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Israel-U.S. Relations Stretched Over Issue of Settlements

时间:2017-01-02 23:26来源:互联网 提供网友:nan   字体: [ ]
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The United States and Israel have exchanged criticism over the issue of Israeli settlements in the West Bank.

On December 23, the Obama administration allowed the United Nations to pass a resolution that declared Israel’s growing settlements in the occupied territories illegal. Until that vote, the Obama administration had blocked resolutions criticizing Israel by using its veto power in the UN Security Council.

Days later, on December 28, Obama’s secretary of state, John Kerry, gave a speech in support of what is known as a two-state solution for the area.

Kerry started the speech by saying the U.S. remains1 committed to Israel’s security. He criticized Palestinian leaders for not doing more to stop terrorist attacks on Israel.

But he said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had supported a policy on the settlements “driven by the most extreme elements in his country.”

By settlements, Kerry meant Israeli efforts to build new housing in the West Bank. Israeli leaders say religious history and security concerns justify2 the housing.

Palestinian leaders and many world leaders consider Israel’s West Bank developments as a barrier to a peace deal. Such a deal would give the Palestinians their own state in exchange for lasting3 peace with Israel.

In his speech, Kerry said, “Let’s be clear: Settlement expansion has nothing to do with Israel's security. Many settlements actually increase the security burden on the Israeli Defense4 Forces.”

He said the Israeli settler movement ignores the “legitimate5” hopes of the Palestinian people for their own state.

Republican Donald Trump6 replaces Democrat7 Barack Obama as U.S. president on January 20. In a post on the social media site Twitter, he suggested the Obama administration’s Israeli policy will not continue.

“We cannot continue to let Israel be treated with such total disdain8 and disrespect. They used to have a great friend in the U.S., but not anymore.” He added: “January 20th is fast approaching.”

Trump recently named lawyer David Friedman as his U.S. ambassador to Israel. Friedman has been a strong supporter of Israel’s settlement movement.

Obama and Netanyahu have not had a friendly relationship for much of Obama’s eight-year presidency9. Netanyahu took the unusual step of delivering a speech critical of the U.S. president to the U.S. Congress in 2015.

The speech criticized the nuclear deal the Obama administration and leaders of other nations were about to sign with Iran.

Netanyahu Delivers Speech Responding to Kerry

Netanyahu gave his own speech one day after Kerry’s. He was critical of Kerry and the Obama administration.

“What he (Kerry) did was to spend most of his speech blaming Israel for the lack of peace by passionately10 condemning11 a policy of enabling Jews to live in their historic homeland and in their eternal capital, Jerusalem,” Netanyahu said.

He accused Kerry of not doing enough in his speech to discuss the “campaign of terrorism” by Palestinians against Israel over a long period of time.

Kerry, in his speech, said the Obama administration has been Israel’s “greatest friend and supporter.” He said he and the president have continually spoken out against terrorism against Israel.

But he said the U.S. had no choice but to criticize the growing Israeli settlements that, he said, threaten a two-state peace agreement. He said the number of Israeli settlers on the West Bank increased by 100,000 since Obama became president.

“Now, one thing we do know: if Israel goes down the one-state path, it will never have true peace with the rest of the Arab world, and I can say that with certainty,” Kerry said.

In defending his criticism of a U.S. ally, Kerry said: “Friends need to tell each other the hard truths.”

Words in This Story

commit - v. to say someone will definitely do something

justify - v. to provide a good reason for doing something

burden - n. someone or something that is very difficult to accept, do, or deal with

legitimate - adj. allowed or understandable

passionately - adv. having, showing, or expressing strong emotions or beliefs

enable - v. to make someone able to do or to be something

eternal - adj. lasting forever


点击收听单词发音收听单词发音  

1 remains 1kMzTy     
n.剩余物,残留物;遗体,遗迹
参考例句:
  • He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
  • The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。
2 justify j3DxR     
vt.证明…正当(或有理),为…辩护
参考例句:
  • He tried to justify his absence with lame excuses.他想用站不住脚的借口为自己的缺席辩解。
  • Can you justify your rude behavior to me?你能向我证明你的粗野行为是有道理的吗?
3 lasting IpCz02     
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 defense AxbxB     
n.防御,保卫;[pl.]防务工事;辩护,答辩
参考例句:
  • The accused has the right to defense.被告人有权获得辩护。
  • The war has impacted the area with military and defense workers.战争使那个地区挤满了军队和防御工程人员。
5 legitimate L9ZzJ     
adj.合法的,合理的,合乎逻辑的;v.使合法
参考例句:
  • Sickness is a legitimate reason for asking for leave.生病是请假的一个正当的理由。
  • That's a perfectly legitimate fear.怀有这种恐惧完全在情理之中。
6 trump LU1zK     
n.王牌,法宝;v.打出王牌,吹喇叭
参考例句:
  • He was never able to trump up the courage to have a showdown.他始终鼓不起勇气摊牌。
  • The coach saved his star player for a trump card.教练保留他的明星选手,作为他的王牌。
7 democrat Xmkzf     
n.民主主义者,民主人士;民主党党员
参考例句:
  • The Democrat and the Public criticized each other.民主党人和共和党人互相攻击。
  • About two years later,he was defeated by Democrat Jimmy Carter.大约两年后,他被民主党人杰米卡特击败。
8 disdain KltzA     
n.鄙视,轻视;v.轻视,鄙视,不屑
参考例句:
  • Some people disdain labour.有些人轻视劳动。
  • A great man should disdain flatterers.伟大的人物应鄙视献媚者。
9 presidency J1HzD     
n.总统(校长,总经理)的职位(任期)
参考例句:
  • Roosevelt was elected four times to the presidency of the United States.罗斯福连续当选四届美国总统。
  • Two candidates are emerging as contestants for the presidency.两位候选人最终成为总统职位竞争者。
10 passionately YmDzQ4     
ad.热烈地,激烈地
参考例句:
  • She could hate as passionately as she could love. 她能恨得咬牙切齿,也能爱得一往情深。
  • He was passionately addicted to pop music. 他酷爱流行音乐。
11 condemning 3c571b073a8d53beeff1e31a57d104c0     
v.(通常因道义上的原因而)谴责( condemn的现在分词 );宣判;宣布…不能使用;迫使…陷于不幸的境地
参考例句:
  • The government issued a statement condemning the killings. 政府发表声明谴责这些凶杀事件。
  • I concur with the speaker in condemning what has been done. 我同意发言者对所做的事加以谴责。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
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