The president of the United States, Donald Trump, made an historic announcement on December 6th, 2017 that upended decades of US foreign policy in the middle east. "Today we finally acknowledged the obvious, that Jerusalem is Israel's capital. This is nothing more, or less, than a recognition of reality. It is also the right thing to do."
美国总统唐纳德·特朗普在2017年12月6日发表了历史性的声明,颠覆了美国几十年来在中东的外交政策。“今天,我们终于承认了一个显而易见的事实,即耶路撒冷是以色列的首都。这不过是对现实的一种承认,这也是正确的做法。”
This sent a shockwave throughout the world and could have potentially damaging results for the israeli-palestinian peace process. But why is this city so important, and what, if anything, does this policy move actually change? We first need to look at the history of the city.
这在全世界掀起了轩然大波,并可能对巴勒斯坦-以色列和平进程产生潜在的破坏性后果。但为什么这个城市如此重要,如果有的话,这一政策举措到底会引起什么变化?我们首先需要了解这座城市的历史。
Jerusalem is one of the oldest cities in the world, and one that holds deep religious and cultural significance for many people. Jerusalem is home to the third holiest site in the Islamic faith, the Al-Aqsa Mosque, where the prophet Mohammed allegedly ascended into heaven. In Judaism, it's home to the religion's holiest site where the Holy Temple once stood and the Western Wall still stands. And in Christianity, the city is where Jesus was crucified and allegedly resurrected. All of these sites are in a very small portion of the Jerusalem called The Old City.
耶路撒冷是世界上最古老的城市之一,而对许多人来说,它又具有着深刻的宗教和文化意义。耶路撒冷是伊斯兰信仰中的第三大圣地——阿克萨清真寺所在地,据称先知穆罕默德就是在那里升天的。在犹太教中,这里是宗教最神圣的遗址所在地,圣殿曾在此处矗立,而西墙仍然在此屹立。在基督教中,这座城市是耶稣被钉在十字架上并据称复活的地方。所有这些地点都位于耶路撒冷的很小一部分,叫做旧城。
The city has been conquered, destroyed, and rebuilt time after time throughout history and is at the center of the decades-long Palestinian-Israeli conflict. After the 1948 Arab-Israeli war, an armistice was signed that divided the city in half: israel controlled the west, and Jordan controlled the east. But in 1967, during The Six Day War, Israel seized control of East Jerusalem and still occupies that territory. Today, the argument about who should control what parts of city is still one of the most hotly contested issues in peace negotiations.
这座城市在整个历史中一次又一次地被攻克、摧毁和重建,是长达数十年的巴以冲突的中心。1948年阿拉伯-以色列战争后,签署了停战协议,将这座城市一分为二:以色列控制了西部,约旦控制了东部。但在1967年的六日战争期间,以色列夺取了对东耶路撒冷的控制权,并仍然占领该领土。如今,关于谁应该控制这座城市的哪个地区的争论仍然是和平谈判中争议最大的问题之一。
But what happens when one of the key mediators in the negotiations takes a step that seems to favor one side over the other? That brings us to the announcement by the Trump administration and why it matters.
但是,当谈判的主要调解人之一采取似乎有利于一方而不是另一方的步骤时,会发生什么呢?这就引出了特朗普政府的声明及其重要性。