Britain's Foreign Office Minister for the Middle East Bill Rammell called the renewed rocket and mortar attacks on southern Israel "simply unacceptable" as he toured Kibbutz Kfar Aza on 21 December - the first day of a three-day visit to Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories. This was his first visit to the area in his new role as Minister for the Middle East; he previously visited Israel and the OPTs in June 2007 as Minister for Higher Education.

Minister Rammell visited the Barzilai Medical Centre in Ashkelon where he met with hospital director Shimon Scharf and his deputy Ron Lobel and heard from them how the hospital cares for the local residents who face repeated rocket and mortar attacks from the Gaza Strip.

He then toured the area around the Gaza Strip, including the Karni and Erez Crossings, before continuing on to Kibbutz Kfar Aza where he met with local residents, including Kadima MK Shai Hirmesh. "I have come here to see for myself the impact of the situation on the ground," said Minister Rammell, "I can see very clearly the traumatic effect that the repeated rocket attacks from Gaza into Israel are having. People are traumatized. The rocket attacks are simply unacceptable." He also added that, "I am also conscious, looking at the situation in Gaza, of the lack of humanitarian access, the lack of supplies, the lack of aid, the power cuts - that that is creating a humanitarian crisis ... Talking to people, I know how much they have appreciated the relative calm that the ceasefire has brought and I very much hope that that can continue."

Minister Rammell then attended an event at the British Ambassador's Ramat Gan Residence to launch the first call for proposals under the new Britain-Israel Research and Academic Exchange Partnership (BIRAX). Speaking at the event, in the presence of Education Minister Yuli Tamir, Minister Rammell noted that his last visit to Israel had been at the time of a proposed academic boycott, which he termed "fundamentally wrong". He went on to add, "I say that for two principal reasons: one, I very, very strongly believe that education is something that can bring people together, not drive them apart. And secondly I believe very strongly that both here in Israel and in the Palestinian Territories there are both progressives and reactionaries. And the problem with boycotts is that you make the job of progressives much more difficult and you reinforce the position of the reactionaries."

The minister said that BIRAX is a "real attempt to develop a programme to enhance research and academic cooperation between our two countries with substantial financial contributions from the Pears Foundation and the UJIA" in addition to the seed funding from Israel's Ministry of Science, Culture and Sport and a matching contribution from the UK's Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills and the Foreign & Commonwealth Office. He added that he hoped BIRAX would be a real "opportunity to take forward collaboration and joint work between our two sets of academics."

Also in Israel, Minister Rammell met Noam Shalit, the father of kidnapped IDF soldier Gilad Shalit, as well as Deputy Foreign Minister Majalli Whbee.

Notes for Editors

For details of the Minister's visit to the Palestinian territories, please visit the British Consulate General in Jerusalem's website.

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