"It was an embarrassing experience," the source said.
In Kalkilya, the sources said, the PA deployed troops from virtually
every security agency, including the National Security Forces, Presidential
Guard, Preventive Security Apparatus, General
Intelligence, Military Intelligence and police. They said the PA force fired
about 5,000 rounds of ammunition into the Hamas stronghold.
"It was the first time troops from different PA security agencies were
asked to work together," another Palestinian source said. "The situation was
chaotic with everybody firing wildly."
The sources the PA force lacked snipers, body armor, negotiators and
medical evacuation forces. They said two officers from PSA and one from NSF,
injured in the initial assault, bled to death because their colleagues could
not evacuate them under Hamas fire.
"The intelligence was poor," a PA officer recalled. "The assessment was
that Hamas would surrender. They didn't. Instead, they were ready to die as
martyrs."
The operation was supervised by U.S. security envoy Lt. Gen. Keith
Dayton, who was not seen in Kalkilya. The sources said as daylight
approached on May 31, three vans with non-PA plates arrived in Kalkilya.
About 25 black-clad men, wearing night-vision goggles and ear-pieces
emerged. They did not greet any of the PA commanders.
At that point, a PA officer called on his bullhorn for the Palestinian
force to withdraw about 10 meters to make room for the new squad. The
black-clad men were said to have surveyed the Hamas safe house and ordered a
reorganization of the PA frontline force.
The new arrivals then led an assault on the Hamas stronghold, barking
orders in a non-Arabic language. Within minutes, the Hamas safe house was
captured and three occupants, including the Hamas commander, were killed.
"They looked and acted like Americans," a witness said. "Their tactics
were nothing that the Palestinians here had seen."
On June 4, PA security forces identified and raided another Hamas safe
house in Kalkilya. The sources said the second operation, which resulted in
three casualties, proceeded more smoothly than the May 31 raid.
Still, the Palestinian sources said morale within the PA plunged in wake
of the bloody crackdown against Hamas in Kalkilya. They quoted parents of
security recruits as saying that they had not realized that their sons were
in mortal danger from Islamic insurgents.
"Many of those who joined the PA forces saw this as a means of prestige
and the chance to walk around with a weapon," the PA officer said. "They
didn't imagine it would mean actually coming face-to-face with death."
