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{{Short description|Palestinian militant organization (1970 – c. 1988)}}

'''Black September Organization''' (BSO) was a [[Palestinian]] paramilitary group founded in [[1970]]. A radical splinter group of the [[Palestine Liberation Organization|PLO]], it drew members from [[Fatah]] and the [[PFLP]].

{{pp-extended|small=yes}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2021}}

{{Infobox militant organization

| name = Black September Organization

| native_name = منظمة أيلول الأسود

| native_name_lang = ar

| dates = September 1970 – {{circa|1988}}

| leaders = {{plainlist|

*[[Salah Khalaf]]{{KIA}} (founder)

*[[Abu Daoud]]

*[[Amin al-Hindi]]}}

| area = Global, mostly concentrated in Europe and the Middle East

| ideology = [[Palestinian nationalism]]<br>[[Anti-Zionism]]

| attacks = [[Munich massacre]] (see [[list of Black September attacks]])

| status = Inactive

}}

The '''Black September Organization''' ('''BSO'''; {{langx|ar|منظمة أيلول الأسود|translit=Munaẓẓamat Aylūl al-Aswad}}) was a [[Palestinians|Palestinian]] militant organization, which was founded in September 1970.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://middleeast.about.com/od/terrorism/g/black-september-definition.htm|title=Black September|last=Tristman|first=Pierre Tristam|access-date=16 December 2014|archive-date=6 February 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170206214225/http://middleeast.about.com/od/terrorism/g/black-september-definition.htm|url-status=dead|website=Thought.Co|quote=Black September is both the name of Jordan's ruthless war on the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) in September 1970 and of a Palestinian commando and terrorist movement created in the aftermath of the war to avenge the Palestinians' losses in Jordan.}}</ref> Besides other actions, the group was responsible for the [[Assassination of Wasfi Al-Tal|assassination of the Jordanian Prime Minister Wasfi Tal]], and the [[Munich massacre]], in which eleven Israeli athletes and officials were kidnapped and killed, as well as a [[West Germany|West German]] policeman dying, during the [[1972 Summer Olympics]] in Munich, their most publicized event. These attacks led to the creation or specialization of permanent [[counter-terrorism]] forces in many European countries.

The name ''Black September'' comes from the conflict known as [[Black September in Jordan]] that escalated in September 1970 and ended up with the expulsion of Palestinian refugees and militants from the kingdom.

==Origin==

The group's most well-known operation was the "[[Munich massacre]]", the [[kidnapping]] and killing of [[Israel]]i athletes during the [[1972 Summer Olympics]] in [[Munich]]. [[Mohammed Daoud Oudeh]] (Abu Daoud), the militant who claims to have conceived of the attack, stated in his [[autobiography]] ''Memoirs of a Palestinian Terrorist'', that funds for the massacre were provided by [[Mahmoud Abbas]] (a.k.a. Abu Mazen, currently the Secretary General of the PLO) "though he (Abu Mazen) didn't know what the money was being spent for". In a [[Sports Illustrated]] article about Abu Daoud's autobiography and a July 1999 written interview with the 72-year-old Abu Daoud, journalist Alexander Wolff claims that although [[Yasser Arafat]] was not involved in conceiving or implementing the attack, Abu Daoud believes that "the [Munich] operation had the endorsement of Arafat."

[[File:King Hussein 1970.ogv|thumb|Newsreel about the 1970 events]]

The group's name is derived from the [[Black September]] conflict which began on 16 September 1970, when [[King Hussein]] of [[Jordan]] declared [[Martial law|military rule]] in response to ''[[fedayeen]]'' attempting to seize his kingdom – resulting in the deaths and expulsion of thousands of Palestinian fighters from Jordan. The BSO began as a small cell of [[Fatah]] men determined to take revenge upon King Hussein and the [[Jordanian Armed Forces]]. Recruits from the [[Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine|PFLP]], [[as-Sa'iqa]], and other groups also joined.

Initially, most of its members were dissidents within Fatah who had been close to [[Abu Ali Iyad]], the commander of Fatah forces in northern Jordan who continued to fight the Jordanian Army after the [[PLO]] leadership withdrew. He was killed, allegedly through execution, by Jordanian forces on 23 July 1971.<ref>Quandt, Jabber and Lesch, p. 141.</ref> It was alleged by them that the Jordanian Prime Minister at the time, [[Wasfi Tal]], was personally responsible for his torture and death.<ref>Amos, 1980, p. 222.</ref>

Other actions attributed to the BSO include:

* [[November 28]], [[1971]]: the assassination of Jordan's Prime Minister, [[Wasfi Tel]], "in retaliation" for his leadership in expelling Palestinans from Jordan in 1970-71.

* December 1971: attempted assassination of Jordan's Ambassador to [[London]] and former chief of the Jordanian royal court, Zeid Al Rifai.

* February 1972: sabotage of a [[West Germany|West German]] electrical installation and a [[Netherlands|Dutch]] gas plant.

* May 1972: hijacking of a [[Belgium|Belgian]] [[Sabena]] airplane flying from [[Vienna]] to [[Tel Aviv]].

* March 1, 1973: attack on the [[Saudi Arabia|Saudi]] Embassy in [[Khartoum]], killing the [[United States|American]] chargé d'affaires J. Curtis Moore, the American ambassador, [[Cleo Noel]], and the Belgian chargé d'affaires, Guy Eid.

==Structure of the group==

After the March 1973 attack, the organization was disbanded, apparently under pressure from the PLO, which believed that terrorist acts were damaging public perception of the Palestinian cause.

There is disagreement among historians, journalists, and primary sources about the nature of the BSO and the extent to which it was controlled by [[Fatah]], the [[Palestine Liberation Organization]] (PLO) faction controlled at the time by [[Yasser Arafat]].

In his book ''Stateless'', Salah Khalaf ([[Abu Iyad]]), Arafat's chief of security and a founding member of Fatah, wrote that: "Black September was not a terrorist organization, but was rather an auxiliary unit of the resistance movement, at a time when the latter was unable to fully realize its military and political potential. The members of the organization always denied any ties between their organization and Fatah or the PLO."

After 1974, when the [[Abu Nidal Organization]] split from the [[Palestine Liberation Organization|PLO]], the Abu Nidal group used the "Black September" name with some of its actions. The PFLP also used the "Black September" name on some occasions. Most likely, these groups had little or nothing to do with the original Black September group.

The denial described in Abu Iyad's claim was mutual: according to a 1972 article in the Jordanian newspaper ''[[Ad-Dustour (Jordan)|Ad-Dustour]]'', Mohammed Daoud Oudeh, also known as [[Abu Daoud]], a BSO operative and former senior PLO member, told Jordanian police: "There is no such organization as Black September. Fatah announces its own operations under this name so that Fatah will not appear as the direct executor of the operation." A March 1973 document released in 1981 by the U.S. [[State Department]] seemed to confirm that [[Fatah]] was Black September's parent organization.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Terrorism/plobso.html|title=U.S. State Department Documents PLO-Black September Link (March 1973) – Jewish Virtual Library|access-date=16 December 2014|archive-date=16 December 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141216184728/http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Terrorism/plobso.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

According to American journalist [[John K. Cooley]], the BSO represented a "total break with the old operational and organizational methods of the ''fedayeen''. Its members operated in air-tight cells of four or more men and women. Each cell's members were kept purposely ignorant of other cells. Leadership was exercised from outside by intermediaries and 'cut-offs' {{sic}}", though there was no centralized leadership.<ref name="Cooley1973">Cooley 1973{{page needed|date=September 2013}}</ref>

Cooley writes that many of the cells in Europe and around the world were made up of Palestinians and other Arabs who had lived in their countries of residence as students, teachers, businessmen, and diplomats for many years. Operating [[Leaderless resistance|without a central leadership]], it was a "true collegial direction".<ref name="Cooley1973"/> The cell structure and the need-to-know operational philosophy protected the operatives by ensuring that the apprehension or surveillance of one cell would not affect the others. The structure offered [[plausible deniability]] to the Fatah leadership, which was careful to distance itself from Black September operations.

Fatah needed Black September, according to historian [[Benny Morris]]. He writes that there was a "problem of internal PLO or Fatah cohesion, with extremists constantly demanding greater militancy. The moderates apparently acquiesced in the creation of Black September in order to survive".<ref name="Morris2001_379">Morris 2001, p.&nbsp;379</ref> As a result of pressure from militants, writes Morris, a Fatah congress in [[Damascus]] in August–September 1971 agreed to establish Black September. The new organization was based on Fatah's existing special intelligence and security apparatus, and on the PLO offices and representatives in various European capitals, and from very early on, there was cooperation between Black September and the PFLP.<ref name="Morris2001_379"/>

The PLO closed Black September down in September 1973, on the anniversary it was created by the "political calculation that no more good would come of terrorism abroad" according to Morris.<ref>Morris 2001, p.&nbsp;383</ref> In 1974 Arafat ordered the PLO to withdraw from acts of violence outside the [[West Bank]], the [[Gaza Strip]] and Israel.

==Munich massacre==

{{Main|Munich massacre|Mossad assassinations following the Munich massacre|1973 Israeli raid in Lebanon}}

The group was responsible for the 1972 Munich massacre in which eleven Israeli Olympic athletes were murdered, nine of whom were first taken hostage, and the killing of a German police officer, during the [[1972 Summer Olympics]] in Munich, Germany.

Following the attack, the Israeli government, headed by Prime Minister [[Golda Meir]], launched an [[Mossad assassinations following the Munich massacre|assassination campaign]] and ordered [[Mossad]] to assassinate those known to have been involved in the Munich massacre.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/this_world/4627388.stm|title=The hunt for Black September|access-date=16 December 2014|work=BBC News|first=Noam|last=Shalev|date=24 January 2006|archive-date=18 August 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170818181959/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/this_world/4627388.stm|url-status=live}}</ref> By 1979, at least one Mossad unit had assassinated eight Black September and PLO members, including [[Ali Hassan Salameh]], nicknamed the "Red Prince", the wealthy, flamboyant son of an upper-class family, and commander of [[Force 17]], [[Yasser Arafat]]'s personal security squad. Salameh was also behind the 1972 [[hijacking of Sabena Flight 572]] from [[Vienna]] to [[Lod]]. He was killed by a car bomb in [[Beirut]] on 22 January 1979. During [[1973 Israeli raid in Lebanon|a raid in Lebanon]] in April 1973, Israeli commandos killed three senior members of Black September in Beirut. In July 1973, in what became known as the [[Lillehammer affair]], Ahmed Bouchiki, an innocent Moroccan waiter who was mistaken for Ali Hassan Salameh was killed in Norway. Six Israeli operatives were arrested for the murder.

Remarks in 2010 by [[Abu Daoud]], the alleged mastermind of the Munich kidnappings, deny that any of the Palestinians assassinated by Mossad had any relation to the Munich operation,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/4883EC46-FB0A-400C-9C74-AE23C0E68032 |script-title=ar:الموساد قلعة التجسس الإسرائيلية |date=9 April 2010 |publisher=[[Al Jazeera Arabic|Al Jazeera]] |language=ar |trans-title=Mossad the Israeli spying citadel |access-date=4 July 2010 |archive-date=17 June 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110617160054/http://aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/4883EC46-FB0A-400C-9C74-AE23C0E68032 |url-status=dead }}</ref> despite the fact that the list includes two of the three surviving members of the kidnap squad arrested at the airport.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Terrorism/munich.html|title=Background & Overview: Munich Olympic Massacre – Jewish Virtual Library|access-date=16 December 2014|archive-date=16 December 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141216191935/http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Terrorism/munich.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

==Other attacks==

{{See also|List of Black September attacks}}

Other actions attributed to Black September include:

* 28 November 1971: the assassination of Jordan's prime minister, [[Wasfi al-Tal]], in retaliation for the expulsion of the PLO from Jordan in 1970–71;

* December 1971: the attempted assassination of [[Zaid Rifai]], Jordan's ambassador to London and former chief of the Jordanian royal court;

* 6 February 1972: sabotage of a [[West Germany|West German]] electrical installation and gas plants in [[Ravenstein, Netherlands|Ravenstein]] and [[Ommen]] in the [[Netherlands]] and in [[Hamburg]] in West Germany;

* 8 May 1972: [[hijacking of Sabena Flight 572|hijacking]] of a Belgian aircraft, [[Sabena Flight 572]], flying from [[Vienna]] to [[Lod]].

* September and October 1972: dozens of letter bombs were sent from [[Amsterdam]] to Israeli diplomatic posts around the world, killing Israeli Agricultural Counsellor [[Ami Shachori]] in Britain.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20070114001148/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,906443,00.html?internalid=ACA And Now, Mail-a-Death], ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]'', 2 October 1972. Accessed 5 September 2006.</ref>

* 23 January 1973: assassination of [[Mossad]] officer [[Baruch Cohen]] in Madrid.<ref name="NYT">{{Cite news|date=1973-01-31|title=Israel Says That Man Slain In Madrid Was an Agent|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1973/01/31/archives/israel-says-that-man-slain-in-madrid-was-an-agent.html|access-date=2021-06-27|issn=0362-4331}}</ref>

* 1 March 1973: [[Attack on the Saudi Embassy in Khartoum]], [[Sudan]]: 10 hostages were held at the Saudi Arabian embassy, five of them diplomats. The US ambassador, the US deputy ambassador, and the Belgian ''chargé d'affaires'' were murdered. The remaining hostages were released. A 1973 [[United States Department of State]] document, declassified in 2006, concluded: "The Khartoum operation was planned and carried out with the full knowledge and personal approval of Yasser Arafat."<ref>{{cite web |url=https://2001-2009.state.gov/documents/organization/67584.pdf |title=The Seizure of the Saudi Arabian Embassy in Khartoum |website=U.S. Department of State |access-date=2014-01-28 |archive-date=2 August 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200802205255/https://2001-2009.state.gov/documents/organization/67584.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref>

* 2 March 1973: [[1973 New York bomb plot]]

* 5 August 1973: two Palestinian militants claiming affiliation with Black September [[1973 Athens Hellinikon International Airport attack|opened fire]] on a passenger lounge in Athens' now closed [[Ellinikon International Airport]], killing three and wounding 55. A [[1973 Lufthansa hijacking|Lufthansa Boeing 737 was hijacked]] from Rome in December 1973 to demand that the gunmen be freed from Greek custody.<ref name=mipt>{{cite web |title=TKB Incident Page: Other Group attacked Airports & Airlines target (December 17, 1973, Italy) |url=http://www.tkb.org/Incident.jsp?incID=1190 |work=MIPT Terrorism Knowledge Base |publisher=[[Memorial Institute for the Prevention of Terrorism]] |access-date=11 February 2015 |author=RAND Corporation |author-link=RAND Corporation |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070930030324/http://www.tkb.org/Incident.jsp?incID=1190 |archive-date=30 September 2007 |___location=Oklahoma City, Oklahoma |date=3 April 2001}}</ref>

* 20 October 1981: Black September claimed responsibility for the [[1981 Antwerp synagogue bombing]] in Belgium, which killed three and wounded 106 people.<ref name="UPI">{{Cite news|title=Palestinian guerrillas claim synagogue bombing|url=http://www.upi.com/Archives/1981/10/21/Palestinian-guerrillas-claim-synagogue-bombing/3601372484800/|work=UPI|date=21 October 1981|archive-date=25 August 2017|access-date=29 December 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170825021539/https://www.upi.com/Archives/1981/10/21/Palestinian-guerrillas-claim-synagogue-bombing/3601372484800/|url-status=live}}</ref>

==In fiction==

The 1977 film ''[[Black Sunday (1977 film)|Black Sunday]]'' centers on a fictional Black September plot to attack the Super Bowl. The 2005 film ''[[Munich (2005 film)|Munich]]'' depicts the Munich massacre and subsequent Israeli campaign of retaliation.

==See also==

* [[Islamic Jihad Organization]] – similar organization in [[Lebanon]] led by [[Imad Mughniyeh]], which orchestrated the [[1983 Beirut barracks bombing]] and is thought to have been a cover organization for [[Hezbollah]].

* [[Force 17]] – Fatah's special operations unit, led by [[Ali Hassan Salameh]] and including [[Imad Mughniyeh]].

* [[Palestinian Islamic Jihad]]

* [[Palestinian political violence]]

* [[Sabena Flight 571]]

* [[State-sponsored terrorism]]

==References==

{{Reflist}}

==Blibliography==

* [[Michael Bar-Zohar|Bar Zohar, M.]], Haber E. ''The Quest for the Red Prince: Israel's Relentless Manhunt for One of the World's Deadliest and Most Wanted Arab Terrorists''. The Lyons Press, 2002, {{ISBN|1-58574-739-4}}.

* [[John K. Cooley|Cooley, J. K.]]: ''Green March, Black September: The Story of the Palestinian Arabs''. Frank Cass and Company Ltd., 1973, {{ISBN|0-7146-2987-1}}.

* Jonas, G. ''Vengeance''. Bantam Books, 1985.

* Khalaf, S. (Abu Iyad). ''Stateless''.

* [[Benny Morris|Morris, B.]]: ''Righteous Victims: A History of the Zionist-Arab Conflict, 1881–2001''. Vintage Books, 2001.

* Oudeh, M. D. (Abu Daoud). ''Memoirs of a Palestinian Terrorist''.

==Further reading==

* {{cite book |last= Amos |first= John |title= Palestinian resistance: organization of a nationalist movement |year= 1980 |publisher=Pergamon Press |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DKNtAAAAMAAJ&q=Wasfi |isbn= 0-08-025094-7 }}

* Reeve, Simon. ''[[One Day in September]]: the story of the 1972 [[Munich massacre|Munich Olympics massacre]]'', Faber & Faber, 2000, {{ISBN|1-55970-603-1}}.

* [https://web.archive.org/web/20040626080910/http://www.sonypictures.com/classics/oneday/html/blacksept/ One day in September], Sony Pictures

* Katz, Samuel M.: ''Soldier Spies – Israeli Military Intelligence'', Presidio Press, Novato, CA, 1992, {{ISBN|0-89141-357-X}}.

* [https://web.archive.org/web/20060329095949/http://www.time.com/time/europe/magazine/2002/0902/munich/story.html "Munich 1972: When the Terror Began"], ''Time'', 25 August 2002

* Dahlke, Matthias, ''Der Anschlag auf Olympia 72'', Meidenbauer, 2006, {{ISBN|3-89975-583-9}} (German).

* {{cite book |last= Seale |first= Patrick |author-link= Patrick Seale |title= Abu Nidal: a gun for hire |year= 1992 |publisher= Random House |url= https://archive.org/details/abunidalgunforhi00seal |isbn= 0-679-40066-4 |access-date= 31 March 2011 }}

== External links ==

* [http://vault.fbi.gov/Black%20September FBI file on Black September]

* [http://db.mipt.org/Group.jsp?groupID=153 Black September Profile] (MIPT Terrorism Knowledge Base)

* [http://www.start.umd.edu/gtd/search/Results.aspx?page=1&casualties_type=&casualties_max=&perpetrator=324&count=100&charttype=line&chart=overtime&ob=GTDID&od=desc&expanded=yes#results-table Incidents attributed to Black September on the START database]

* [http://library.nps.navy.mil/home/tgp/abu.htm Abu Nidal Organization Profile] (Dudley Knox Library, Naval Postgraduate School)

* [http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20000103&c=3&s=young What Price, Palestine?] (The Nation)

* [http://www.israellawcenter.org/press.shtml?1700528700#april29 Call for Probe of Abu Mazen's Role in the 1972 Black September Munich Olympic Massacre] (Shurat HaDin-Israel Law Center Press Release)

* [http://www.sonypictures.com/classics/oneday/html/blacksept/ One day in September] (Sony Pictures)

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[[Category:Palestinian terrorist organizations]]

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