Published: 11/01/07, 11:34 PM Fatah Promises 'Hundreds of Rockets' in Further Escalation by Nissan Ratzlav-Katz

(IsraelNN.com) A wing of the Fatah organization, headed by Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas, stated Thursday that it has begun an escalation in attacks on Israeli towns in the Negev. The terrorist group already claimed it was behind a barrage of rockets from Gaza that struck Sderot and its environs earlier in the day.
Brigades spokesmen called upon the residents of the city of Sderot to leave their homes.

Fatah, through its Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades arm, said that the Thursday rocket fire was part of an planned series of hundreds of rocket attacks the group has dubbed "Gaza Autumn." In their announcement of the operation, Brigades spokesmen called upon the residents of the city of Sderot to leave their homes and warned that Fatah will continue to bombard Israeli communities in the Negev.

The group said the attacks would be a response to "the evil Balfour declaration," which was issued 90 years ago this Friday. The Balfour declaration approved the creation of a Jewish state in the Land of Israel. Spokesmen for Fatah in Gaza boasted that their organization has carried out dozens of attacks on nearby Jewish towns.

The Brigades' statement also said the planned attacks are their response to IDF operations in Gaza: "They are planning for us an autumn conference and continuing to talk about a conference here and a conference there. In light of the fact that Israel continues its incursions, its daily acts of murder, its destruction of homes and its shedding of blood among us, we are announcing the military operation 'Gaza Autumn.'"

Please keep in mind that my calls for war are not made lightly, my son will fight in the next war as well as his friends that he attended Israel's military academy with and many kids that are members of our family. So it is with a heavy heart that I call for war. But I know that a war today will save many Jewish lives in the future.