经济学人229:认可巴勒斯坦 大波纷争来袭

 　　Recognising Palestine

　　认可巴勒斯坦

　　A state of things to come

　　大波纷争来袭

　　Britain votes to recognise a Palestinian state

　　英国投票承认巴勒斯坦国

　　What would Arthur Balfour say?

　　阿瑟·贝尔福将会说什么？

　　IN HIS declaration of 1917 giving Britain's backing for the creation of a Jewish homeland, Arthur Balfour, the then foreign secretary, undertook to uphold the civil and religious rights of the native population of Palestine. A century later after less than total success, Britain's Parliament added national rights as well. On October 13th it voted by 274 votes to 12 to recognise a Palestinian state.

　　1917年，当时的外交大臣阿瑟·贝尔福发表了宣言，代表英国支持巴勒斯坦地区人民的公民权利与宗教权利。一个世纪后，此举虽未完全成功，但在此基础上也支持巴勒斯坦作为一个国家的权利也被纳入英国议会当中。10月13日，英国议会以274票对12票的投票结果，承认巴勒斯坦国。

　　认可巴勒斯坦.jpg

　　On the face of it, the backbench vote will have little impact. It is not binding¹, sets no deadline for recognition and will not change government policy, says David Cameron, the Conservative prime minister. Over half of MPs abstained².

　　在投票结果面前，后座议员的票数几乎没什么影响。此结果不具有约束力，不设期限的认可，也不会改变政府的政策，保守党首相卡梅伦如是说。而超过半数的国会议员都投了弃权票。

　　But as a barometer³ of European sentiment, the vote is telling. Since last summer's Gaza war and recent appropriations⁴ of Palestinian land, even Israel's allies have found its actions hard to stomach. “If it is losing people like me, it is going to be losing a lot of people,” said Richard Ottaway, the pro-Israel chairman of Parliament's foreign affairs committee.

　　但是，作为欧洲态度的晴雨表，投票结果是最说明问题的。去年夏天的加沙战争和最近对巴勒斯坦土地的拨款，这些甚至让以色列的盟友们都觉得这些举动无法容忍。“如果连我这样的人都不能容忍，那么此举还会失去更多的民心。”议会外交事务委员会主席、亲以色列的理查德·奥特维如是说。

　　To downplay the significance of the vote, Mr Cameron abstained. Yet this might also reflect growing ambivalence⁵ towards Israel, some claimed. After siding with Israel early in the Gaza war, Mr Cameron denounced Israel's post-war landgrab as “utterly deplorable”.

　　为了淡化投票的重要性，卡梅伦投了弃权票。当然，这也可能是反映了卡梅伦对以色列日益增长的矛盾心理------在加沙战争早期，英国与以色列同仇敌忾，而在此之后卡梅伦指责以色列战后侵占土地，并称其是“完全可悲”。

　　That growing concern has had little discernible impact on relations. Bilateral⁶ trade has risen 28% year-on-year. And Israel can be thick-skinned about how the world views it. “There's a bit of a tendency to write off Europeans as Nazi-hugging anti-semites,” says a Western diplomat⁷ in Tel Aviv. But the vote may encourage others in Europe to do more than just urge the parties to end Israel's occupations by negotiation⁸, as they have for 23 years. Earlier this month, Sweden's new prime minister, Stefan Lofven, said his country, too, would recognise a Palestinian state. And when the issue of Palestinian UN membership next comes to the Security Council, as it may soon, the parliamentary vote might make it a bit harder for Britain to oppose it.

　　日益增长的关注度对英以双方的关系影响并不明显。英以双边贸易额相比去年同期上涨28%。并且对于世界如何看待自己的问题上，以色列完全就是死猪不怕开水烫。“目前欧洲人有紧拥纳粹反犹主义的倾向，而这将毁掉欧洲人，”特拉维夫的一位西方外交官说道。但是投票或许会鼓励欧洲的其他各方做出更多表示，而不是像之前的23年那样仅仅谈判敦促以色列结束对有关地区的占领。本月早些时候，瑞典新首相斯特凡·洛文夫表示，瑞典也将承认巴勒斯坦国。当巴勒斯坦加入联合国并进入安全理事会的时候，对于英国来说，再想投反对票就不是一件容易事儿了。

1 binding   

有约束力的，有效的，应遵守的

参考例句：

• The contract was not signed and has no binding force. 合同没有签署因而没有约束力。
• Both sides have agreed that the arbitration will be binding. 双方都赞同仲裁具有约束力。

2 abstained   

v.戒（尤指酒），戒除( abstain的过去式和过去分词 )；弃权（不投票）

参考例句：

• Ten people voted in favour, five against and two abstained. 十人投票赞成，五人反对，两人弃权。
• They collectively abstained (from voting) in the elections for local councilors. 他们在地方议会议员选举中集体弃权。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 barometer   

n.气压表，睛雨表，反应指标

参考例句：

• The barometer marked a continuing fall in atmospheric pressure.气压表表明气压在继续下降。
• The arrow on the barometer was pointing to"stormy".气压计上的箭头指向“有暴风雨”。

4 appropriations   

n.挪用（appropriation的复数形式）

参考例句：

• More commonly, funding controls are imposed in the annual appropriations process. 更普遍的作法是，拨款控制被规定在年度拨款手续中。 来自英汉非文学 - 行政法
• Should the president veto the appropriations bill, it goes back to Congress. 假如总统否决了这项拨款提案，就把它退还给国会。 来自英汉非文学 - 政府文件

5 ambivalence   

n.矛盾心理

参考例句：

• She viewed her daughter's education with ambivalence.她看待女儿的教育问题态度矛盾。
• She felt a certain ambivalence towards him.她对他的态度有些矛盾。

6 bilateral   

adj.双方的，两边的，两侧的

参考例句：

• They have been negotiating a bilateral trade deal.他们一直在商谈一项双边贸易协定。
• There was a wide gap between the views of the two statesmen on the bilateral cooperation.对双方合作的问题，两位政治家各自所持的看法差距甚大。

7 diplomat   

n.外交官，外交家；能交际的人，圆滑的人

参考例句：

• The diplomat threw in a joke, and the tension was instantly relieved.那位外交官插进一个笑话，紧张的气氛顿时缓和下来。
• He served as a diplomat in Russia before the war.战前他在俄罗斯当外交官。

8 negotiation   

n.谈判，协商

参考例句：

• They closed the deal in sugar after a week of negotiation.经过一星期的谈判，他们的食糖生意成交了。
• The negotiation dragged on until July.谈判一直拖到7月份。