New Palestinian National Army

New Palestinian National Army

May 28, 2010 - 11:18 AM | by: Dana Lewis

In a training base in Jenin, the West Bank, the Palestinian National Security Force, has agreed to give us an exclusive look at what amounts to a light army now springing up in the West Bank.

'Light' because all the Israeli's have allowed them to pack are AK-47 rifles, at least so far.

There are already 2500 Palestinian soldiers deployed in 10 Palestinian City's and dozens of smaller towns. By next year there will be double that number and America is largely responsible for their training and equipping.

3 star Lt. General Keith Dayton has quietly been working here, since the take over of the Gaza strip by Hamas extremists in 2007 to build a Palestinian army.   American Special Forces soldiers are helping to whip them into shape in training centers in Jordan and the West Bank, to stop Hamas from taking more territory and to protect the Palestinian authority of Mahmoud Abbas. Many Palestinian soldiers couldn't praise enough what they called the high degree of professional training provided by the American SF team.

General Dayton's spokesman refused our requests for interviews, and said the Palestinians would also not talk.  Odd considering American tax payers have funded most of the force to the tune of more than 500 million dollars.

But in fact the Palestinians agreed to show us their soldiers and talk to us, because they are proud of the army believing it's critical to forming a Palestinian State and to demonstrate to  Israel there will be security for both people's.

Palestinian Colonel Raed Asedeh says "all members of Hamas are screened out" from the army. "Hamas is banned" he adds.

And while Israel has reluctantly agreed to allow the build up of the NSF, Israeli leaders understand the risks not only in having a Palestinian force and also in not having one.

"If the whole thing collapses, who knows what these weapon will be used for" said Israeli Deputy P.M. Dan Meridor in my interview with him in Jerusalem.   But he went on to say he was in favor of the NSF, stating "I am not playing down the risks, but if we don't agree to anything, and leave the situation unresolved terror may erupt".   In the context of security he said a peace agreement has to be reached; "We can't be the South Africa of the past", said Meridor who is also the director of Israeli Intelligence.

The Palestinian soldiers say the drop in terror attacks in Israel is not only due to Israels wall built across the West Bank, but also because of the successes of the NSF.  They meet with Israeli military commanders and both sides say they have shared information with each other, and had some small degree of co-operation.

Still the Palestinians note the Israeli's tie up their requests for critical equipment at the borders for months on end including simple gear like two way radios.    The Israeli's won't allow them enough bullets to conduct target practice for soldiers on training bases or tear gas to deal with crowd control.

And remarkably the Israeli army orders the NSF in Jenin not to patrol the streets from midnight to 6am.

Colonel Asedeh questions "how are we to have the trust of our people if we are only providing order half the time"?  But he predicts it's only a matter of time before his troops patrol all of the West Bank, marching towards a Palestinian State.

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