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Nicolas Schuscheim's List: Black September Tipping Point

  • Apr 30, 12

    Fighting for the independence of the Arab people in the Holy Land was of utmost priority for the Arab nations. However, it seemed that the Palestinian Liberation Organization, founded in 1964 in Jordan, was not cooperating entirely with the Arab nations. King Hussein was interested in harboring the PLO in order to put up a fight against the Israelis, yet he was also interested in keeping the power in Jordan within the Hashemites themselves. He was in no interest to give up the power to Yassir Arafat and his "band of terrorists". Therefore, when the PLO's power started to be a serious threat to the Jordanian monarchy, King Hussein did the inevitable but at the same time, infuriating. The expulsion of the PLO from Jordan occured exactly on September 17, 1970.

  • -- Since 1964, the Palestinian Liberation Organization, led by Yassir Arafat since 1969, had been based in Jordan

    -- On September of 1970 (Black September), King Hussein kicked the PLO out of Jordan

    -- The PLO settled in Southern Lebanon after leaving Jordan

    • Following the Arab defeat  in  the 1967 Six-Day War, Yasser Arafat, who later became Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) chief, saw  in  Jordan  an ideal location for military bases for around 40,000 fighters to attack the neighbouring Jewish state. 
       
        But the power of the Palestinian armed groups developed into a state within a state. 
       
        On  September  6, 1970, the leftist Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) hijacked three passenger planes, two of which landed  in  Azraq, east of the capital Amman. Three days later a fourth plane was hijacked, with 56 British and US-Israelis citizens on board. 
       
        On  September  17,  Jordan  's then king Hussein responded by ordering his army of 50,000 men to kick the Palestinian fighters out of the kingdom. 
       
        After 10 days of bloody fighting, during which Syria intervened to back the Palestinians, a ceasefire was signed  in  Cairo.
      • "Jordan, PLO turn page on 'Black September' but fears remain." Agence France-Presse 16 Sep. 2010,: NewsBank. Web. 30 Apr. 2012.

      • Just like when the PLO settled in Southern Lebanon later on in the century, the PLO formed a "state within a state" in the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. Fighting ensued between the Jordanians and the PLO, which was backed by the Syrians, with King Hussein finally expelling the Palestinian Liberation Organization on September 17th of 1970.

  • The Fateh branch of the PLO, armed with fedayeen (people who sacrifice themselves for a cause) started to gain power in Jordan. This was undoubtedly accomplished when the PLO put up a strong resistance and defeated an offensive Israeli force at Karameh after the Israelis retaliated for an attack of a school bus in March of 1968. Arafat, who was the head of the Fateh branch, was rewarded for his efforts and was named head of the Palestinian Liberation Organization in 1969 with its headquarters in Amman. It is from these headquarters that the PLO planned many of its attacks, which were mostly directed at Israeli airline El Al and its airplanes. Israel would counterattack and pound Jordanian soil.

     

    Marcovitz, Hal. Jordan. New York: Chelsea House, 2009. Print.

  • "No one- adult or child- could be sure on leaving his house whether his family would see him again. Amman became a virtual battlefield. No regular army people could enter the city in uniform, as they would be fired on by the PLO... The people in the armed forces began to lose confidence in me" - King Hussein

     

    Marcovitz, Hal. Jordan. New York: Chelsea House, 2009. Print.

  • -- Jordan held the claim to the West Bank, yet the PLO was now not being supported by Jordan itself

    -- The PLO had to find a new base (Southern Lebanon)

    • Relations between  Jordan  and veteran Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat who died Thursday were marked by mutual distrust and the bloody military confrontation of "  Black  September  "  in  1970. 
       
        That year was the start of a decade of turbulent relations between the two sides that did not improve until 1980 when Arafat and  Jordan  agreed to take steps to coordinate action. 
       
        In  1970 Arafat headed a 40,000-strong army of fedayeen guerrillas, ruling over a state within a state  in  Jordan  , where nearly half of its current 5.3 million population is of Palestinian origin. 
       
        The late King Hussein's frustration boiled over  in  September  when the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), a Marxist faction led by George Habash, hijacked five planes to the Zarqa desert of eastern  Jordan  . 
       
        The Jordanian army and the fedayeen fought a fierce battle on  September  17,  in  a confrontation which went down  in  history as  Black  September  , leaving anywhere between 3,000 and 20,000 dead. 
       
        Jordan  routed Arafat and his fighters from the kingdom, forcing them to seek safe haven  in  Lebanon.
      • Habib, Randa. "Arafat's ties with Jordan marked by mistrust, Black September conflict." Agence France-Presse 11 Nov. 2004,: NewsBank. Web. 1 May. 2012.

      • When in 1970, Arafat "revolted" against the Jordanian government with his 40,000 men army, Hussein had no choice but to confront him. Tensions hit a peak when the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) hijacked five planes in the Zarqa desert, east of Amman.

    • Relations plunged to a new low  in  July 1994 after  Jordan  and Israel signed a document  in  Washington ending the state of belligerency between the two countries, three months before finalising a peace treaty. 
       
        Arafat was left fuming because the text recognised "  Jordan  's historic role  in  the management of the Muslim holy sites  in  Jerusalem", which the Palestinians consider the capital of their future state. 
       
        Trust between the two failed to rematerialise, even after King Abdullah II rose to the throne following the death of his father  in  February 1999. 
       
        Last August 3, King Abdullah irked the Palestinian leadership by asking them to show more clarity  in  the peace process with Israel. 
       
        "We want the Palestinian leadership to declare clearly what it wants and not surprise us every now and then with some decisions or by accepting things that it did not accept before," he said.
      • Habib, Randa. "Arafat's ties with Jordan marked by mistrust, Black September conflict." Agence France-Presse 11 Nov. 2004,: NewsBank. Web. 1 May. 2012.

      • Relations were shaky along the 1970s and 1980s between the PLO and the state that originally harbored Yassir Arafat and his gang. When King Hussein signed the peace treaty with Israel in 1994, Arafat was furthermore disappointed. Jordan had historically held control over the management of Muslim Holy Sites in Jerusalem, the desired Palestinian capital and by signing a peace treaty with Israel, Jordan relinquished its aggressive claims towards Jerusalem. Even after King Abdullah II ascended to the throne in 1999, Arafat did not seem to budge. The trust between the Palestinian Liberation Organization and Jordan had been deeply damaged in 1970.

    • The following Middle East leaders have been slain in the past 25 years: 
       
        - SEPT. 28, 1971: Jordanian Prime Minister  Wasfi  at-Tal slain by Palestinian Black September Organization, after Jordanian army roots out Palestinian guerrillas. 
      • "Middle East Assassinations in Past Quarter-Century.” Deseret News, The (Salt Lake City, UT) 5 Nov. 1995, Metro, News: A2. NewsBank. Web. 1 May. 2012.

      • "MIDDLE EAST ASSASSINATIONS IN PAST QUARTER-CENTURY." Deseret News, The (Salt Lake City, UT) 5 Nov. 1995, Metro, News: A2. NewsBank. Web. 1 May. 2012.

      • 1 more sticky notes...
    • The  Black  September  guerrilla group -- named for the month in 1970 when King Hussein of Jordan crushed Palestinian fighters -- seized 11 Israeli athletes at the Olympic Village during the 1972  Munich  games. Two Israelis were killed immediately and the nine others died in a fiery shootout at the airport between the guerrillas and German authorities.
      • Hoffman, David. "Israeli confirms assassinations - Black September targeted after 1972 Munich massacre." Houston Chronicle 24 Nov. 1993, 2 Star, A News: 15. NewsBank. Web. 1 May. 2012.

      • HOFFMAN, DAVID. "Israeli confirms assassinations - Black September targeted after 1972 Munich massacre." Houston Chronicle 24 Nov. 1993, 2 STAR, A NEWS: 15. NewsBank. Web. 1 May. 2012.

      • 1 more sticky notes...
  • May 01, 12

    When a people desire their own independent nation, other nations must back them up in order for the idea to succeed. King Hussein, who had harbored the PLO in Jordan since its creation, decided to kick out the Palestinian Liberation Organization on September 17 of 1970. As of that moment, Arafat and his gang lost trust in one of its most important political partners: the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. Relations between Arafat and Hussein never eased, and the PLO had to settle in Southern Lebanon. This expulsion is not a minor deal; it is a paramount gash cut into the hearts of the inspired Palestinians.

  • May 01, 12

    Habib, Randa. "Arafat's ties with Jordan marked by mistrust, Black September conflict."

    Agence France-Presse 11 Nov. 2004,: NewsBank. Web. 1 May. 2012.

     

    Hoffman, David. "Israeli confirms assassinations - Black September targeted after 1972

    Munich massacre." Houston Chronicle 24 Nov. 1993, 2 STAR, A NEWS: 15.

    NewsBank. Web. 1 May. 2012.

     

    "Jordan, PLO turn page on 'Black September' but fears remain." Agence France-Presse

    16 Sep. 2010,: NewsBank. Web. 30 Apr. 2012.

     

    Marcovitz, Hal. Jordan. New York: Chelsea House, 2009. Print.

     

    "Middle East Assassinations in Past Quarter-Century.” Deseret News, The (Salt Lake

    City, UT) 5 Nov. 1995, Metro, News: A2. NewsBank. Web. 1 May. 2012.

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