A new report by a consortium of British aid agencies says the humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip is the worst in forty years. VOA's Jim Teeple reports the report blames Israel for the crisis, but Israeli officials say Hamas militants are to blame.
几个英国救援组织联合发表的一份新报告说，加沙地区出现了40年来最差的人道主义状况。这份报告指责以色列造成了目前的危机，但以色列官员说，哈马斯激进分子要为此承担责任。
Eight British aid organizations say the humanitarian situation in Gaza has deteriorated to the worst point in 40 years and that it will likely get worse unless Israel eases its blockade of the territory.
8个英国救援组织说，加沙的人道主义状况已经恶化到了40年来的最差水平，而且，如果以色列不放松对加沙地区的封锁，目前的人道危机还会进一步加剧。
According to the report, more than one million people or 80 percent of Gaza's population is now dependent on food aid and that Gaza's power, water and sewage systems have collapsed.
这份报告说，有超过100万的加沙居民目前靠食品援助生活，这相当于这一地区总人口的80%。此外，加沙的电力、供水和污水处理系统也都已经瘫痪。
Michael Bailey of the Jerusalem OXFAM office says life in Gaza has always been a struggle, but after Israel closed Gaza's borders last year following the Hamas takeover of the territory, things got dramatically worse.
救援组织乐施会耶路撒冷办公室的贝利说，加沙的生活一直都很艰辛。但是，去年哈马斯取得加沙地区的控制权之后，以色列就关闭了加沙边境。此后，加沙地区的情况急剧恶化。
"In four weeks, 65,000 jobs were lost. Ninety percent of the manufacturing industry was shut down," Bailey said. "Forty thousand people in the agricultural industry are finding it very hard to maintain their jobs and eight out of ten families in Gaza are dependent on food aid."
他说：“在4个星期里有6万5千人失业。90%的制造业企业关门。在农业方面工作的4万人发现很难维持他们的工作，而每10个加沙家庭中就有8个要靠食品援助过活。”
Bailey says 300,000 people in Gaza do not have regular supplies of water and 60 tons of raw sewage is discharged into the ocean every day because sewage treatment plants no longer work. He says many schools also do not have power. As a result he says Gaza's educational system has broken down, and children there fail basic tests in rudimentary subjects. Bailey and the other groups behind the report say they blame Israel for the situation because it controls Gaza's borders.
贝利说，有30万名加沙居民得不到正常的供水。此外，由于污水处理厂关门，每天有60吨未经处理的污水被直接排入大海。他说，很多学校也停电了，导致教育系统瘫痪，加沙儿童无法通过基本课程的考试。贝利和其它参与编写这份报告的救援组织说，他们把目前的情况归咎于以色列，因为以色列控制着加沙边境。
"We are saying that because Israel is still in control, it is still the occupying power even though they (Israel) are not inside Gaza; they control all the borders, the air and the sea space," Bailey said. "Therefore whoever is in charge inside Gaza, they are really powerless to control and economy that depends 90 percent on imports for any manufacturing or productivity."
他说：“我们认为，由于以色列依然有控制权，所以虽然它不在加沙领土内，它依旧是占领国。以色列控制着所有的边境、领空和领海。因此，不论谁在加沙内部作主，实际上都没有真正的控制权，也无法解决经济问题，因为加沙的制造业和生产能力90%依赖进口。”
The United States and the European Union consider Hamas a terrorist organization and have cut off all but humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip since the group seized power there last June.
美国和欧盟认为哈马斯是一个恐怖组织，自从该组织去年6月掌权以来，美国和欧盟已经切断了除人道主义救援外对加沙地带的所有援助项目。
Israeli officials have strongly denounced the report, calling it biased.
以色列有关官员强烈抨击这份报告，说它是不公正的。
Major Peter Lerner, the spokesman for Israel's military and civil authorities in the Palestinian territories says Hamas militants who seized power in Gaza last year are to blame for the situation. Lerner says Israel is committed to preventing a humanitarian emergency from developing in Gaza - and does so at considerable risk to itself.
巴勒斯坦领土上的以色列军方和民政当局发言人莱纳少校说，去年取得加沙控制权的哈马斯激进分子才应该为目前的状况负责。莱纳说，以色列致力于阻止加沙的人道主义紧急情况进一步发展，而且这样做是冒了很大风险的。
"We, Israel actually, function the crossings under fire from Palestinian snipers and mortar fire, which no other state in the world would do, and for us is very problematic obviously," Lerner said.
他说：“实际上，我们以色列人是在受到巴勒斯坦狙击手和迫击炮攻击的情况下管理过境点的，世界上没有别的国家会像我们这么做。很显然，对我们来说，这是一个很大的问题。”
Since the beginning of this year the situation in Gaza has been at a boiling point. In January Hamas militants knocked down Gaza's border wall with Egypt in a bid to break the territory's blockade. Since then, Palestinian militants have stepped up rocket attacks against towns and cities in southern Israel, leading to Israeli retaliatory attacks that killed many Palestinians, which led the moderate Palestinian government of President Mahmoud Abbas to suspend peace talks with Israel. The talks were restored this week after direct intervention from U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.
There are signs that things may improve in Gaza. Israel's Prime Minister Ehud Olmert says Israel will abstain from attacking militants in Gaza if they stop their rocket attacks. Hamas leaders and other Palestinian militants have begun talks with Egyptian officials about establishing a truce with Israel. For the people of Gaza a truce would be the first good news in many months.
有迹象表明，加沙的情况可能会改善。以色列总理奥尔默特说，如果加沙的激进分子停止火箭袭击，以色列也将放弃对他们的攻击。哈马斯领导人和其他巴勒斯坦激进分子已经开始同埃及官员进行会谈，讨论同以色列建立停火协议的问题。对加沙人民来说，停火协议可能是好几个月以来的第一个好消息。 |