Black September: When Pakistani Dictator Helped Jordan's King Hussein killed more Palestinians in 11 days than Israel could kill in 20 years

Jordan's King Hussein killed more Palestinians in 11 days than Israel could kill in 20 years, former Israeli Defence Minister Moshe Dayan is quoted by authors to have said. And it was none other than Pakistan’s General Muhammad Zia-Ul-Haq, then a Brigadier, who helped King Hussein carry out the massacre of 25,000 Palestinians, in what is now known as Black September of 1970.

With the thousands of Palestinians, irony too, died a thousand deaths.

On October 17, Pakistan army chief General Syed Asim Munir extended “diplomatic, moral and political support of the Pakistani nation” to the Palestinians. Pakistanis, too, have taken to the streets against Israel’s counter-offensive in Gaza after Hamas terrorists butchered hundreds of Israelis on October 7.

Zia-ul-Haq would go on to become the army chief of Pakistan and, after ousting the civilian government in a military coup, introduce Islamic Shariat laws.

It was the same Zia-ul-Haq, who, as Brigadier and during his secondment in Jordan, assisted King Hussein to kill thousands of Palestinians and drive out the Palestinian resistance leadership from that country.

People in Pakistan have seen Zia-ul-Haq’s role in the massacre of Palestinians as a warm-up for the upheaval he would go on to carry out in Pakistan. He came to be known as the "Palestinian killer” in Pakistan.

"Even a then-obscure Pakistani Brigadier bearing the uplifting name of Zia-ul-Haq performed yeoman’s service for King Hussein by blatantly violating the terms of his secondment to the Jordanian army by taking part in the massacre – undoubtedly valuable match practice for what he was to wreak in his native country just seven years later as its worst military dictator,” wrote Pakistani social scientist and author Raza Naeem in The Express Tribune.

How did Zia-ul-Haq end up in Jordan and what is the 11-day Black September, whose toll is believed to be anywhere between 2,000 and 25,000, depending on the source one relies on.

THE SIX-DAY WAR AND REFUGEE INFLUX

The Jordanian Army was in tatters after the Six-Day War of 1967 in which it sided with Egypt and took on Israel.

In the 1967 war, Jordan, under King Hussein, lost the West Bank and East Jerusalem to Israel. At least 300,000 Palestinian refugees had flowed across the Jordan River and settled in camps around Amman and other Jordanian cities. Jordan was devastated politically and economically.

The Palestinian fighters gained in power since Jordan's defeat to Israel in 1967, and the Palestinians began asserting themselves.

“The Palestinian fidayeen had become an armed state within the state, controlling much of Amman and ignoring King Hussein’s rule. He was the target of multiple assassination plots. The Iraqi army occupied much of eastern Jordan and was hostile to the king,” writes Bruce Riedel, a 30-year veteran of America’s Central Intelligence Agency and security advisor to four US presidents.

Palestinian guerillas patrol the streets of Amman. Since Jordan's defeat to Israel in the Six-Day War of 1967, Palestinian militants gained in strength and plotted to overthrow Jordan's King Hussein. (Image: Getty)

The United States and the United Kingdom were helping Jordan rebuild its military machinery, but King Hussein needed a man in uniform who would get his army in order.

That is when Brigadier Zia-ul-Haq marched on to the scene of a complex chessboard of the Israel-Palestine conflict. That was the time when Palestinian fidayeen were challenging King Hussein’s authority and Iraq and Syria were working full-time to help the militants.

King Hussein got a team of military experts from Pakistan that would help him reorganize his army and prepare it for battle. Among the experts was Brigadier Zia-ul-Haq.

“Zia-ul-Haq was sent to Jordan in 1967 where he stayed for three years. He trained Jordanian soldiers and led the operation known as Black September, a very regrettable action against Palestinians in Jordan,” veteran journalist and writer Shaikh Aziz wrote in 2013 in The Dawn.

“The king emerged from the greatest challenge to his throne almost entirely because of his own smart decisions, his excellent intelligence service, and the loyalty of the army. A helping hand can be attributed to Zia. Luck played its part as well,” writes Riedel on ‘Fifty Years after Black September in Jordan’.

JORDAN’S KING HUSSEIN COMES UNDER ATTACK

It was in 1969 that the situation in Jordan had become dire for King Hussein.

Iraq and Syria were being controlled by the Baath Party. Its leader in Iraq, Saddam Hussein, who would later go on to become a dictator, was in effect running Iraq.

In May 1970, Iraq told Yasser Arafat, Chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), that it was ready to support him in overthrowing King Hussein, according to Nigel J Ashton in 'King Hussein of Jordan: A Political Life.

The radicals, including leaders of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) and the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine, were already seeking Hussein’s scalp and “turning Amman into the Hanoi of the Palestine revolution”.

The Iraqis had at least 20,000 soldiers and 200 tanks in Jordan, and had a large army ready to move in from Iraq and a far superior air force than the Jordanians, writes Riedel.

“The Jordanian army totaled around 65,000 troops, but many of them were Palestinians whose loyalty was questionable in an all-out war,” writes the intelligence veteran, adding that the Palestinian fighters numbered approximately between 15,000 and 20,000, and were mostly present in urban areas.

On June 3, the Palestinians attacked an Israeli town with rockets and Israel conducted an air attack on Irbid in Jordan, a Palestinian stronghold. The Jordanian army also got involved and shelled Israel’s Tiberias.

An assassination attempt was made on King Hussein on June 9 and the Jordanian army shelled Palestinian refugee camps around Amman. Palestinian militants and civilians were both killed in that shelling.

The second attempt on King Hussein’s life was made on September 1. The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) was behind the attack. Iraq announced it would back the Palestinians as fighting broke out with Jordanian forces.

The PFLP then took the “precipitous step” of simultaneously hijacking four commercial planes, evacuating them and blowing them up in front of media cameras, writes Riedel. Then, on 15 September, the Palestinians took control of the Jordanian city of Irbid.

That was when King Hussein decided enough was enough, formed a martial law government and hit back in an all-out attack on September 16.

The Jordanian attack led by tanks in Amman put the Palestinians on the back foot after fierce street fighting. Jordan isolated the Palestinian fighters into pockets and the Iraqi army too.

Meanwhile, in an elaborate con job, the Jordanians fed fake information to the Iraqi government about the US deploying military assets in the region. The Iraqis bought the fake intel report, and kept itself away from interfering.

A small batch of Syrian tanks crossed into Jordan on September 18 with the insignia of the Palestine Liberation Army.

ZIA-UL-HAQ FIGHTS FOR KING HUSSEIN

As Syrian tanks rolled into Jordan, King Hussein sent Pakistan’s Zia-ul-Haq to the scene for an on-the-ground assessment.

That is where Zia-Ul-Haq crossed the line of his secondment and got involved actively in the battle and his hand bloodied with Palestinian blood.

“Zia reported that the situation was serious but not dire. Jordan could handle the Syrian tanks with its own forces and prevail. Zia effectively took charge of part of the Jordanian counterattack,” CIA official Jack O’Connell writes in ‘King’s Counsel’ quoting then Jordanian Crown Prince Hassan.

The Syrian defence minister and head of the country’s air force, decided to stay out of the conflict. Thus, both Iraq and Syria, the biggest backers of the Palestinian fighters, were limited in their presence on the battlefield.

By September 22, Jordan gained the upper hand.

Egypt then stepped in for its friend King Hussein, who had gone to war for it against Israel in 1967.

Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser played a crucial role and got King Hussein and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat to agree to a ceasefire on September 26. Nasser oversaw the signing of the truce in Cairo and, a day later, died of a heart attack.

It effectively flushed out the Palestinian militant leaders from Jordan. Later, the Palestinian leaders regrouped in Lebanon.

According to Reidel, up to 4,000 Palestinian fighters, 600 Syrian troopers and 537 Jordanian soldiers were killed in the 11 days of the Black September operations. The civilian casualties, including those of Palestinian refugees, vary. Some reports claim a combined toll of up to 25,000.

And Zia-ul-Haq, who led the counter-offensive against the Palestinian fighters, is blamed for thousands of Palestinian deaths. It is reported that it was the Palestinian civilians who were massacred.

“The estimated number of Palestinians killed in this action is believed to be anywhere from 2,000 to 25,000, depending on the source. It is, however, certain that their [Palestinian] forces were thoroughly routed. Thanks to his role in this action, Zia-Ul-Haq, a Brigadier at that time, came to be remembered as the Palestinian killer in his own country,” veteran journalist Shaikh Aziz wrote in The Dawn.