After Jordan lost control of the West Bank in 1967 , Palestinian fighters ( fedayeen , meaning self-sacrificers ) moved their bases to Jordan and stepped up their attacks on Israel and Israeli occupied territories . One Israeli retaliation on a PLO camp based in Karameh , a Jordanian town along the border with the West Bank , developed into a full-scale battle . It is believed that Israel had wanted to punish Jordan for its perceived support for the PLO . After failing to capture Yasser Arafat , the PLO leader , Israeli forces withdrew or were repulsed , but not before destroying the Karameh camp and sustaining relatively high casualties . The perceived joint Jordanian-Palestinian victory in the 1968 Battle of Karameh led to an upsurge of support in the Arab World for Palestinian fighters in Jordan . The PLO in Jordan grew in strength , and by the beginning of 1970 the fedayeen groups started to openly call for the overthrow of the Hashemite monarchy . Acting as a state within a state , the fedayeen disregarded local laws and regulations , and even attempted to assassinate King Hussein twice , leading to violent confrontations between them and the Jordanian army . Hussein wanted to oust the fedayeen from the country , but hesitated to strike because he did not want his enemies to use it against him by equating Palestinian fighters with civilians . PLO actions in Jordan culminated in the Dawson 's Field hijackings incident on 10 September 1970 , in which the fedayeen hijacked three civilian aircraft and forced their landing in Zarqa , taking foreign nationals as hostages , and later bombing the planes in front of the international press . Hussein saw this as the last straw , and ordered the army to move
Dawson 's Field hijackings
Dawson's Field hijackings
Hussein of Jordan