VOA标准英语2014--Kerry Meets Vatican Officials on Middle East Ahead of Pope's Visit 克里与梵蒂冈官员会面

 

Kerry Meets Vatican Officials on Middle East Ahead of Pope's Visit 克里与梵蒂冈官员会面

VATICAN CITY — The United States and the Vatican are consulting on ways to bring peace to Syria and solve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Pope Francis is set to visit the Middle East in May. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry met Tuesday with the new Secretary of State for the Holy See, Pietro Parolin.

U.S. officials say Pope Francis is launching a more active foreign policy for the Vatican, backing efforts to bring Syria's warring factions¹ together at peace talks next week and supporting Secretary Kerry's work to find a two-state solution to the Israeli - Palestinian conflict.

"The resumption of peace talks between Israelis and Palestinians is a positive sign, and I pray that both parties will resolve, with the support of the international community, to take courageous² decisions aimed at finding a just and lasting³ solution to a conflict which urgently needs to end," said Pope Francis.

Kerry and Archbishop Pietro Parolin, the head of diplomacy⁴ at the Vatican, discussed the Middle East on Tuesday, ahead of the Pope's planned trip to Jordan, Israel, and the Palestinian territories in May. Kerry says he briefed his Vatican counterpart on the status of Israeli Palestinian peace talks.

"There are issues of enormous concern to the Holy See not just about peace, but also about the freedom of access for religious worship in Jerusalem for all religions and appropriate resolution with respect to Jerusalem that respects that going forward," said Kerry.

The U.S.-led talks are struggling to overcome issues of security in a would-be Palestinian state.  Israeli officials also want to guard against future rocket attacks .

Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank and how they will affect the Palestinian state's borders are a source of disagreement between the two sides.  Former U.S. ambassador Adam Ereli says there is little apparent room for compromise.

"I think they both want agreements, but they don't want agreements on terms acceptable to the other side. Israel wants a neutered Palestinian state where it has a security presence and that doesn't have access to East Jerusalem. Palestinians want a state they can be proud to call their own," said Ereli.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas is under pressure to deliver on these talks, especially as Israeli settlement activity continues.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has questioned the Palestinian commitment to these talks, deepening what American University professor Hillary Mann Leverett says is a fortress⁵ mentality⁶ enabled by unwavering U.S. support.

"When you have constantly in American domestic politics this iron-clad security commitment to Israel with ever-more billions and billions of dollars of weapons systems going to the Israelis, it's like the wall. It builds a strategic concept of Fortress Israel where there is no incentive⁷ to compromise," said Mann Leverett.

 

Consultations⁸ here ahead of the pope's visit to the Middle East are part of Kerry's push to unify⁹ diplomatic pressure on Israeli and Palestinian leaders especially as the pontiff's trip will come near the end of nine months of scheduled talks on a two-state solution.

1 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

2 courageous   

adj.勇敢的，有胆量的

参考例句：

• We all honour courageous people.我们都尊重勇敢的人。
• He was roused to action by courageous words.豪言壮语促使他奋起行动。

3 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。

4 diplomacy   

n.外交；外交手腕，交际手腕

参考例句：

• The talks have now gone into a stage of quiet diplomacy.会谈现在已经进入了“温和外交”阶段。
• This was done through the skill in diplomacy. 这是通过外交手腕才做到的。

5 fortress   

n.堡垒，防御工事

参考例句：

• They made an attempt on a fortress.他们试图夺取这一要塞。
• The soldier scaled the wall of the fortress by turret.士兵通过塔车攀登上了要塞的城墙。

6 mentality   

n.心理，思想，脑力

参考例句：

• He has many years'experience of the criminal mentality.他研究犯罪心理有多年经验。
• Running a business requires a very different mentality from being a salaried employee.经营企业所要求具备的心态和上班族的心态截然不同。

7 incentive   

n.刺激；动力；鼓励；诱因；动机

参考例句：

• Money is still a major incentive in most occupations.在许多职业中，钱仍是主要的鼓励因素。
• He hasn't much incentive to work hard.他没有努力工作的动机。

8 consultations   

n.磋商（会议）( consultation的名词复数 )；商讨会；协商会；查找

参考例句：

• Consultations can be arranged at other times by appointment. 磋商可以通过预约安排在其他时间。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• Consultations are under way. 正在进行磋商。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

9 unify   

vt.使联合，统一；使相同，使一致

参考例句：

• How can we unify such scattered islands into a nation?我们怎么才能把如此分散的岛屿统一成一个国家呢？
• It is difficult to imagine how the North and South could ever agree on a formula to unify the divided peninsula.很难想象南北双方在统一半岛的方案上究竟怎样才能达成一致。