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Recognising Palestine
认可巴勒斯坦
A state of things to come
大波纷争来袭
Britain votes to recognise a Palestinian state
英国投票承认巴勒斯坦国
What would Arthur Balfour say?
阿瑟·贝尔福将会说什么？
IN HIS declaration of 1917 giving Britain's backing for the creation of a Jewish homeland, Arthur Balfour, the then foreign secretary, undertook to uphold the civil and religious rights of the native population of Palestine. A century later after less than total success, Britain's Parliament added national rights as well. On October 13th it voted by 274 votes to 12 to recognise a Palestinian state.
1917年，当时的外交大臣阿瑟·贝尔福发表了宣言，代表英国支持巴勒斯坦地区人民的公民权利与宗教权利。一个世纪后，此举虽未完全成功，但在此基础上也支持巴勒斯坦作为一个国家的权利也被纳入英国议会当中。10月13日，英国议会以274票对12票的投票结果，承认巴勒斯坦国。
On the face of it, the backbench vote will have little impact. It is not binding, sets no deadline for recognition and will not change government policy, says David Cameron, the Conservative prime minister. Over half of MPs abstained.
在投票结果面前，后座议员的票数几乎没什么影响。此结果不具有约束力，不设期限的认可，也不会改变政府的政策，保守党首相卡梅伦如是说。而超过半数的国会议员都投了弃权票。
But as a barometer of European sentiment, the vote is telling. Since last summer's Gaza war and recent appropriations of Palestinian land, even Israel's allies have found its actions hard to stomach. “If it is losing people like me, it is going to be losing a lot of people,” said Richard Ottaway, the pro-Israel chairman of Parliament's foreign affairs committee.
但是，作为欧洲态度的晴雨表，投票结果是最说明问题的。去年夏天的加沙战争和最近对巴勒斯坦土地的拨款，这些甚至让以色列的盟友们都觉得这些举动无法容忍。“如果连我这样的人都不能容忍，那么此举还会失去更多的民心。”议会外交事务委员会主席、亲以色列的理查德·奥特维如是说。
To downplay the significance of the vote, Mr Cameron abstained. Yet this might also reflect growing ambivalence towards Israel, some claimed. After siding with Israel early in the Gaza war, Mr Cameron denounced Israel's post-war landgrab as “utterly deplorable”.
为了淡化投票的重要性，卡梅伦投了弃权票。当然，这也可能是反映了卡梅伦对以色列日益增长的矛盾心理------在加沙战争早期，英国与以色列同仇敌忾，而在此之后卡梅伦指责以色列战后侵占土地，并称其是“完全可悲”。
That growing concern has had little discernible impact on relations. Bilateral trade has risen 28% year-on-year. And Israel can be thick-skinned about how the world views it. “There's a bit of a tendency to write off Europeans as Nazi-hugging anti-semites,” says a Western diplomat in Tel Aviv. But the vote may encourage others in Europe to do more than just urge the parties to end Israel's occupations by negotiation, as they have for 23 years. Earlier this month, Sweden's new prime minister, Stefan Lofven, said his country, too, would recognise a Palestinian state. And when the issue of Palestinian UN membership next comes to the Security Council, as it may soon, the parliamentary vote might make it a bit harder for Britain to oppose it.
日益增长的关注度对英以双方的关系影响并不明显。英以双边贸易额相比去年同期上涨28%。并且对于世界如何看待自己的问题上，以色列完全就是死猪不怕开水烫。“目前欧洲人有紧拥纳粹反犹主义的倾向，而这将毁掉欧洲人，”特拉维夫的一位西方外交官说道。但是投票或许会鼓励欧洲的其他各方做出更多表示，而不是像之前的23年那样仅仅谈判敦促以色列结束对有关地区的占领。本月早些时候，瑞典新首相斯特凡·洛文夫表示，瑞典也将承认巴勒斯坦国。当巴勒斯坦加入联合国并进入安全理事会的时候，对于英国来说，再想投反对票就不是一件容易事儿了。翻译 周晓婷 校对 王颖
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