬派内阁。