2007年VOA标准英语-Fighting between Rival Palestinian Factions Esc

By Jim Teeple
Jerusalem
02 February 2007

At least 15 Palestinians were killed Friday in escalating¹ clashes between the ruling Islamic militant² group Hamas and rival Fatah faction³ in the Gaza Strip. As Robert Berger reports from VOA's Jerusalem bureau, Saudi Arabia has arranged an urgent summit meeting between Palestinian leaders in a bid to end the bloodshed.

 
A masked Palestinian militant from the ruling Hamas party stands guard next to the building within the Islamic University compound, 2 Feb 2007
Militiamen from the rival factions⁴ fought street battles across Gaza with mortars⁶, rockets and machine guns. Fatah gunmen stormed into the Hamas-affiliated Islamic University and set buildings on fire. Hours later, Hamas militants⁷ attacked two buildings of the Fatah-affiliated Al-Quds University.

Fatah men also attacked the Hamas-led Interior Ministry⁸, and Hamas fighters launched mortar⁵ shells at a Fatah training base.

The fighting destroyed a ceasefire reached three days ago, and raised fresh fears of a Palestinian civil war.

Palestinian analyst⁹ Wadia Abu Nasser says the unrest is part of a deepening power struggle between Hamas and moderate Palestinian President and Fatah leader Mahmoud Abbas.

He said, "The dispute is mainly on who controls the Palestinians."

Hamas won Palestinian elections a year ago, but it has been crippled by international sanctions because of its refusal to renounce¹⁰ violence and recognize Israel.

 
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas (File)
Mr. Abbas, who was elected separately, supports peace talks with Israel. He wants Hamas to share power in a more moderate national unity¹¹ government that would be acceptable to the international community.

Abu Nasser says there is no meeting of the minds on a political agenda.

"Hamas believes that because of having some significant majority in the elections, it deserves to control the Palestinians," he said. "While President Abbas believes that he and his movement, because of having significant majority in the presidential elections, they deserve to control the Palestinians. So, it is de-facto, a dispute over who is controlling the Palestinian political decision[s]."

In a bid to end the violence, Mr. Abbas and Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal have agreed to hold talks in the Muslim holy city of Mecca, Saudi Arabia, next week.

1 escalating   

v.（使）逐步升级( escalate的现在分词 )；（使）逐步扩大；（使）更高；（使）更大

参考例句：

• The cost of living is escalating. 生活费用在迅速上涨。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The cost of living is escalating in the country. 这个国家的生活费用在上涨。 来自辞典例句

2 militant   

adj.激进的，好斗的；n.激进分子，斗士

参考例句：

• Some militant leaders want to merge with white radicals.一些好斗的领导人要和白人中的激进派联合。
• He is a militant in the movement.他在那次运动中是个激进人物。

3 faction   

n.宗派，小集团；派别；派系斗争

参考例句：

• Faction and self-interest appear to be the norm.派系之争和自私自利看来非常普遍。
• I now understood clearly that I was caught between the king and the Bunam's faction.我现在完全明白自己已陷入困境，在国王与布纳姆集团之间左右为难。

4 factions   

组织中的小派别，派系( faction的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The gens also lives on in the "factions." 氏族此外还继续存在于“factions〔“帮”〕中。 来自英汉非文学 - 家庭、私有制和国家的起源
• rival factions within the administration 政府中的对立派别

5 mortar   

n.灰浆，灰泥；迫击炮；v.把…用灰浆涂接合

参考例句：

• The mason flushed the joint with mortar.泥工用灰浆把接缝处嵌平。
• The sound of mortar fire seemed to be closing in.迫击炮的吼声似乎正在逼近。

6 mortars   

n.迫击炮( mortar的名词复数 )；砂浆；房产；研钵

参考例句：

• They could not move their heavy mortars over the swampy ground. 他们无法把重型迫击炮移过那片沼泽地。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Where the hell are his mortars? 他有迫击炮吗？ 来自教父部分

7 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。

8 ministry   

n.(政府的)部；牧师

参考例句：

• They sent a deputation to the ministry to complain.他们派了一个代表团到部里投诉。
• We probed the Air Ministry statements.我们调查了空军部的记录。

9 analyst   

n.分析家，化验员；心理分析学家

参考例句：

• What can you contribute to the position of a market analyst?你有什么技能可有助于市场分析员的职务？
• The analyst is required to interpolate values between standards.分析人员需要在这些标准中插入一些值。

10 renounce   

v.放弃；拒绝承认，宣布与…断绝关系

参考例句：

• She decided to renounce the world and enter a convent.她决定弃绝尘世去当修女。
• It was painful for him to renounce his son.宣布与儿子脱离关系对他来说是很痛苦的。

11 unity   

n.团结，联合，统一；和睦，协调

参考例句：

• When we speak of unity,we do not mean unprincipled peace.所谓团结，并非一团和气。
• We must strengthen our unity in the face of powerful enemies.大敌当前，我们必须加强团结。