VOA标准英语2009年-Netanyahu Heads to US Amid Crisis in Peace
时间：2019-02-08 作者：英语课 分类：VOA标准英语2009年(十一月)
By Robert Berger
Jerusalem
08 November 2009
Israel's leader is heading to the United States, but trouble is brewing 1 back home with the Palestinians.
Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu left for Washington amid a deepening crisis in the peace process. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas is threatening to step down because of Israel's refusal to freeze all settlement expansion.
Mr. Abbas, who rules the West Bank, is seen as a moderate alternative to the Islamic militant 2 group Hamas. which controls the Gaza Strip. So Israel has urged him to back down from his threat not to run for re-election in January.
But Palestinian chief negotiator Saeb Erekat says Israel has not given anything to Mr. Abbas.
Speaking at a conference in the West Bank, Erekat accused Israel of "stabbing" President Abbas "in the back."
Mr. Netanyahu, who will be in Washington for a speech to American Jewish leaders, opposes demands by the Palestinians and the United States for a complete freeze on settlement construction, offering a partial freeze instead. He says Israel is prepared to resume peace talks immediately, but Mr. Abbas is demanding concessions 3 in advance.
Israel's Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon.
"We are calling on the Palestinians to sit with us, continue the negotiations 4 and the dialogue, without preconditions," Ayalon said.
Erekat says peace talks must pick up where they left off nearly a year ago under the previous Israeli government of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.
Erekat said at that time Israel offered a Palestinian state in all of Gaza, and 93 percent of the West Bank, with land swaps 5 to make up the difference. But the Palestinians rejected it because of a dispute over sovereignty in Jerusalem's Old City.
Mr. Netanyahu is offering much less of the West Bank and is not willing to discuss Palestinian sovereignty in Jerusalem. So the Palestinians say resuming peace talks with the current Israeli government is a non-starter.
- Some militant leaders want to merge with white radicals.一些好斗的领导人要和白人中的激进派联合。
- He is a militant in the movement.他在那次运动中是个激进人物。
- The firm will be forced to make concessions if it wants to avoid a strike. 要想避免罢工，公司将不得不作出一些让步。
- The concessions did little to placate the students. 让步根本未能平息学生的愤怒。
- 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。