U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is back in the Middle East this week, meeting with Israeli and Palestinian leaders in a bid to try and prevent Israeli-Palestinian peace talks from collapsing. Three months after a U.S. brokered Mideast Peace Conference, the issue of Gaza has now intruded into the talks, complicating the negotiations.

美國國務卿賴斯本星期重返中東，會見以色列和巴勒斯坦領導人，試圖防止以色列和巴勒斯坦的和平談判破裂。美國斡旋的中東和平會議結束3個月后，加沙問題又成為和談議題，使得談判復雜化。

Secretary Rice's most immediate task will be to restart the peace talks, which have been suspended by the Palestinians. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas pulled out of the talks this week, after more than 100 Palestinians were killed by Israeli forces in the Gaza Strip -- during operations to stop Palestinian militants from firing rockets at southern Israel.

賴斯國務卿最緊迫的任務就是重新啟動和平談判，因為和談被巴勒斯坦方面停止。在以色列制止巴勒斯坦軍事組織向以色列南部發射火箭的行動中，一百多名巴勒斯坦人被以色列軍隊在加沙地帶打死，在此之后，巴勒斯坦領導人阿巴斯這個星期退出了和談。

Yossi Alpher, the co-editor of Bitterlemons.org, a web-based periodical devoted to Mideast conflict resolution issues says Secretary Rice might be able to achieve that limited goal - but the question remains, are Israelis and Palestinians making any real progress aimed at resolving their conflict.

探討中東沖突解決方案的網上雜志--苦瓜的編輯埃爾弗爾說，賴斯國務卿可能會達到有限的目標，但是問題仍然沒有解決，那就是，以色列和巴勒斯坦在結束沖突方面是否真正取得了任何進展。

"If the only purpose of her visit is to get the peace talks happening again, and assuming as I do that we will probably be witnessing a de-escalation in and around Gaza in the coming days then she may be able before she leaves to say she has succeeded in doing that," said Alpher. "But that is to my mind not a particularly triumphant accomplishment. The real question is, are these peace talks capable of leading to a viable agreement, and where are we heading with Gaza."

埃爾弗爾說：“如果她訪問的唯一目的是讓和談重新開始，我估計我們可能會看到幾天之內加沙局勢有所緩和，那么她在離開前可能會說，她在這方面成功了。然而，這在我的心目中算不上一個特別值得慶賀的成果。真正的問題是，這些和談能不能帶來一個可行的協議，同時還有加沙向何處去的問題�！�

Since they met last year at Annapolis, Maryland and pledged to reach a peace deal by the end of this year, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and President Mahmoud Abbas have held several rounds of talks. By all accounts the meetings are warm and cordial. But Palestinians are becoming increasingly vocal in their complaints that Israel is stalling on key issues that need to be resolved if any progress is to be made.

以巴領導人自從去年11月在馬里蘭首府安納波利斯的和平會議上保證在今年年底前達成一個和平協議以來，以色列總理奧爾默特和巴勒斯坦領導人阿巴斯舉行了數輪談判。這些談判不論怎么說都是熱烈和誠摯的。但是巴勒斯坦方面越來越大聲地發出他們的抱怨，說以色列在一些關鍵問題上拖延，如果要取得任何進展，這些問題都需要得到解決。

Palestinian Foreign Minister Riad al-Malki recently noted that so far the talks have not changed anything on the ground for Palestinians in the West Bank.

巴勒斯坦外長利亞德.馬勒基最近注意到，談判到迄今為之沒有給約旦河西岸的巴勒斯坦人的處境帶來任何改變。

"Not one single roadblock was lifted. The Israeli settlement policies did not stop," he said. "Israel continues to confiscate Palestinian land and continue its settlement projects; continues to destroy Palestinian homes; and the killing of Palestinian individuals - that did not stop."

馬勒基說：“沒有一個路障被清除，以色列人的定居政策沒有停止。以色列繼續奪取巴勒斯坦土地，并繼續建立定居點，繼續破壞巴勒斯坦人的家園，殺害巴勒斯坦人的個案也從沒有停止過�！�

For their part, Israeli officials say there has been progress but the talks are secret and little can be divulged. Aryeh Mekel of Israel's Foreign Ministry cautions patience, but also says Israel too has reasons to complain.

以色列官員說，他們認為已經取得了一些進展，但是談判是秘密進行的，因此不能向外透露什么信息。以色列外交部發言人梅克爾說，要有耐心，但是他表示，以色列也有理由抱怨。

"The core issues of the conflict have not been dealt with for eight years, now these issues are being revisited and we are starting to make progress," said Mekel. "So a lot has been done. You know the Palestinians really have to decide - you can sit there and complain all the time and be unhappy about everything, but doing that will there ever be a Palestinian state? No. We could have stopped the negotiations when the Qassam rockets did not stop but we did not do that. We are continuing and we think both sides should try and make progress - otherwise we will never solve the conflict."

梅克爾說：“沖突的核心問題8年來從來都沒有觸及到，現在這些問題又出現了，我們開始取得進展。有很多問題得到了解決。問題是巴勒斯坦人真的需要做出決定，因為你可以坐在那里整天抱怨，對什么都不滿，但是那么做就會冒出一個巴勒斯坦國嗎？不會的。我們可以在卡�；鸺�繼續襲擊的時候停止談判，但是我們沒有那樣做。我們還是繼續努力，我們認為雙方都應該努力促成進展，否則我們永遠也不能解決沖突。”

Hanging over the talks is the issue of Gaza. Even if progress is eventually made between Mr. Olmert and Mr. Abbas, both men will still have to deal with Hamas militants who control the Gaza Strip.

和平談判懸而未決的就是加沙問題。既使奧爾默特和阿巴斯之間最終取得進展，雙方仍然要面對控制加沙地帶的哈馬斯軍事組織的問題。

Yossi Alpher of Bitterlemons.org says the issue of Gaza could still derail the talks, and for now there is little Israeli officials can do about it, except to hope that Mr. Abbas might be able to bring Gaza along in any eventual peace deal with Israel.

"The Olmert government understands that if we move into Gaza, if we reoccupy Gaza, it could be the end of the peace process," said Alpher. "It does not want that to happen. It does not have a solid exact strategy and it does not want to negotiate a long term cease-fire with Hamas."

"So it [Olmert government] does what is necessary in order to strike back and try and deter Hamas, but it does not appear to have any long term strategy for dealing with Hamas in Gaza -- other than the hope that somehow the negotiations with the Palestinians in the West Bank will succeed, and that will take care of everybody's Gaza problem. That I say is a real long shot," he added.

Even if the problems in Gaza do not derail the current talks between Mr. Olmert and Mr. Abbas, Yossi Alpher says both men have yet to prove they are capable of taking the risks or making the sacrifices necessary for the peace process to be a success. He says now both men have a limited amount of time to show progress before the violence in Gaza overwhelms the fragile peace process begun last year at the Annapolis conference.

中東問題網上雜志編輯埃爾弗爾說，既使奧爾默特和阿巴斯之間的談判沒有被加沙問題拖垮，這兩位領導人尚未證明他們有能力甘冒風險，或者愿意為和平進程的最終成功做出必要的犧牲。他說，在加沙的暴力摧毀去年安納波利斯會議開始的脆弱和平進程之前，他們兩人只有有限的時間來取得進展。