VOA标准英语2008年-Gazans Pour Into Egypt After Border Fence Breac

By Jim Teeple
Jerusalem
23 January 2008

Thousands of Palestinians from the Gaza Strip poured into an Egyptian border town, early Wednesday, after militants¹ blew a large hole in the border wall overnight that separates Gaza from Egypt. VOA's Jim Teeple has details from our Jerusalem Bureau.

A huge explosion signaled the latest development in the week-old Gaza crisis. Militants blew a large hole in the high metal wall that separates the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip from Egypt and Palestinians crossed into Egypt by the thousands.

Unlike Tuesday, when Egyptian and Hamas police fired on crowds of Palestinians attempting to break through the Rafah border crossing point, no attempt was made by Egyptian police to stop the flow of people. Hamas police could be seen guiding the crowds through the barrier. Fawzi Barhoum, a spokesman for Hamas, says Gaza's residents have been trapped.

Barhoum says, even worse than the problem of Israel's cutoff of fuel to Gaza's main power plant last week, is the problem of the total closure of Gaza to the outside world. He says that has turned Gaza into a prison for 1.5 million Palestinians.

Shops in the Egyptian border town, Rafah, were overwhelmed by Palestinians shopping for cigarettes, fuel and other goods Israel has banned from being imported into the Gaza Strip.

Israel's foreign ministry² spokesman says his country is concerned about the situation and expects Egypt to take action. Israel eased its blockade of Gaza for one day, Tuesday, allowing in fuel to power Gaza's main power plant and convoys³ of food, fuel and medicine to be distributed by international relief agencies. Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat says Israel's closure of the Gaza border violates Israeli commitments, made to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

"The Israeli government committed to President Abu Mazen [Abbas] not to use this as a sword over our neck. Food supplies, medical supplies, fuel supplies must not be touched," said Erekat. "This is a collective punishment that absolutely should not be tolerated by anyone in the international community."

Palestinian President Abbas says he is willing to take over Gaza's border crossing points, as a way of easing the crisis, even though his Fatah organization and Hamas are bitter enemies. American officials say the idea is worth studying.

For their part, Israeli officials say the blockade has worked - sending a message to Hamas that there will be consequences for continuing to fire rockets at southern Israel. Israeli officials have said the Gaza border will remain closed to all but humanitarian⁴ supplies until the rocket attacks completely stop. Speaking from his exile in Damascus, Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal says the rocket attacks will continue despite the Israeli blockade.

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 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。

3 convoys   

n.（有护航的）船队( convoy的名词复数 )；车队；护航（队）；护送队

参考例句：

• Truck convoys often stop over for lunch here. 车队经常在这里停下来吃午饭。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• A UN official said aid programs will be suspended until there's adequate protection for relief convoys. 一名联合国官员说将会暂停援助项目，直到援助车队能够得到充分的保护为止。 来自辞典例句

4 humanitarian   

n.人道主义者，博爱者，基督凡人论者

参考例句：

• She has many humanitarian interests and contributes a lot to them.她拥有很多慈善事业，并作了很大的贡献。
• The British government has now suspended humanitarian aid to the area.英国政府现已暂停对这一地区的人道主义援助。