(3 Sep 2007) SHOTLIST
1. Convoy of cars with European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana arriving
2. Solana gets out of the car to meet and kiss Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, handshake
3. SOUNDBITE: (English) Javier Solana, EU foreign policy chief
"I would like to show my solidarity with the people in Sderot. I was there with the minister (Livni) not long ago, in the moment in which rockets were falling, we were together there, I know what it means and to see today again the same experience for the people of Sderot and in particular at the time in which the schools were about to... the kids were going to. I think that it's something I have to condemn and to show my solidarity to the people in Israel and the people of Sderot."
4. Mid of Solana and Livni
5. SOUNDBITE: (English) Tzipi Livni, Israeli foreign minister
"Israel has the right to defend itself and I don't want to suggest here what kind of steps we can take and in a away even if some of the steps cannot stop completely terror attacks on Israel, I think that the Palestinians need to understand that business is not usual. I mean there is no equation in which Israeli children will be under attacks by Qassam rockets on a daily basis and life in the Gaza strip can be as usual and I don't refer only to military means: I mean Gaza strip depends on Israel's good will in several things and I think it is about time that we discuss what kinds of means and steps we can take in order to send a message that if life in Israel is not as usual as needs to be, so does the life in Gaza strip."
6. Pull out of end of conference
7. Livni and Solana shake hands and walk out
STORYLINE:
Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni hinted Monday that Israel might impose unspecified sanctions on the sovereign Gaza Strip as a whole if Palestinian militants continue to fire rockets at southern Israel.
Speaking in a joint press conference with visiting EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana, hours after a rocket hit next to a kindergarten in the town of Sderot, Livni said Palestinians should not imagine that their lives would be allowed to continue undisturbed while Israeli children were under fire.
"I think that the Palestinians need to understand that business is not usual. I mean there is no equation in which Israeli children will be under attacks," Livni said,
She added: "I don't want to suggest here what kind of steps we can take," and said she was not referring only to military means.
"The Gaza Strip depends on Israel's goodwill in several things and I think it's time we will discuss what kinds of means and steps we can take" Livni said.
Palestinians in Gaza would argue that their lives are anything but "undisturbed", given frequent Israeli incursions, airstrikes as well as its total control over the coastal strip' s borders and airspace, all of which some regional observers have suggested has made the territory a giant prison.
Sderot - a frequently targeted city - lies just a mile (1.6 kilometres) from the Gaza Strip.
The army confirmed seven rockets were fired, including one which landed landed in a courtyard next to a crowded day care centre, sending panicked mothers scrambling to get their children to safety.
The Islamic Jihad militant group later claimed responsibility.
Solana backed Israel's response, offering "solidarity" with the residents of Sderot.
He is in Israel following a weekend trip to the Palestinian territories to discuss the latest developments in the region ahead of upcoming key conferences on the Mideast peace process.
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