52 中东地区停火进程又起风波

Mideast Cease-Fire in Trouble?

Meredith Buel

Jerusalem

20 Jun 2001 23:46 UTC

Israel says it will continue to 1)implement 1 a cease-fire with the Palestinians, an announcement Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat says is an attempt to 2)deceive international public opinion. An Israeli and a Palestinian man were killed Wednesday as the violence continued.

Israeli soldiers shot and killed a Palestinian man near a 3)checkpoint close to the West Bank town of Ramallah. The Israeli army says a Jewish settler was killed by Palestinian gunmen in a drive-by shooting near the West Bank town of Nablus.

The violence came after Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and his top security officials issued a statement saying Israel will continue efforts to implement a U.S. brokered 2 4)truce 3 with the Palestinians. The statement followed a meeting of the Israeli security cabinet called by the prime minister to 5)reassess the cease-fire.

Israel says it will not 6)pull back soldiers in the West Bank and Gaza until there is an end to terrorist attacks.

The cease-fire agreement calls on Israel to 7)redeploy its troops to positions held before the Palestinian uprising began nearly nine-months ago.

A spokesman for the prime minister, Dore Gold, says future decisions on easing the closure on the Palestinian territories will depend on how well the cease-fire 8)holds. "I would say we have to take each step at a time, rather than speak about an overarching principle of Israeli policy at the present," he said. "The situation is very fluid. The cease-fire, which barely exists, is 9)fragile. The priority of the government will be to protect the security of the citizens of Israel."

Palestinian President Yasser Arafat denounced as a "lie" Israel's declaration that it remains 4 committed to the cease-fire. He told reporters the move "is an attempt to deceive international public opinion."

Mr. Arafat said Israel is still firing tanks and machine guns, and 10)accused Jewish settlers of continuing violence while under the protection of the army.

The truce was negotiated by the director of the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency, George Tenet, who has played a key role in security discussions between Israel and the Palestinians.

Prime Minister Sharon is scheduled to discuss the cease-fire with President Bush during a trip next week to Washington.

More than 600 people, mostly Palestinians, have died since the 11)conflict began last September.

(1)      implement[5ImplImEnt]vt.贯彻, 实现v.执行

(2)      deceive[dI5si:v]v.欺骗, 行骗

(3)      checkpoint[5tFekpCInt]n.检查站

(4)      truce [ tru:s ] n.休战, 休战协定, 休止

(5)      reassess[ri:E5ses]v.再估价, 再评价, 再课税

(6)      pull back把...向后拉,反悔,(使)撤退,紧缩开支

(7)      redeploy[ri:dI5plCI]vt.调防, 重新部署vi.重新部署

(8)      hold v.保存,把握

(9)      fragile[5frAdVaIl; (?@) 5frAdVl]adj.易碎的, 脆的

(10)      accuse[E5kju:z]vt.控告, 谴责, 非难

(11)      conflict[5kRnflIkt]n.斗争, 冲突vi.抵触, 冲突