VOA常速英语2007年-Olmert, Abbas Meet in Jerusalem to Advance Peac

By Robert Berger
Jerusalem
27 December 2007

Israeli and Palestinian leaders held a summit meeting today in Jerusalem in a bid to advance the Middle East peace process. As Robert Berger reports from VOA's Jerusalem bureau, the talks were overshadowed by a dispute over Jewish settlement construction.

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas held their first meeting since they agreed to resume peace talks at the Annapolis Conference in the United States a month ago. The summit took place in a sour atmosphere, after Israel decided¹ to build more than 300 homes in the Jewish neighborhood of Har Homa in disputed East Jerusalem. The neighborhood is built on land the Palestinians claim for a future state.

Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat says the construction violates the internationally-backed "roadmap" peace plan on which the negotiations² are based.

"The main point is we're urging the Israeli side to stop all settlement activities including natural growth, in order to give peace the chance it deserves," he said.

Israel says the roadmap does not apply to the Jewish neighborhoods of East Jerusalem because they will remain a part of the country in any final peace agreement.

"And obviously when we have these meetings, the Palestinian side brings its concerns to the table, we bring our concerns to the table and the idea is to try to find common ground," said Israeli spokesman Mark Regev.

But there is little common ground on the settlement issue. The dispute underscores how hard it will be to achieve the goal of Annapolis: a final peace agreement by the end of next year.

1 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

2 negotiations   

协商( negotiation的名词复数 )； 谈判； 完成（难事）； 通过

参考例句：

• negotiations for a durable peace 为持久和平而进行的谈判
• Negotiations have failed to establish any middle ground. 谈判未能达成任何妥协。