Israel Destroys Hundreds of Palestinian Homes to Expand Mili

 

Ross Dunn
 
Israel has begun destroying Palestinian buildings, including hundreds of homes, to expand a military zone it controls along the Gaza-Egypt border. Israel wants to enhance security in the zone, where five of its soldiers were killed in a bombing on Wednesday. Israel says militants¹ use the buildings to launch attacks and smuggle² arms.

The Israeli operation was approved at a high-level meeting attended by Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, his defense³ minister, Shaul Mofaz, and top military officials.

The decision is a response to the killing⁴ of five soldiers whose armored vehicle was destroyed in an explosion as they were patrolling the route.

Many of the Israeli army operations in the area involve finding and destroying a network of tunnels used to smuggle weapons and explosives from Egypt into Gaza.

Palestinian militants often use nearby buildings as cover to launch attacks against the Israeli forces, and as the ending points of the smuggling⁵ tunnels.

Left-wing Israeli lawmaker Yossi Sarid appealed to the government not to go ahead with the plan, saying the demolition⁶ of Palestinian buildings along the route would constitute, in his words, a war crime.

He added that all Israeli forces should be withdrawn⁷ from Gaza in order to prevent more soldiers from being killed.

“Everybody knows by now that sooner or later we will withdraw from Gaza and the only question is when we are going to withdraw - after 20 casualties, 200 casualties, 1000 casualties."

The head of the Israeli Army, General Moshe Ya'alon, disagrees.

He says Israeli troops must remain in some parts of Gaza to fight against what he called Palestinian terrorist groups, which he says are being supported both locally and from abroad.

“Unfortunately, we are witnessing those devastating⁸ attacks, encouraged by Palestinian Authority elements, by elements in Teheran, in Damascus, and in Lebanon,” General Ya'alon said. “And we have to deal with all these elements in order to eliminate the terror capabilities⁹ in our region.”

Israel's deputy premier¹⁰, Ehud Olmert, who supports withdrawing troops and Jewish settlements from the Gaza Strip, also backs the current military operations in the territory.

He says raids into Gaza will be necessary even after Israel implements¹² its plan to disengage from the territory and parts of the West Bank.

“We said from the outset that we will have to continue to fight. And when you fight, occasionally you may also have to bear these terrible events that will cause the deaths of our best kids,” Mr. Olmert said. “It may happen in the future and I think it is entirely¹³ independent of the need for disengagement, which will ultimately take place.”

Fighting in Gaza since Tuesday has so far claimed at least 28 Palestinians and 11 Israeli soldiers.

Israeli public support for Mr. Sharon's plan to unilaterally withdraw from Gaza has strengthened following the latest violence.

A poll published on Friday in Israel's Yidiot Aharonot newspaper indicated that support had climbed to 71 percent, up from 62 percent before Palestinian militants killed the 11 soldiers this week.

注释:
enhance [in5hB:ns] v. 加强
Ariel Sharon 以色列总理阿里尔·沙龙
defense minister 国防部长
Shaul Mofaz 以色列国防部长沙乌勒·莫法兹
armored vehicle 装甲车辆
patrol [pE5trEul] v. 巡逻
Yossi Sarid 以色列反对党主席尤赛·萨瑞德
withdraw from 撤离
casualty [5kAVjuElti] n.伤亡人员
devastating [5devEsteitiN] adj. 毁灭性的
Palestinian Authority 巴勒斯坦自治区
Teheran [7tehE5rAn] 德黑兰（伊朗首都）
Damascus [dE5mAskEs] 大马士革（叙利亚首都）
Jewish [5dVu(:)iF] adj. 犹太人的
raid [reid] n. 袭击
implement¹¹ [5implimEnt] v. 执行
disengage [5disin5^eidV] v. 使脱离战斗
West Bank 约旦河西岸
ultimately [5QltimEtli] adv. 最终
unilaterally [5ju:ni5lAtErEli] adv. 单方面地
poll [pEul] n. 民意测验

1 militants   

激进分子，好斗分子( militant的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The militants have been sporadically fighting the government for years. 几年来，反叛分子一直对政府实施零星的战斗。
• Despite the onslaught, Palestinian militants managed to fire off rockets. 尽管如此，巴勒斯坦的激进分子仍然发射导弹。

2 smuggle   

vt.私运；vi.走私

参考例句：

• Friends managed to smuggle him secretly out of the country.朋友们想方设法将他秘密送出国了。
• She has managed to smuggle out the antiques without getting caught.她成功将古董走私出境，没有被逮捕。

3 defense   

n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩

参考例句：

• The accused has the right to defense.被告人有权获得辩护。
• The war has impacted the area with military and defense workers.战争使那个地区挤满了军队和防御工程人员。

4 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。

5 smuggling   

n.走私

参考例句：

• Some claimed that the docker's union fronted for the smuggling ring.某些人声称码头工人工会是走私集团的掩护所。
• The evidence pointed to the existence of an international smuggling network.证据表明很可能有一个国际走私网络存在。

6 demolition   

n.破坏,毁坏,毁坏之遗迹

参考例句：

• The church has been threatened with demolition for years. 这座教堂多年来一直面临拆毀的威胁。
• The project required the total demolition of the old bridge. 该项目要求将老桥完全拆毁。

7 withdrawn   

vt.收回；使退出；vi.撤退，退出

参考例句：

• Our force has been withdrawn from the danger area.我们的军队已从危险地区撤出。
• All foreign troops should be withdrawn to their own countries.一切外国军队都应撤回本国去。

8 devastating   

adj.毁灭性的，令人震惊的，强有力的

参考例句：

• It is the most devastating storm in 20 years.这是20年来破坏性最大的风暴。
• Affairs do have a devastating effect on marriages.婚外情确实会对婚姻造成毁灭性的影响。

9 capabilities   

n.能力( capability的名词复数 )；可能；容量；[复数]潜在能力

参考例句：

• He was somewhat pompous and had a high opinion of his own capabilities. 他有点自大，自视甚高。 来自辞典例句
• Some programmers use tabs to break complex product capabilities into smaller chunks. 一些程序员认为，标签可以将复杂的功能分为每个窗格一组简单的功能。 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓

10 premier   

adj.首要的；n.总理，首相

参考例句：

• The Irish Premier is paying an official visit to Britain.爱尔兰总理正在对英国进行正式访问。
• He requested that the premier grant him an internview.他要求那位总理接见他一次。

11 implement   

n.(pl.)工具，器具；vt.实行，实施，执行

参考例句：

• Don't undertake a project unless you can implement it.不要承担一项计划，除非你能完成这项计划。
• The best implement for digging a garden is a spade.在花园里挖土的最好工具是铁锹。

12 implements   

n.工具( implement的名词复数 )；家具；手段；[法律]履行（契约等）v.实现( implement的第三人称单数 )；执行；贯彻；使生效

参考例句：

• Primitive man hunted wild animals with crude stone implements. 原始社会的人用粗糙的石器猎取野兽。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• They ordered quantities of farm implements. 他们订购了大量农具。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

13 entirely   

ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The fire was entirely caused by their neglect of duty. 那场火灾完全是由于他们失职而引起的。
• His life was entirely given up to the educational work. 他的一生统统献给了教育工作。