50 以色列巴勒斯坦停火谈判仍在继续

Fragile Israeli-Palestinian Cease-fire Continues

Meredith Buel

Jerusalem

20 Jun 2001 15:14 UTC

Israel says it will continue to take steps to 1)implement 1 a 2)fragile cease-fire with the Palestinians.

Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and his top security officials said in a statement issued after a meeting to assess the cease-fire that Israel will continue efforts to implement a U.S. brokered 2 truce 3 with the Palestinians.

However, Israel says it will not pull back soldiers in the West Bank and Gaza until there is an end to terrorist attacks. The cease-fire agreement requires Israel to redeploy its troops to positions held before the Palestinian 3)uprising began nearly nine months ago.

The statement says Israel retains the right of self-defense and the right to 4)foil attacks directed at its citizens and soldiers. It 5)accuses the Palestinian Authority of not 6)fulfilling its 7)obligations under the cease-fire.

Mr. Sharon warned that Israel would reconsider its commitment to the 8)truce, after Palestinian gunmen killed two Jewish settlers this week in the West Bank.

On Wednesday, a bomb exploded in the Israeli town of Hadera, but there were no injuries.

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 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," Mr. Gold saud. "The situation is very 9)fluid. The cease-fire, which barely exists, is 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. Mr. Arafat told reporters the move "is an attempt to deceive international public opinion."

Mr. Arafat said Israel is still firing tanks and machine guns, and accused Jewish 10)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 11)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 12)conflict began last September.

(1)      implement[5ImplImEnt]n.[常 pl.] 工具, 器具vt.贯彻, 实现v.执行

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

(3)      uprising[Qp5raIzIN]n.起义, 升起

(4)      foil[fCIl]vt.衬托, 阻止, 挡开, 挫败

(5)      accuse[E5kju:z]vt.控告, 谴责, 非难

(6)      fulfill[fJl5fIl]vt.履行, 实现, 完成(计划等)

(7)      obligation[RblI5^eIF(E)n]n.义务, 职责, 债务

(8)      truce[tru:s]n.休战, 休战协定, 休止

(9)      fluid[5flu:Id]n.流动性adj.流动的, 不固定的, 可改变的

(10)      settler[5setlE(r)]n.移民者, 殖民者

(11)      scheduled[`FedjU:Lld,-dVU:-; `skedVU:Lld, -dVJE-]adj.预定的

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