A Palestinian American journalist for Al Jazeera is killed in the West Bank

A Palestinian American journalist for Al Jazeera is killed in the West Bank

Transcript¹

Veteran journalist Shireen Abu Aqleh was killed during an Israeli arrest raid on a Palestinian refugee camp in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. The U.S. Embassy is calling for an investigation².

A MART?NEZ, HOST:

A Palestinian American journalist for Al-Jazeera has been killed in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. The U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem says Shireen Abu Akleh was a U.S. citizen and is calling for a swift, thorough and transparent³ investigation. Al-Jazeera, citing the Palestinian Health Authority, says she was shot in the head. Israel says the circumstances surrounding her death aren't yet clear, but it is said to have happened during an Israeli arrest raid on a Palestinian refugee camp. NPR's Daniel Estrin is following this story from Jerusalem. Daniel, your team spoke⁴ with an Al-Jazeera journalist who was there and who was shot in the back. What did he have to say about what happened?

DANIEL ESTRIN, BYLINE⁵: Yeah, his name is Ali Samoudi. He says his team arrived on the scene. Israeli soldiers were surrounding a Palestinian home in Jenin, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, and the journalists were there to cover it. They were wearing vests marked press, they were carrying camera equipment, and the soldiers allowed them to pass in front of them - they weren't stopped. And then, he says, there was one shot, then another, which hit him in the back, and a third shot hit his colleague, Shireen Abu Akleh, in the head.

MART?NEZ: Tell us a bit more about the journalist who was killed.

ESTRIN: She was a veteran correspondent. She worked for decades for Al-Jazeera Arabic. She covered some of the most intense fighting here between Palestinians and Israelis in the second intifada in the early 2000s, and she was a household name for Palestinians who watched her on their television for years, finding out, you know, what was happening in their own backyard from her reports. As you mentioned, she was a U.S. citizen, and the U.S. embassy says she was well-known to the U.S., and they're calling for a swift investigation.

MART?NEZ: And so, Daniel, this is the Israeli-Palestinian conflict here - narratives⁶ compete against each other.

ESTRIN: Yeah.

MART?NEZ: And Israel says that it was a Palestinian gunman who may have shot the journalists.

ESTRIN: Yeah, the Israeli prime minister, Naftali Bennett, spoke about this in parliament, and he said there is a chance Palestinian gunmen killed Shireen Abu Akleh in a firefight with Israeli troops. Now, I would note that the Al-Jazeera journalist we spoke with says there was no firefight at the moment where they were - when they were there, but Israel is calling on Palestinian authorities to conduct a joint⁷ autopsy⁸. And the Israeli prime minister stressed that Israeli soldiers were there in the first place to try to contain an intensified⁹ period of violence in recent weeks. Just this weekend, there was a Palestinian axe¹⁰ attack that killed three Israelis. And just today, Palestinian officials say Israeli troops killed another Palestinian.

MART?NEZ: How might today's killing¹¹ impact this ongoing¹² wave of violence?

ESTRIN: A, it is a really unstable¹³ situation here right now. Palestinians have been carrying out deadly attacks on Israelis in recent weeks, and there have been heightened emotions because nationalist Jewish activists¹⁴ have been visiting and praying at a sensitive Jerusalem holy site, the Al-Aqsa mosque¹⁵ compound. Steps away from where I am right now, in the Old City, you're hearing in the background the church bells ringing. This is a very religiously sensitive place, and the atmosphere right now is heightened. There are Israeli arrest raids in Palestinian villages at night, the economy in the West Bank is dismal¹⁶ following the pandemic, and Israeli officials are calling on their own citizens to bear arms to protect from violence. So there's a hypersensitive feeling that the Israeli government is trying to be sensitive to the anger of its citizens at a moment when the government here is politically struggling to survive. So it's a very unstable moment.

MART?NEZ: That's NPR's Daniel Estrin in Jerusalem. Daniel, thanks.

ESTRIN: You're welcome.

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1 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

2 investigation   

n.调查，调查研究

参考例句：

• In an investigation,a new fact became known, which told against him.在调查中新发现了一件对他不利的事实。
• He drew the conclusion by building on his own investigation.他根据自己的调查研究作出结论。

3 transparent   

adj.明显的，无疑的；透明的

参考例句：

• The water is so transparent that we can see the fishes swimming.水清澈透明，可以看到鱼儿游来游去。
• The window glass is transparent.窗玻璃是透明的。

4 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

5 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

6 narratives   

记叙文( narrative的名词复数 )； 故事； 叙述； 叙述部分

参考例句：

• Marriage, which has been the bourne of so many narratives, is still a great beginning. 结婚一向是许多小说的终点，然而也是一个伟大的开始。
• This is one of the narratives that children are fond of. 这是孩子们喜欢的故事之一。

7 joint   

adj.联合的，共同的；n.关节，接合处；v.连接，贴合

参考例句：

• I had a bad fall,which put my shoulder out of joint.我重重地摔了一跤，肩膀脫臼了。
• We wrote a letter in joint names.我们联名写了封信。

8 autopsy   

n.尸体解剖；尸检

参考例句：

• They're carrying out an autopsy on the victim.他们正在给受害者验尸。
• A hemorrhagic gut was the predominant lesion at autopsy.尸检的主要发现是肠出血。

9 intensified   

v.（使）增强， （使）加剧( intensify的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Violence intensified during the night. 在夜间暴力活动加剧了。
• The drought has intensified. 旱情加剧了。 来自《简明英汉词典》

10 axe   

n.斧子；v.用斧头砍，削减

参考例句：

• Be careful with that sharp axe.那把斧子很锋利，你要当心。
• The edge of this axe has turned.这把斧子卷了刃了。

11 killing   

n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财

参考例句：

• Investors are set to make a killing from the sell-off.投资者准备清仓以便大赚一笔。
• Last week my brother made a killing on Wall Street.上个周我兄弟在华尔街赚了一大笔。

12 ongoing   

adj.进行中的，前进的

参考例句：

• The problem is ongoing.这个问题尚未解决。
• The issues raised in the report relate directly to Age Concern's ongoing work in this area.报告中提出的问题与“关心老人”组织在这方面正在做的工作有直接的关系。

13 unstable   

adj.不稳定的，易变的

参考例句：

• This bookcase is too unstable to hold so many books.这书橱很不结实，装不了这么多书。
• The patient's condition was unstable.那患者的病情不稳定。

14 activists   

n.（政治活动的）积极分子，活动家( activist的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• His research work was attacked by animal rights activists . 他的研究受到了动物权益维护者的抨击。
• Party activists with lower middle class pedigrees are numerous. 党的激进分子中有很多出身于中产阶级下层。 来自《简明英汉词典》

15 mosque   

n.清真寺

参考例句：

• The mosque is a activity site and culture center of Muslim religion.清真寺为穆斯林宗教活动场所和文化中心。
• Some years ago the clock in the tower of the mosque got out of order.几年前，清真寺钟楼里的大钟失灵了。

16 dismal   

adj.阴沉的，凄凉的，令人忧郁的，差劲的

参考例句：

• That is a rather dismal melody.那是一支相当忧郁的歌曲。
• My prospects of returning to a suitable job are dismal.我重新找到一个合适的工作岗位的希望很渺茫。