BLACK SEPTEMBER

a palestinian terrorist group that grew out of the defeat of the palestinians in the september 1970 jordanian civil war.

Black September is generally believed to have been established by elements of al-Fatah in the autumn of 1971 as a result of pressure from groups like the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine to wage a more radical war against the Palestinians' enemies. The group took its name from the term used by some Palestinians to describe their military defeat during the Jordanian Civil War of 1970. It is widely believed that Black September was the creation of al-Fatah's intelligence chief Salah Khalaf (a.k.a. Abu Iyad), who recruited Ali Hasan Salama as its operational mastermind. Al-Fatah always denied any connection with the organization, and many details about the group remain unclear. The shadowy group's first strikes were aimed against Jordanian targets; they included the assassination of Prime Minister Wasfi al-Tall in Cairo in November 1971.

Black September's most dramatic attack involved seizing eleven Israeli athletes as hostages at the September 1972 Olympic Games in Munich. All the athletes and five Black September operatives later died during a gun battle with the West German police. Black September was also at the forefront of an underground war of assassination between the Israelis and the Palestinians that was carried out in Europe and the Middle East. In March 1973, Black September terrorists seized guests at a diplomatic reception at the Saudi embassy in Sudan in March 1973, and later murdered the U.S. ambassador. No actions were carried out in Black September's name thereafter.

see also fatah, al-; jordanian civil war (1970–1971); khalaf, salah; popular front for the liberation of palestine; tall, wasfi al-.

Bibliography

Bar Zohar, Michael, and Haber, Eitan. The Quest for the Red Prince: Israel's Relentless Manhunt for One of the World's Dead-liest and Most Wanted Arab Terrorists. New York: The Lyon's Press, 2002.

Cooley, John K. Green March, Black September: The Story of the Palestinian Arabs. London: Frank Cass, 1973.

Reeve, Simon. One Day in September: The Full Story of the 1972 Munich Olympics Massacre and the Israeli Revenge Operation "Wrath of God." New York: Arcade Books, 2001.

Sayigh, Yezid. Armed Struggle and the Search for State: The Palestinian National Movement, 1949–1993. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1997.

Steve Tamari

Updated by Michael R. Fischbach

Black September Palestinian terrorist organization. It emerged after the defeat of the Palestinian guerrilla organizations in Jordan in September 1970, from which event it took its name. It was claimed to be an independent organization, but was apparently a cover for al-Fatah operations, the most infamous of which was the massacre of Israeli athletes at the Munich Olympics in September 1972. Shortly after that event the organization became inactive.