British Foreign Secretary David Miliband is scheduled to visit the rocket-battered Negev town of Sderot Monday following talks Sunday evening with Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni. As they spoke, Gaza terrorists fired more Kassam rockets on Sderot, injuring at least one person with light shrapnel wounds.
After touring Sderot by helicopter with Defense Minister Ehud Barak, he will meet with Opposition leader Binyamin Netanyahu, whom polls estimate will be the next Prime Minister of Israel, and with Palestinian Authority chairman Mahmoud Abbas.
Foreign Minister Livni told her British counterpart Sunday, "Israel cannot just watch its citizens being attacked... The international community can not turn a blind-eye." The United Nations and several European Union (EU) leaders have said that Israel can reduce the attacks by opening the Gaza crossings, which were closed in retaliation for the resumption of the attacks.
A June 19 ceasefire agreement reduced the number of terrorist rocket strikes on Gaza to a relatively small number until an IDF counterterrorist operation two weeks ago prevented a planned attack to kidnap army soldiers.
Miliband also spoke on Sunday with outgoing Prime Minister Ehud Olmert concerning Turkish-mediated indirect talks with Syria. Syria has not yet replied to Olmert's bid to resume the negotiations, but Syrian President Bashar Assad previously has stated that the political situation in Israel is too unstable to resume meetings.
In the background of Miliband's visit is a British attempt to convince the EU to cut off exports of Israeli goods that are made in Judea and Samaria. It has argued that trade encourages expansion of Jewish communities in the region. Foreign Minister Livni has expressed strong opposition to the British initiative.
Israel also is concerned over several threats in Britain to prosecute senior IDF officers for war crimes.