FORMALLY the Israelis and Palestinians are still meeting, albeit fitfully. But in reality they are turning their backs on each other, thinking up their next strategies as if the talks had already ceased. The process began to peter out after Binyamin Netanyahu, Israel’s prime minister, delayed and then blocked the release of two dozen Palestinian prisoners, previously scheduled for March 29th. Mr Netanyahu said he wanted the Palestinians to promise to keep talking before he would let the prisoners go. No, said Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian leader; Israel must stick to what was agreed. “Poof!” said John Kerry, the American secretary of state, describing the noise of the talks, initiated by him nine months ago, as they run out of steam.
Naftali Bennett, the cheery leader of Jewish Home, a national-religious party that promotes the expansion of Jewish settlements in the West Bank, is building up support for his plan formally to annex the more than half of the Palestinians’ hoped-for state that Israel’s army already fully controls. The housing minister, Uri Ariel, a member of Mr Bennett’s party, has overseen the fastest growth of settlements in the territory for a decade. Buoyed by his rise in the polls and eyeing the prospect of fresh elections, Mr Bennett is threatening to bring down Mr Netanyahu’s coalition should he concede on the prisoners.

Meanwhile Mr Abbas, often criticised for being indecisive, has called meetings of Palestinian notables to prepare them for some “fateful decisions”. Despairing of ever getting a negotiated two-state solution, the ideal on which he has built his career, the 79-year-old leader is now said to be planning to bow out. It is being whispered that parliamentary and presidential elections for Palestinians in both the diaspora and the Israeli-occupied West Bank and Gaza may be held next January to choose a fresh set of leaders. “He has had it with negotiations,” says a minister close to him. “He knows he’s failed.”
Some Palestinians are urging a third intifada (uprising). Tension has been mounting. For the first time in a decade, a new Jewish settlement inside Hebron, the only West Bank Palestinian town where Jews have a section of their own, was recently given the go-ahead (by Mr Ariel). The next day a Palestinian gunman fired on cars on a nearby road restricted to settlers, killing one of them. Two Islamist factions, Hamas and Islamic Jihad, applauded the attack.
Given Israel’s overwhelming military superiority, most Palestinians still prefer to compete in an arena where they have a better chance of success. Appealing to the international community, Mr Abbas’s people have prepared four batches of applications to join various UN bodies.
But if the Palestinians go ahead on that front, Israel has threatened mayhem. It could block customs transfers to the Palestinian Authority, the body under Mr Abbas which administers much of the West Bank. That might bring his fief tumbling down and force Israel to reoccupy West Bank cities, which in turn would sharpen confrontation between the two communities and heap a new load of opprobrium on Israel.
Worse for the Israelis, American support at the UN may prove less rock-solid than before. American officials are annoyed by Israel’s apparent neutrality over Ukraine. Its representative at the UN absented himself from a resolution upholding Ukraine’s territorial integrity.
(Picture credit: AFP)

Vocabulário
- Primeiro Parágrafo:

1. Fizzling: Como verbo intransitivo fizzle, é perder a força. É to finish slowly in a way that is disappointing or has become less interesting. "I like the way the movie starts but then it fizzles out". Acredito ser uma metáfora da perda da força do som no final de um assobio. Possui outras acepções, contudo:

fizzle
v. emitir um chiado, emitir som que desaparece aos poucos; fracassar, não trazer resultados 

fiz.zle
[f'izəl] n 1 crepitação, chiadeira. 2 fiasco, fracasso, malogro, ridículo. • vi 1 sibilar, assobiar, chiar. 2 crepitar, estalejar. 3 fracassar, fazer fiasco. it fizzled out malogrou. to have a fizzle silvar, chiar. 

fizzle
■  verb
    make a feeble hissing sound.
    (fizzle out) end or fail in a weak or disappointing way.
■  noun a feeble hissing sound. 

fizzle
▶  verb the loudspeaker fizzled: CRACKLE, buzz, hiss, fizz, crepitate.
▶  noun
    electric fizzle.: See fizz noun sense 4.
    the whole thing turned out to be a fizzle: FAILURE, fiasco, debacle, disaster; Brit. damp squib; informal flop, washout, let-down, dead loss; N. Amer. informal snafu.


■ fizzle out PETER OUT, die off, ease off, cool off; tail off, wither away. 

Inglês - Espanhol: 

fizzle
v.- terminar débilmente | disminuir | amainar aplacar
s.- ruido silbante 

Inglês - Francês:
fizzle
v. pétiller, faire écouter un bruit pétillant, un bruit gazeux; échouer, terminer sans rien en main (argot) 


2. Albeit: embora, ainda que, apesar de, não obstante, se bem que. Em inglês, although, even though. Em francês, en dépit de, bien que, quoique, encore que. Em espanhol, aunque.

 3. Fitfully:  O advérbio fitfully significa intermitentemente. O adjetivo fitful significa  irregular, espasmódico (Her breathing is fitful). Outras acepções:
Português:

fitfully
adv. irregularmente; de modo intermitente 

Inglês:
fitful
■  adjective active or occurring intermittently; not regular or steady.


fitfully adverb
fitfulness noun

 Francês:
fitfully
adv. alternativement, de façon irrégulière 

Espanhol:

fitfully
adv. a rachas; caprichosamente, a rachas de furia, apopléticamente 
4. Peter out: Essa eu não conhecia. Significa acabar. "To be reduced gradually so that nothing is left". We thought the storm would peter out.
Português:

peter out
desaparecer; extinguir; acabar, exaurir 

trail off
(=trail away, peter out, tail off) diminuir

Inglês:

peter out: disappear, fade out of sight; die out, be extinguished; be used up, run out


peter out
diminish or come to an end gradually.

peter out
FIZZLE OUT, fade (away), die away/out, dwindle, diminish, taper off, tail off, trail away/off, wane, ebb, melt away, evaporate, disappear, come to an end, subside.


Francês:

peter out
disparaître, se faner; s'éteindre, s'affaiblir; s'épuiser 

Espanhol:

peter out
v.- acabarse | extinguirse | desaparecer | agotarse | descontinuar 

5. Run out of steam: Perder a forçar. Em inglês, é uma expressão informal a qual significa "lose impetus or enthusiasm." Em espanhol, v.- agotarse | extenuearse


- Segundo Parágrafo:

6. Cheery: É um adjetivo que significa alegre. "Expressing happiness, or making you feel happier". She always gave us a cheery greeting.

Português:

- alegre, vivo, bem-humorado 

- adj alegre, animado, contente, jovial, vivo.

Espanhol:
- alegre | animado 

Francês:
- gai, de bonne humeur

7. Oversee (oversaw e overseen): Supervisionar.

Português:

- fiscalizar, inspecionar, administrar

Espanhol:

- supervisar, inspeccionar, regentar, superentender

Francês:

- contrôler; surveiller; diriger

8. Buoyed: No texto em tela, significa animado. Há, todavia, outros sentidos:


Inglês:
▶  noun a mooring buoy: FLOAT, marker, beacon.
▶  verb the party was buoyed by an election victory: CHEER (UP), hearten, rally, invigorate, uplift, lift, encourage, stimulate, inspirit; informal pep up, perk up, buck up. 

Português:

buoy

[bɔi] n 1 Naut bóia. 2 salva-vidas. 3 fig tábua de salvação. • vt 1 Naut colocar bóias. 2 marcar com bóias. life-buoy salva-vidas. to buoy up manter boiando, fazer flutuar. 


Espanhol:
- mantener a flote; abalizar, aboyar, dar aliento, animar 

Francês:
- marquer d'une bouée, baliser; maintenir à flot; soutenir, encourager, appuyer

9. Concede: