2006年VOA标准英语-Israel's Kadima Faces Reality of Coalition

By Jim Teeple
Jerusalem
30 March 2006

Israelis went to the polls this week to vote in their fifth election in 10 years.  Many people in Israel said it was the most important election in years, but voter apathy¹ was high.  Many voters chose to ignore the big issues championed by Israel's large parties and instead voted for smaller parties who back single issues.  Israeli voters sent a mixed message to their leaders in this election, and one that will make the task of governing and of reaching a settlement with the Palestinians difficult. 

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Israeli election workers count remaining ballots² from soldiers and absentees at Knesset in Jerusalem,  March 30, 2006
  

It was not the mandate³ that Interim⁴ Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said he wanted.  Just days before the vote, Mr. Olmert's Kadima Party was riding high in the polls.  Political pundits⁵ said Kadima would win 35 seats in the 120-seat Knesset and be able to dictate⁶ its terms to prospective⁷ coalition⁸ partners.

What emerged was something different.  Kadima won only 28 seats, far fewer than 40 seats that the conservative Likud Party won in Israel's last election in 2003, winning just eight more seats than the left-of-center Labor⁹ Party, a likely coalition partner. 

Asher Arian is a senior fellow at the Israel Democracy Institute and a professor of political science at the City University of New York.  He says the Kadima Party, founded last year by Ariel Sharon before he suffered his stroke, has lost its momentum¹⁰. 

"Well, the Kadima Party was a very momentous¹¹ development and had Sharon been well and seen it through to the election my guess is that the results would be quite different," he said.  "As it is, it seems to have fizzled out a little bit too early in the sense that Kadima is too small to be a driving force in Israeli politics for the next four years.  Kadima will run the country, but it will be very, very dependent on coalition partners." 

That might not be a bad thing says Mahdi Abdul Hadi, who runs PASSIA, a Palestinian policy institute based in East Jerusalem.  Abdul Hadi says if Kadima can form a coalition with the Labor Party and other parties that support  the peace process there might be real progress in Israeli-Palestinian relations. 

"If Olmert will succeed in forming a government with the Labor Party and with other leftists, he will be in a better position to look for the 'road map' peace plan and for negotiations," he said.

Acting¹² Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, second from left, waves to supporters as he celebrates results of the Kadima party early Wednesday  
  
Ehud Olmert says he will follow Ariel Sharon's plan to set Israel's final border with the Palestinians.  He says he intends to accomplish the task in the next parliamentary term, either by following the internationally-backed road map peace plan or unilaterally if necessary. 

Abdul Hadi says Palestinian decision makers¹³ he has spoken with say they can do little but wait and see how the Israeli-coalition building develops.

"I am very much concerned  about Olmert's agenda, the unilateralism thesis of Mr. Sharon," he admitted.  "And some [Palestinians] are saying he will not be able to go ahead with the plan since he needs coalition.  Others are saying it will be a real setback¹⁴ to the whole process and we will continue living in the culture of a prison." 

Asher Arian of the Israel Democracy Institute says Ehud Olmert's plan to withdraw from most of the West Bank would have been difficult to achieve even if Kadima had won an outright¹⁵ majority.  Having to rely on potentially unreliable coalition partners will make the task even more difficult.

"Had he won a commanding majority and had there been a sense that this was indeed a referendum on his plan, and that the referendum had passed, then it would be possible for him to deal with the tens of thousands of settlers," Arian said. "Recall that the Gaza pullout involved about 8,000 Jewish settlers.  Now you are talking about 10 times that number and so it is going to be very difficult in terms of money, in terms of confrontation¹⁶, and in terms of political will to pull this off." 

Arian says Mr. Olmert does not have much time to achieve his historic objective.  Coalition partners eager for a plum government post might be willing to support a controversial West Bank pullout in the near term, but he says the longer the process takes the more difficult that will become. 

The dream of Ariel Sharon to create a new centrist political force in Israeli politics that could set Israel's final border could depend on the cooperation of political parties more interested in raising Israel's minimum wage and improving pension benefits than achieving a lasting¹⁷ settlement between Palestinians and Israelis.  

1 apathy   

n.漠不关心，无动于衷；冷淡

参考例句：

• He was sunk in apathy after his failure.他失败后心恢意冷。
• She heard the story with apathy.她听了这个故事无动于衷。

2 ballots   

n.投票表决( ballot的名词复数 )；选举；选票；投票总数v.（使）投票表决( ballot的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• They're counting the ballots. 他们正在计算选票。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The news of rigged ballots has rubbed off much of the shine of their election victory. 他们操纵选票的消息使他们在选举中获得的胜利大为减色。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 mandate   

n.托管地；命令，指示

参考例句：

• The President had a clear mandate to end the war.总统得到明确的授权结束那场战争。
• The General Election gave him no such mandate.大选并未授予他这种权力。

4 interim   

adj.暂时的，临时的；n.间歇，过渡期间

参考例句：

• The government is taking interim measures to help those in immediate need.政府正在采取临时措施帮助那些有立即需要的人。
• It may turn out to be an interim technology.这可能只是个过渡技术。

5 pundits   

n.某一学科的权威，专家( pundit的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The pundits disagree on the best way of dealing with the problem. 如何妥善处理这一问题，专家众说纷纭。 来自辞典例句
• That did not stop Chinese pundits from making a fuss over it. 这并没有阻止中国的博学之士对此大惊小怪。 来自互联网

6 dictate   

v.口授；(使)听写；指令，指示，命令

参考例句：

• It took him a long time to dictate this letter.口述这封信花了他很长时间。
• What right have you to dictate to others?你有什么资格向别人发号施令？

7 prospective   

adj.预期的，未来的，前瞻性的

参考例句：

• The story should act as a warning to other prospective buyers.这篇报道应该对其他潜在的购买者起到警示作用。
• They have all these great activities for prospective freshmen.这会举办各种各样的活动来招待未来的新人。

8 coalition   

n.结合体，同盟，结合，联合

参考例句：

• The several parties formed a coalition.这几个政党组成了政治联盟。
• Coalition forces take great care to avoid civilian casualties.联盟军队竭尽全力避免造成平民伤亡。

9 labor   

n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦

参考例句：

• We are never late in satisfying him for his labor.我们从不延误付给他劳动报酬。
• He was completely spent after two weeks of hard labor.艰苦劳动两周后，他已经疲惫不堪了。

10 momentum   

n.动力，冲力，势头；动量

参考例句：

• We exploit the energy and momentum conservation laws in this way.我们就是这样利用能量和动量守恒定律的。
• The law of momentum conservation could supplant Newton's third law.动量守恒定律可以取代牛顿第三定律。

11 momentous   

adj.重要的，重大的

参考例句：

• I am deeply honoured to be invited to this momentous occasion.能应邀出席如此重要的场合，我深感荣幸。
• The momentous news was that war had begun.重大的新闻是战争已经开始。

12 acting   

n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的

参考例句：

• Ignore her,she's just acting.别理她，她只是假装的。
• During the seventies,her acting career was in eclipse.在七十年代，她的表演生涯黯然失色。

13 makers   

n.制造者，制造商（maker的复数形式）

参考例句：

• The makers of the product assured us that there had been no sacrifice of quality. 这一产品的制造商向我们保证说他们没有牺牲质量。
• The makers are about to launch out a new product. 制造商们马上要生产一种新产品。 来自《简明英汉词典》

14 setback   

n.退步，挫折，挫败

参考例句：

• Since that time there has never been any setback in his career.从那时起他在事业上一直没有遇到周折。
• She views every minor setback as a disaster.她把每个较小的挫折都看成重大灾难。

15 outright   

adv.坦率地；彻底地；立即；adj.无疑的；彻底的

参考例句：

• If you have a complaint you should tell me outright.如果你有不满意的事，你应该直率地对我说。
• You should persuade her to marry you outright.你应该彻底劝服她嫁给你。

16 confrontation   

n.对抗，对峙，冲突

参考例句：

• We can't risk another confrontation with the union.我们不能冒再次同工会对抗的危险。
• After years of confrontation,they finally have achieved a modus vivendi.在对抗很长时间后，他们最后达成安宁生存的非正式协议。

17 lasting   

adj.永久的，永恒的；vbl.持续，维持

参考例句：

• The lasting war debased the value of the dollar.持久的战争使美元贬值。
• We hope for a lasting settlement of all these troubles.我们希望这些纠纷能获得永久的解决。