Figure 1.--Jordan offered refuge to evem mote Palistisans after the Six Days War (June 1967). A aresult, Jordanian authoirities lost control over areas with large numbers of Palistians. When King Hussein attemoted to controil them and stop terrot raids into Israel. the Palistinianhs attempted to seize control of Jordan (September 1970). Thousands died in the ensuing fighting, mistly Palistinians. The press caption foir this Septejmber 25 photogrph read, "Rescue: Lebanese Fireman Friday carries a badly burned Jordanian child to medical treatment in Beirut where the child was flowngrom Amman, Jordan where thiusands were reportedly badly wounded."

Jordan suffered heavy casualties in the Six Days War (June 1967). After the Isrealis seized the Jordanian-controlled West Bank, there was a large-scale exodus of Palestinians. An estimated 0.3 millionm Palestinians chose to cross the Jordan River to the East Bank meaning Jordanian territory. This added to the Palistianians already living in Jordan, swelling the refugee total to about 0.7 million Palistinians. This added to economic disruption Jordan faced from the War itself. Palistinian groups in Jordan attempted to continue fightibg by staging terror raids into Israel from bases they established in Jordan. The King attempted to supress armed Palistinian groups which bhad been staging terror raids into Israel and thus brought about retailitory Israeli strikes. King Hussein's accepted a a cease-fire with Israel (August 1970). This enfuriated the Palistinians who wanted war not peace with Israel. Fatah moved to overthrow King Hussein who they saw as too moderate and seize control of Jordan, the country which had harbored them. The ensuing fighting is known as Black September (September 1970). The King declared mrtial law (September 1). King Hussein of Jordan moved to restore his rule over the country. The Palistiniasns then attacked the Jordanian Army in an effort to unseat the King. A bitterly fought 10-day struggle ensued. Syria attempted to intervene to support the Palestinians, but were blocked by the Israelis. Thousands of people were killed in the resulting fighting, modstly Palestinians. Fighting continued at a reduced level for months (until July 1971). The Jordanians finally suceeded in expelling the PLO and thousands oftheur fighters. Lebanon agreed to givecthem refuge. An observer in Israel tells us that he watched the Jordanian/PLO war from the Golan heights. Many nights the skies were lit up like the 4th of July. He claims that Jordan could have wiped out the PLO at that time, but allowed them to escape into Lebanon.The fighting was finally ended throught mediation by other Arab governments. The King was forced to subsequently ordered a final offensive against Palestinian fighters remining in Jordan (July 1971). Palistinian commandos assasinated Premier Wasfi al-Tal (September 1971). Further Palestinian coup attempts, believed to have been aided by Col. Qadafi in Libya, were thwarted by Jordanian security forces (November 1972 and February 1973).

Six Days War (June 1967)

President Nasser with a massive ARmy armed with modern Soviet aurcradft, tanks, and other weapons decided to move against the badly outnumber Israelis. The resulting Six Days War changed the dynamic of the conflict between Israel and Palestine. The United Nations for 8 years patrolled the Isreali-Egyption border in the Siani. Nasser backed with an infusion of Soviet weapons decided to confront Israel militarily. Nasser organized an alliance with Syria and Jordan. He moved 100,000 troops to the border armed with 1,000 tanks. He expelled the U.N. Peace Keeping force in the Sianai and blockaded Elat, the Isreali Gulf of Aqaba Port. Syria was posed to attack in the north. King Hussein signed an agreement with Egyptian President Nasser, pledging to joined in the Arab assault on Israel. Israel facing a massive Egyptian force struck first, destroying the modern Egyptian air force in one day. They then attacked the huge Sioviet-supplied Egyptian tank force in the Sianai. The Jordanian Legion attacked from Jerusalem and the West Bank. Nasser misled the King about the success of Egyotian forces in Sianai. The Arab Legion suffered heavy casualties in the Six Days War (June 1967) and lost both East Jerusalem and the West Bank. .

West Bank: Exodus from the West Bank

Isreali After the Isrealis seized the Jordanian-controlled West Bank, there was a large-scale exodus of Palestinians. An estimated 0.3 millionm Palestinians chose to cross the Jordan River to the East Bank meaning Jordanian territory.

Palestinians in Jordon

The influx of Palistinuians from the West Bank after the Six Days War added to the Palistianians already living in Jordan, swelling the refugee total to about 0.7 million Palistinians. This added to economic disruption Jordan faced from the War itself. Palistinian groups from the safty of Jordan in Jordan attempted to continue fightibg by staging terror raids into Israel from bases they established in Jordan. The King attempted to supress armed Palistinian groups which had been staging terror raids into Israel and thus brought about retailitory Israeli strikes. Rather than appreciating the Jordanian efforts to care for them, the Palestinians resented the fact that Jordan did not continue the waer against Israel. And they sought to take advantage of the sanctyary offered by attacking across the border into Israel.

Battle of Karameh (March 1968)

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) responding to Palestinian trror attacks moved across the border and entered the Jordanian village of Karameh where a PLO base was located (March 21, 1968). Attacks into Israel were prepare and launched from the base. The IDF force destroyed the PLO base. The IDF force killed abot 200 PLO fighters and took another 150 were prisoner. The IDF killed some 40 Jordanian soldiers resistingh the incursion. IDF casualties were 28 killed and 69 wounded. [Herzog, p. 205.] The IDF Karameh punative operation showed that PLO camps close to the Jordan River were vulnerable to retalitory IDF raids. The PLO decided to move their bases further back from the River into the safty of mountains. This placed additional logistical problems on them, but made it harder for the IDF to retaliate. Further Israeli attacks targeting the PLO fighters mixed in with the Jordanian civilian population, caused increasing problems between Jordanian officials and the PLO fighters. [Herzog, pp. 205-06.]

Palistinian State Within a State

The huge number of Palistinians that sought refuge in Jordan had no loyalty to the Jordanian Government or eventually any willingness to recognize Jordanian authority. Theor loyalty was to the PLO. The Palestinians who were haavily armed began to set up their own government. The lightly armed Jordanian Police and even the Army began losing their authority. Uniformed PLO militants often carrying automatic weapons began acting like the police. They openly flaunted their authority. They began setting up checkpoints outside the refugeecamps and other areas where they clustered. They began extort 'taxes' from Jordanians on the roads. The PLO thus became became a serious security threat, establising the Jordanian state. King Hussein not only had domestic security issues, but also Israel to contend with. The heavily armed PLO meant that not only was it impossibke to negotiate any arrangements with Israel, but Palistinian attacks on Israel resuled in Israeli incursions. Thus both indirectly and directly the PLO undermined the monarchy. The PLO covenant committed to 'liberating' mandatory Palestine meaning all of Israel meant that Jordan was being pulled into another war with Israel. And actual death threats aimed at the King was nothing short of a intention of over tirning the state. The PLO conduct in Jordon reached a level that a showdown with King Hussein was unavoidable. The PLO wanted the King out and control the state with a real army to wage a war with Israel.

Seven Point Agreement (November 1968)

King Hussein attempted to peacefully resolve the situation. A seven-point agreement was reached between King Hussein and the Palestinian organizations (November 1968). The seven pints were: 1) PLO fighters were prohibited from moving around cities armed and in uniform. 2) They strictly forbidden to stop and search civilian vehicles. 3) They priohibited from competing with the Jordanian Army for new recruits. 4) They had tom obtain and carry Jordanian identity papers. 5) Their had to obtain and use Jordanian license plates for their vehicles. 6) The Jordanian police would investigate and oprocecute crimes committed by members of the Palestinian organizations. 7) Disputes arising between the Palestinian organizations and the Jordanian government would be settled by a joint council of representatives of the King and the PLO. The Seven Point Agreement did not settle the security issue in Jordan, primarily because the PLO did not comply with the commiments they made.

Ten-point Edict (February 1970)

King Hussein concerned about the deteriorating security situation in his country visited U.S. President Richard Nixon and Egyptian President Nasser (February 1970). When he retuned to Jordan, he issued a 10-point edict designed to significantly curtail activities of the Palestinian organizations in the Kingdom. The Palestinians reacted with force. Fighting broke out on the streets of Amman between the Jordanian police and Army on one side and the armed Palestinian groups (February 11). Some 300 people were killed. King Hussein in an effort to prevent the fighgting further announced "We are all fedayeen" and dismissed his interior (police) minister who was hostile towards the Palestinians. The Palestinians for their part did not back down. They proceeded to establish their own visa controls, customs controls collecting fees, and armed checkpoints in Aman and other Jordanian cities. It was a direct challenge to the King's rule. One reason the King referained from moving more forcefully against the PLO was that they were backed by President Nasser in Egypt.

The Roger's Plan (June 1970)

The Nixon Administration like other U,.S. administrations attemted to mediate the Israeli-Arab conflict. U.S. Secretary of State William P Rogers worked with the Arab states ans Israel to develop a framwork for a peaceful settlement. Rogers announced his proposals (June 1970). Syria was unreceptive, but Egypt and Jordan accepted what became known as the Rogers Plan It provided for a cease fire in the War of Attrition between Egypt and Israel and for a negotiated withdrawal from territories Israel occupied in the Six Days War, namely the West Bank and the Sianai. It was based on United Nations Security Council Resolution 242. The plan entailed returning West Bank to Jordanian comtrol whivh was the sutuation before the War. This was tiotally unacceotable to the armed PLO groups who wanted a Palestinian state from which they could comtinue the war with Israel. The PLO, George Habash's Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), and Naif Hawatmeh's Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP) all opposed the Roger's Plan. President Nasser anxious to regain Sianai was outraged that the Palestinians would defybhis policies. The result was that gthe PLO lost his support and protection. The Palestinians charge that the plan was a trap conceived by the Americans and Kuing Hussein to destroy the PLO's relations with Nasser. The Plan was never implemented. King Hussein began to move against the PLO which had destoyed its relatins with President Nassar. Fighting broke out between Jordanian security forces and the Palestinians (February-June 1970). Some thousand people were killed. The PLO decided to mount a major effort to overthrow King Hussein's pro-Western regime. Palestinian anger only intensified when Hussein seemed receptive to a plan of U.S. Secretary of State William Rogers which involved recognotion of Israel.

Palestinian State

The issue of a Palestinian state that the PLO and other resistance groups raised in connection with the Roger's Plan is a complicated one. The Palestinians had several opportunities to establish a state. During the British mandate, they were offered the creation of a Palestinian state which would be governed by majority viote, THe Grand Mufti prevented this becauser the plan included constitutinal guarantees for ninorituies. The OPalestinians again had the opporunity fior a state with the U.N. Partition Plan (1947). Again they rejected this offer, believing that their mikitia groups with the assistance of the surriunding Arab states would defeat the Isralies. The Arabs states did invade, but not only failed to defeat the Isralies, but annexed Palestinian areas instead of creating a Palistinian state. It was thus not the Israelis that blocked the creation of a Palestinian state, but the Palestuinian leadership and their allied Arab states. The Israelis would have accepted a peaceful Palestinian state in 1947, but by 1970, the sutuation was different. The PLO as part of its charter was openly committed to the destructiin of the state of Israel. This of course was unacceotable to the Israelis.

Black September Rising (September 1970)

King Hussein's accepted a cease-fire with Israel and indicated an interst in the Roger's Plan (August 1970). This further enfuriated the Palistinians who wanted war, not peace with Israel. Fatah moved to overthrow King Hussein who they saw as too moderate and seize control of Jordan, the country which had harbored them. The ensuing fighting is known as Black September. The PLO launched unsucessful efforts to assainate King Hussein (September 1). The PFLP carried out a series of airline hijackings and landed the hijacked planes at Dawson's Field. This waa remote desert airstrip near Zarka, Jordan, that had been used as a British Royal Air Force base. The hijackings included: a SwissAir and a TWA flight that were in the Azraq area and a Pan Am flight that had landed in Cairo (September 7). Next, the Palestinians hijacked a BOAC flight from Bahrain to Zarqa (September 9). The PFLP announced that the hijackings were meant 'to pay special attention to the Palestinian problem'. After deboardingh, but not releasing the passengers, the planes were blown up in a spectacular staged event in front of TV cameras. This directly confronted King Hussein. The Palestinkians declared the Irbid area a 'liberated region'. The King declared martial law (September 15). He moved to restore his rule over the country. The Palestinians then attacked the Jordanian Army in an effort to unseat the King. A bitterly fought 10-day struggle ensued. Hevordered his tanks tanks (the 60th Armored Brigade) to attack the headquarters of Palestinian organizations in Amman. The Jordanian Army also attacked the Palestinian camps at Irbid, Salt, Sweileh, Baq'aa, Wehdat and Zarqa. The palestinians had turned these refugee camps into military bases. The the head of Pakistani training mission to Jordan, Brigadier Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq (later Chief of Pakistani Army Staff and President of Pakistan) was given command of the 2nd division in these operations. [Ali] King Hussein could not commit the full force of the Jordanian Army to fighting the Palestinians. The 3rd Armoured Division of the Iraqi Army had remained in Jordan after the Six Days War. Iraqi President Sadam Hussein supported the Palestinians. It was thus unclear whether if division would intervene in the fighing and attack the Jirdanian forces. Thus the 99th Brigade of the Jordanian 3rd Armoured Division had to positioned to block possible Iraqi intervention. be retained to watch the Iraqi division. There were also concerns about possible Syrian intervention. [Mobley] Syria did attempt to intervene to support the Palestinians, but were blocked by the Israelis. There were thousands of casualties, mostly Palestinians. The actual number of deaths is disputed. Most sources reports some 1,000-2,000 deaths during Black September and subsequent fighting. [Bailey] PLO leader Yassir Arafat clarged that the Jordanian army killed 10,000- and 25,000 Palestinians, but it is standard for the Palestinians to infkate such estumates fir propaganda purposes. The Jordanians finally suceeded in expelling the PLO and thousands of their fighters.

Lebanese Haven

The Black Seoptember fighting was finally ended throught mediation by other Arab governments. Lebanon agreed to give the Palestinians refuge. An observer in Israel tells us that he watched the Jordanian/PLO war from the Golan heights. Many nights the skies were lit up like the 4th of July. He claims that Jordan could have wiped out the PLO at that time, but allowed them to escape into Lebanon. The Lebanese wiould pay a bitter price for yheir generosity and assisting the Palestinians. It would essentially the end of a unified Lebanese state and the beginning of bitter sectarian conflict. .

Sunsequent Fighting (1971-73)

King Hussein was forced to subsequently order a final offensive against Palestinian fighters remaining in Jordan (July 1971). The Palistinian state within a state wa smxhed, but that does not mean that ll Palistunians were expelled. Palistinian commandos assasinated Premier Wasfi al-Tal (September 1971). Further Palistinian coup attempts, believed to have been aided by Col. Qadafi in Libya, were thwarted by Jordanian security forces (November 1972 and February 1973).

Sources

Ali, Tariq. The Clash of Fundamentalisms: Crusades, Jihads and Modernity (2002).

Bailey, Clinton. Jordan's Palestinian Challenge, 1948–1983: A Political History.

Herzog, Chaim. The Arab-Israeli Wars (1982).

Mobley, Richard. Syria's 1970 Invasion of Jordan (2009).

Created: 4:38 AM 11/5/2013
Last updated: 9:40 PM 8/15/2017