A Calculated Risk Israel’s Intervention in Jordan’s Civil War, September 1970
Keywords:
Fedayeen, Martial law, King Hussein, The Hashemite regime, Black September, Yigal Allon, Yitzhak Rabin, Golda MeirAbstract
In September 1970, after three years of intermittent clashes between Jordanian security forces and Palestinian Fadayeen organizations, Jordan erupted in a fierce civil war. King Hussein witnessed his country’s sovereignty being constantly challenged and finally decided to terminate the Fadayeen presence. In the middle of September 1970, he declared martial law and ordered the army to crush the insurgents.
During the fighting a significant Syrian armored force invaded from north in a maneuver that was designed to save the Palestinians from slaughter and at the same time to pose an existential threat to the Hashemite regime. Frightened by the possibility of defeat, Hussein sent an urgent message to Israel, still Jordan’s de jure the enemy, requesting immediate military intervention. Israel’s decision-makers were divided over the answer but in the end agreed to the request.
This article contends that a historical convergence of circumstances – Prime Minister Golda Meir’s absence from the country, her stand-in, deputy prime minister Yigal Allon that had an activist worldview, and Israel’s cautious ambassador to Washington, Yitzhak Rabin, had a joint impact on the nature and extent of Israeli involvement in the ‘Black September’ crisis.
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