How Jordan’s “Black September” Still Haunts Middle East Peace Efforts Today

The expulsion of Palestinian fighters from Jordan over 50 years ago created a chain reaction of displacement and conflict that continues to shape the region’s most intractable disputes.

The Forgotten Turning Point

In September 1970, a civil war erupted in Jordan that would fundamentally alter the trajectory of the Palestinian national movement and reshape the geopolitical landscape of the Middle East. Known as “Black September,” this conflict between King Hussein’s Jordanian forces and Palestinian fedayeen (guerrilla fighters) led by Yasser Arafat resulted in thousands of deaths and the eventual expulsion of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) from Jordan. The event marked a critical juncture when Palestinian aspirations for statehood collided violently with the sovereignty concerns of Arab host nations.

The roots of the conflict traced back to the 1967 Six-Day War, after which hundreds of thousands of Palestinian refugees fled to Jordan, where Palestinians already comprised a significant portion of the population. The PLO had established a virtual state-within-a-state, conducting military operations against Israel from Jordanian territory and increasingly challenging King Hussein’s authority. By 1970, the situation had become untenable, with Palestinian groups hijacking international flights and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine’s spectacular simultaneous hijacking of four aircraft bringing global attention to their cause while destabilizing Jordan’s position internationally.

The Domino Effect of Displacement

The expulsion of Arafat and his forces to Lebanon in 1971 set in motion a cascade of consequences that would reverberate for decades. In Lebanon, the PLO’s presence contributed to the delicate sectarian balance unraveling, ultimately helping to trigger the devastating Lebanese Civil War in 1975. The Palestinian military infrastructure in southern Lebanon led to repeated Israeli interventions, including the 1982 invasion that forced another Palestinian exodus—this time to Tunisia, Yemen, and other distant Arab countries.

This pattern of displacement and conflict created what scholars call the “Palestinian diaspora within a diaspora,” fragmenting the national movement geographically while paradoxically strengthening Palestinian national identity through shared experiences of expulsion. Each forced relocation weakened the PLO’s military capabilities while pushing its leadership toward diplomatic solutions, eventually leading to the Oslo Accords of the 1990s. Yet the legacy of Black September also fostered deep mistrust between Palestinian groups and Arab governments, a dynamic that continues to complicate regional cooperation on Palestinian statehood.

Modern Echoes in Today’s Crisis

The current Gaza conflict and ongoing disputes over Palestinian representation cannot be understood without reference to the fractures that began in Jordan over five decades ago. The split between Fatah and Hamas, the isolation of Gaza, and the fragmentation of Palestinian political authority all have roots in the geographical dispersion and organizational upheavals that followed Black September. Jordan’s subsequent peace treaty with Israel in 1994 and its renunciation of claims to the West Bank reflected King Hussein’s determination never again to allow Palestinian armed groups to operate from his territory.

Today, as regional powers pursue normalization agreements with Israel through the Abraham Accords, the unresolved Palestinian question remains the ghost at the feast—a reminder that the fundamental issues of sovereignty, statehood, and refuge that exploded in Jordan in 1970 remain unaddressed. The fact that over half of Jordan’s population is of Palestinian origin, yet the kingdom maintains strict boundaries on Palestinian political activity, illustrates how the traumas of Black September continue to shape Arab state policies.

Lessons Unlearned

Perhaps the most profound legacy of the 1970-71 expulsion is how it demonstrated the limitations of armed resistance when conducted from the territory of sovereign Arab states. The PLO’s experience in Jordan, and subsequently in Lebanon, showed that host countries would ultimately prioritize their own stability over Palestinian liberation, no matter how strong the rhetorical support for the cause. This realization eventually pushed Palestinian leaders toward seeking international legitimacy through diplomacy rather than armed struggle, though this transition remains incomplete and contested within Palestinian society.

As we witness ongoing violence in Gaza and the West Bank, with regional powers increasingly focused on their own economic and security interests rather than Palestinian statehood, one must ask: Has the international community learned anything from the cycles of displacement and conflict that began with Black September, or are we condemned to watch history repeat itself with each generation finding new ways to defer the fundamental questions of Palestinian self-determination and regional stability?