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Hey, Paul, why Jordanians dislike Palestinians and killed them like rabid dogs?
By 1970, Palestinians, both Jordanian citizens and refugees, were almost as numerous in Jordan as King Hussein's own Bedouins. Arafat used the estimated 20,000 Palestine Liberation Organization fighters in Jordan to exercise control over much of the Palestinian population. In many parts of the country, he was the de facto government. Jordan was seen as a way station toward defeat of Israel and a united Palestinian Arab state encompassing Israel and Jordan. As many Palestinian Arabs put it: "the road to Tel Aviv lies through Amman".
On September 6, 1970 militant factions of the PLO hijacked four foreign planes. They flew three to Dawson's Field in PLO-controlled northern Jordan and one to Cairo. European governments secured the release of the hostage passangers by agreeing to release PLO terrorists from their prisons. The PLO then blew up the planes.
King Hussein decided it was time to act. Throughout September the Jordanian military launched attacks to push the PLO out of Jordan, attacks now called "Black September" by the PLO. Casualty reports are uncertain, but hundreds or perhaps thousands of PLO fadayeen were killed in the fighting and large numbers of Palestinian Arab civilians died as well. Arafat retreated to northern Jordan, close to his Syrian sponsors. Within 10 months the PLO were driven out of Jordan completely, and re-established themselves in Lebanon, a choice that led to eventual disaster for Lebanon.
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