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 citizenship 1, 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 remains 2 elusive 3, 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 suburban 4 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 Ministry 5 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 negotiations 6 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。