2006年VOA标准英语-UN Mission To Beit Hanoun Canceled

By Lisa Schlein
Geneva
11 December 2006

A United Nations mission, that was to be led by South African Archbishop and Nobel Peace laureate, Desmond Tutu, to Beit Hanoun in the Gaza Strip has been canceled, because the group could not get Israeli travel documents in time. The mission was meant to investigate the deaths of 19 civilians² who came under Israeli attacks last month. Lisa Schlein reports for VOA from Geneva.

 
Archbishop Tutu hugs member of fact-Finding mission, Christine Chinkin, after a press conference at the United Nations in Geneva, 11 Dec 2006
Archbishop Desmond Tutu and British Law Professor, Christine Chinkin, were appointed by the U.N. Human Rights Council to probe the civilian¹ killings³ in Beit Hanoun and to recommend ways to protect Palestinians against further Israeli assaults.

The team was to have presented its findings to the council this Friday.

Archbishop Tutu says he and his colleague waited until the last minute to get the go-ahead from Israel. He says they had hoped to leave yesterday, on Sunday.

Although that would have given them only five days in which to carry out their investigation⁴, he says they thought it would have been doable.

But, he says, the necessary visas did not come through in time.

"We would not be able to leave because the security personnel have to go ahead of us," he said.

"The earliest we would probably be able to leave was Wednesday, which would have left effectively only two days in which to carry out our mission. And, we believed that that was quite unacceptably short," he continued.

The Israeli Ambassador to the U.N. in Geneva, Itzhak Levanon, says no final decision has been made on granting the team a visa. In a statement, he says Israel has no problem with the persons involved in the mission, but rather with the council itself.

 
Members of the Al-Athamna family are carried for burial along the streets of Beit Hanoun, 9 Nov 2006
He says the mission to Beit Hanoun was biased⁵ and that its sole purpose is to criticize Israel.

British Attorney, Christine Chinkin, indicates that she and Archbishop Tutu thought it was very important that their investigation be seen as fair.

For that reason, she says, they had rejected a suggestion that they enter Gaza via Egypt. This she says would have precluded⁶ a visit to Israel.

"We did make a very definite decision that that would be one-sided," she said. "It would not give us the full picture. It would also look in a way look as though we were going in through the back door; whereas what we wanted to do was to have as rounded and as full a mission as possible."

Desmond Tutu says both he and his colleague had agreed to the mission in good faith and they are frustrated⁷ that it will not go ahead.

He says they both believe their visit and report could have contributed to the possibility of peace in the Middle East.

"It is for all these reasons and more that we find the lack of co-operation by the Israeli government very distressing⁸, as well as its failure to allow the mission timely passage to Israel," he added.

The two human rights experts do not rule out a visit some other time. But, they say it is up to the U.N. Human Rights Council to decide what to do next.

1 civilian   

adj.平民的，民用的，民众的

参考例句：

• There is no reliable information about civilian casualties.关于平民的伤亡还没有确凿的信息。
• He resigned his commission to take up a civilian job.他辞去军职而从事平民工作。

2 civilians   

平民，百姓( civilian的名词复数 )； 老百姓

参考例句：

• the bloody massacre of innocent civilians 对无辜平民的血腥屠杀
• At least 300 civilians are unaccounted for after the bombing raids. 遭轰炸袭击之后，至少有300名平民下落不明。

3 killings   

谋杀( killing的名词复数 )； 突然发大财，暴发

参考例句：

• His statement was seen as an allusion to the recent drug-related killings. 他的声明被视为暗指最近与毒品有关的多起凶杀案。
• The government issued a statement condemning the killings. 政府发表声明谴责这些凶杀事件。

4 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。

5 biased   

a.有偏见的

参考例句：

• a school biased towards music and art 一所偏重音乐和艺术的学校
• The Methods: They employed were heavily biased in the gentry's favour. 他们采用的方法严重偏袒中上阶级。

6 precluded   

v.阻止( preclude的过去式和过去分词 )；排除；妨碍；使…行不通

参考例句：

• Abdication is precluded by the lack of a possible successor. 因为没有可能的继承人，让位无法实现。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The bad weather precluded me from attending the meeting. 恶劣的天气使我不能出席会议。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

7 frustrated   

adj.挫败的，失意的，泄气的v.使不成功( frustrate的过去式和过去分词 )；挫败；使受挫折；令人沮丧

参考例句：

• It's very easy to get frustrated in this job. 这个工作很容易令人懊恼。
• The bad weather frustrated all our hopes of going out. 恶劣的天气破坏了我们出行的愿望。 来自《简明英汉词典》

8 distressing   

a.使人痛苦的

参考例句：

• All who saw the distressing scene revolted against it. 所有看到这种悲惨景象的人都对此感到难过。
• It is distressing to see food being wasted like this. 这样浪费粮食令人痛心。