VOA标准英语2009-Mitchell Hints of Possible Accord on Mideast

The Obama administration's special envoy¹ for Israeli-Palestinian peacemaking, George Mitchell, indicated on Tuesday that an agreement on new peace talks between the two sides might be only weeks away. Mitchell noted² that shared concern among Israel and Arab states about Iran is a factor in what he said has been progress in preliminary contacts.
　
US Middle East special envoy George Mitchell, (File)

Mitchell, whose role as a U.S. envoy for Northern Ireland a decade ago was instrumental in peace-making there, said he is encouraged by progress in his Middle East contacts and that the two sides might just be weeks away from beginning a new stage in the peace process.

The former U.S. Senate Majority Leader spoke³ to State Department reporters in his first full-scale briefing since beginning his Middle East mission nearly five months ago.

Mitchell, who has made four trips to the region - including one that ended earlier this week with talks in Syria - did not reject out of hand a statement made on Sunday by the European Union's chief diplomat⁴ Javier Solana that peace talks could be launched by the end of July.

"We're going to move as promptly⁵ as possible. And in my opening remarks, I said that we hope to conclude the discussions in which we are now engaged very soon. To me, it's a matter of weeks, not many months. So he [Solana] may well be right. But we're going to see how well we can proceed," he said.

Mitchell has been pressing Israel and the Palestinians to live up to commitments made under the 2003 international peace "road map" - including for Israel, a halt to settlement activity and for the Palestinians, taking responsibility for security and stopping anti-Israeli incitement⁶.

At the same time, he has encouraged Arab states to build confidence by taking normalization⁷ steps with Israel that were to have come at the end of the peace process under the Saudi-inspired Arab League peace plan of 2002.

Mitchell said he is under no illusions about the difficulty of the process. But he said prospects⁸ have been enhanced by President Barack Obama's commitment to peace, as reaffirmed in his June 4 Cairo speech, and shared concern among Israel and U.S. Arab allies about a potentially nuclear-armed Iran.

"What I think is the total personal effort of the Secretary of State and the President have made a dramatic difference in attitudes in the region. In addition, the threat from Iran creates a circumstance unique in the region's history in establishing the possibility of a common interest between nations who, for so long, have been in an adversarial position," he said.

Mitchell spoke on the eve of the first State Department visit by the new Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, who is considered to be a hard-liner in the right-of-center government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

In a policy speech on Sunday, Mr. Netanyahu for the first time said he is willing to support the creation of a demilitarized Palestinian state, but he rejected U.S. calls for a freeze on Israeli settlements in the West Bank, including so-called "natural growth".

Mitchell said the Obama administration's position on settlements is unchanged. He stated that an Israeli press report that said he agreed on his latest trip to the region to accept the expansion of settlements within their current boundaries was "highly inaccurate⁹".

1 envoy   

n.使节，使者，代表，公使

参考例句：

• Their envoy showed no sign of responding to our proposals.他们的代表对我方的提议毫无回应的迹象。
• The government has not yet appointed an envoy to the area.政府尚未向这一地区派过外交官。

2 noted   

adj.著名的，知名的

参考例句：

• The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
• Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。

3 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

4 diplomat   

n.外交官，外交家；能交际的人，圆滑的人

参考例句：

• The diplomat threw in a joke, and the tension was instantly relieved.那位外交官插进一个笑话，紧张的气氛顿时缓和下来。
• He served as a diplomat in Russia before the war.战前他在俄罗斯当外交官。

5 promptly   

adv.及时地，敏捷地

参考例句：

• He paid the money back promptly.他立即还了钱。
• She promptly seized the opportunity his absence gave her.她立即抓住了因他不在场给她创造的机会。

6 incitement   

激励； 刺激； 煽动； 激励物

参考例句：

• incitement to racial hatred 种族仇恨的挑起
• Interest is an incitement to study. 兴趣刺激学习。

7 normalization   

n.（normalisation）正常化，标准化

参考例句：

• The visit signalled the normalization of relations between the two countries.这次访问显示两国关系已经正常化。
• He was pleased to the normalization of relationship between the police and the people.他很高兴警方和人民之间关系的正常化。

8 prospects   

n.希望，前途(恒为复数)

参考例句：

• There is a mood of pessimism in the company about future job prospects. 公司中有一种对工作前景悲观的情绪。
• They are less sanguine about the company's long-term prospects. 他们对公司的远景不那么乐观。

9 inaccurate   

adj.错误的，不正确的，不准确的

参考例句：

• The book is both inaccurate and exaggerated.这本书不但不准确，而且夸大其词。
• She never knows the right time because her watch is inaccurate.她从来不知道准确的时间因为她的表不准。