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Words
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INTRO
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Diplomatic
efforts aimed at ending months of violence between Israelis and Palestinians
are continuing. Both sides seem as far apart as ever on the question
of how the crisis can be resolved. Simon Ingram reports from Jerusalem. |
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IN
FULL
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to the report in full |
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23rd
May 2001
Middle
East diplomacy
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NEWS
1
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to the first part of the report |
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Two
days after the international Mitchell commission seemed to offer a
way out of the cycle of violence gripping Israelis and
Palestinians, a breakthrough looks more unlikely than ever.
Palestinian officials have reacted angrily to last night's call by
Israeli prime minister, Ariel Sharon, for an immediate unconditional
ceasefire, and to the Israeli army's promise of a more restrained
posture by its troops. The Palestinian cabinet secretary, Ahmed
Abdul Rahman, said the promise that Israeli troops would now only
open fire in cases of life-threatening danger was a trick.
Talk of a ceasefire was misleading too, Mr Adbul Rahman said, because
what was really needed was an end to aggression by the Israeli army
and armed settlers against the Palestinian people. |
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to the words |
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WORDS
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a
way out of the cycle of violence - an opportunity to stop repeated
acts of violence
gripping - affecting strongly
a breakthrough - an important development or achievement
unconditional ceasefire - an agreement to stop fighting which
has no limits or conditions applied to it; an absolute cease-fire
restrained posture - a less aggressive attitude
life-threatening danger - the troops will only shoot if they
think they are going to be killed themselves
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| NEWS
2 |
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to the second part of the report |
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Clashes
last night between Israeli troops and Palestinian gunmen near Jerusalem
underlined the difficulty of making new military strategies stick
on the ground. In this climate of mistrust and recrimination,
efforts by the United States and the European Union to coax the
protagonists back from the brink of all-out conflict are
an uphill struggle. The EU's foreign policy chief, Javier Solana,
is to meet Mr Sharon later today, but he's unlikely to get much
mileage out of the Israeli premier on the critical issue of Jewish
settlements. Mr Solana has publicly supported the Palestinian view
that a freeze in settlement building is crucial to a resolution of
the crisis. Mr Sharon has emphasised that such a move is out of the
question. The farthest he's prepared to go is to reiterate
his government's promise that no new settlements will be established
on occupied land, while insisting that what Israel terms the natural
growth of existing settlements will proceed unhindered. |
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to the words |
| WORDS |
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stick
on the ground - be agreed upon
in this climate of mistrust - in an atmosphere where both
sides do not trust each other
to coax the protagonists - to persuade the key people involved
the brink of all-out conflict - the point at which full conflict
cannot be avoided
an uphill struggle - if something is an uphill struggle,
it is very difficult to achieve
to get much mileage - to get much support for
to reiterate - if you reiterate a statement, you say it again
in order to emphasise it
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Read
about the background in BBC News Online |
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