Black September in Jordan 1970

By early September 1970, Palestinian guerrilla groups controlled several strategic positions in Jordan, including the oil refinery near Az Zarqa. Meanwhile, Palestinian leaders were also calling for a general strike of the Jordanian population and were organizing a civil disobedience campaign. The situation became explosive when, as part of a Palestinian effort to undermine the Jarring peace talks to which Egypt, Israel and Jordan had agreed, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) launched an airplane hijacking campaign.

King Hussein viewed the hijackings as a direct threat to his authority in Jordan. In response, on September 16, 1970 he reaffirmed martial law and named Brigadier Muhammad Daud to head a cabinet composed of army officers. At the same time, the king appointed Field Marshal Habis al Majali, a fiercely pro-royalist Bedouin, commander in chief of the armed forces and military governor of Jordan. Hussein gave Majali full powers to implement the martial law regulations and to subdue the Palestinian guerrilla organizations. The new government immediately ordered the Fedayeen to lay down their arms and to evacuate the cities. On the same day, Arafat became supreme commander of the Palestine Liberation Army (PLA), the regular military force of the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO). Open warfare began on September 17, 1970.

During the bitterly fought ten-day civil war, primarily between the PLA and the Jordanian Army, the Fedayeen found themselves on the defensive throughout Jordan. Syria intervened on the side of the Palestinians on September 19. Following a day of artillery fire across the border, Syrian troops with about 200 tanks, invaded northern Jordan and with the assistance of Palestinian forces, captured Irbid, Jordan's second-largest city. A major armored battle took place near Irbid, between Jordanian and Syrian forces, on September 22. The Jordanians completely defeated the Syrians, who lost more than half their armor. Meanwhile, the United States Navy dispatched the Sixth Fleet to the eastern Mediterranean, and Israel undertook "precautionary military deployments" to aid Hussein, if necessary, against the guerrilla forces. Under attack from the Jordanian army and in response to outside pressures, the Syrian forces began to withdraw from Jordan sometime between September 23-24. The Palestinians agreed on September 25 to a cease-fire. At the urging of the Arab heads of state, Hussein and Arafat signed the cease-fire agreement in Cairo on September 27, 1970. The agreement called for rapid withdrawal of the guerrilla forces from Jordanian cities and towns to positions "appropriate" for continuing the battle with Israel and for the release of prisoners by both sides. A supreme supervisory committee was to implement the provisions of the agreement.

On October 13, Hussein and Arafat signed a further agreement in Amman, under which the Fedayeen were to recognize Jordanian sovereignty and the king's authority, to withdraw their armed forces from towns and villages, and to refrain from carrying arms outside their camps. In return the government agreed to grant amnesty to the Fedayeen for incidents that had occurred during the civil war.

The civil war, later referred to as "Black September" by Palestinians, caused great material destruction in Jordan, and the number of fighters killed on all sides was estimated as high as 3,500. In spite of the September and October agreements, small scale fighting continued, particularly in Amman, Irbid, and Jarash, where guerrilla forces had their main bases.

References

Military History, 1400; Jordan - A Country Study.

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