Al-Quds Brigades: Sderot strike strengthens us

Source: Al-Manar, 04-09-2007
"Israeli" high schools in the Qassam-stricken city of Sderot launched an open strike on Tuesday morning in protest at ongoing rocket attacks from the northern Gaza Strip. Parents of elementary pupils threatened to keep their children at home as of Wednesday morning if the attacks continued.
Parents, as well as many Sderot residents, want the "Israeli" government to launch a large-scale military operation in the Gaza Strip against the resistance fighters` groups responsible for the rocket fire. Sderot residents and students will hold a protest outside the Knesset in Jerusalem on Wednesday to pressure the government to respond to the daily rocket fire.
"Israeli" Prime Minister Ehud Olmert issued a stern warning to the Palestinians on Monday, saying that "Israel" would respond if the rocket fire persisted.
The Islamic Jihad resistance group claimed responsibility for the attacks on Sderot, saying Monday evening that its rockets were paralyzing Sderot.
"The strike in Sderot strengthens us and proves that the rocket fire yields and disrupts the ‘Israelis'` lives, just like the ‘Israelis`' actions harm the Palestinians," a spokesman for the al-Quds Brigades, the Islamic Jihad`s military wing, which is responsible for the rocket fire, said.
According to the man, Abu Ahmed, "We definitely planned to increase the rocket fire when the school year opened in order to cause the world to pay attention to the suffering of the Palestinian schoolchildren`s and their parents."
Abu Ahmed stressed that he and his men were not impressed by the "Israeli" army`s threats to act.
"These threats are not new, and the `Israeli` army has been operating all the time and failing in preventing the rocket fire. We have never stopped firing rockets and are continuing to do so all the time, as part of the organization`s perception and as part of the responses to `Israel`s` crimes against the Palestinian people, particularly Islamic Jihad activists.
"Just like the closure imposed by `Israel` on the Strip prevents the Palestinians from earning their living and prevents the students from starting the school year normally and makes it difficult for them to buy clothes, bags and equipments - both because of the shortage and because of the economic difficulties - we would like to say that the `Israelis` will also not be secure in the south, including their schoolchildren."