The PFLP was established in 1967 after the defeat of the Arab states in the infamous Six Day War with Israel. This Palestinian oriented group had a Marxist Leninist ideology, according to which Israel and any of its allies or supporters were targeted enemies. The PFLP’s major allies were the Soviet Union and China. (Council on Foreign Relations). The hijacking occurred in the midst of a Palestinian revolutionary outburst, due to a 22-year old struggle during which the Palestinians were forced to leave their homeland for refugee camps, where not even the basic human needs could be fulfilled. The battle was intensifying and worsening for the PFLP since, over time, they started facing more opposition from growing parties of brainwashed Arab “reactionary regimes”.

The aftermath of the hijacking operation was sordid. The PFLP hijackers gave the concerned governments a 72 hour ultimatum to fulfill their previous conditions of setting the hostages free in return of having their fellow imprisoned PFLP members released. On September 12, and before the 72 hours had expired, the hijackers blew out the empty airplanes in an attempt to warn the concerned governments they were not playing games. The UK was the first to respond to this warning by broadcasting a government announcement offering to interchange the PFLP captive held in UK (Leila Khaled) for the hostages. This response infuriated the other governments, which considered that such a response would only brace further similar attacks. (BBC, 2001)

This particular decision created ramifications on different levels: First, it jeopardized UK’s relationship with the US, Israel and Jordan. Second, it drove King Hussein of Jordan into committing his “Black September” crimes which made Arabs less admiring of him.(Revolutionary Worker, 1999). Third, it led Syria to attack Jordan, from where it eventually retreated after Jordan plead for help from the UK and US in counter attacking Syria – a neighboring Arab country (BBC, 2001). Fourth, other Arab countries vilified King Hussein for his attacks on the Palestinians, which had resulted in numerous casualties; some argued that the hijackings gave King Hussein an excuse to attack the Palestinian homes at a time when he would not have otherwise been able to do it. (Kannafani, 1971). Fifth, this particular hijacking attack drove President Richard Nixon into initiating the “Sky Marshal Program” which was designed to be an anti-hijack security program to prevent any further hijacking operations. (Transportation Security Administration).

All the PFLP prisoners were released due to the hijackers’ demands and the five revolutionary Palestinians, who almost all were in their 20s at the time, won a battle that day against some of the most powerful governments in the world. (BBC, 2001). Today, a few decades after the incident, both reporters and civilians still reminisce on the incident. “Hussein will be remembered as a long-time tool of imperialism, willing collaborator with the Zionist oppressors and a mass murderer. He was the bloody king of Black September”. (Revolutionary Worker, 1999).

Resources

- Hijacked jets destroyed by guerrillas. BBC . 1970, Retrieved from, http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/september/12/newsid_2514000/2514929.stm

- On the pflp and the September Crisis. Kannafani, Ghassan. 1971. Retrieved from,

- http://newleftreview.org/I/67/ghassan-kannafani-on-the-pflp-and-the-september-crisis

- Wolfe, Lisa Reynolds. PALESTINE-ISRAEL TIMELINE: 1967- 1978. 2012. Retrieved from, http://www.coldwarstudies.com/2012/12/06/palestine-israel-timeline-1967-1978/

- Revolutionary Worker. Hussein of Jordan: The Bloody King of Black September. 1999. Retrieved from,

- http://www.revcom.us/a/v20/990-99/995/hussein.htm

- Council on Foreign Relations. PFLP, DFLP, PFLP-GC, Palestinian leftists. 2005. Retrieved from,

- http://www.cfr.org/israel/pflp-dflp-pflp-gc-palestinian-leftists/p9128

- BBC. Black September: Tough Negotiations. 2001. Retrieved from, http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_depth/uk/2000/uk_confidential/1089694.stm

- Transportation Security Administration, Retrieved from, http://www.tsa.gov/video/evolution/TSA_evolution_timeline.pdf