The civil war in Jordon in the month of September 1970 will remain forever in the collective memory of Palestinians. Many remember the event Black September. Basically, the civil war was an attempt by Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine to topple the Jordanian King Hussein and take control of the country. The Jordanian-Palestinian war of 1970 led to the creation of the Palestinian Black September movement, a commando faction that broke away from the PLO.

Zia was posted in Jordan from 1967 to 1970 as a brigadier, where he was involved in training and leading Jordan’s military. He commanded their 2nd Division and played a key role in the Black September offensive. While the opinion is divided on his legacy in the civil war, many people still call him the butcher of Palestinians.

“Pakistan is like Israel, an ideological state. Take out
Judaism from Israel and it will collapse like a house of cards. Take Islam out of Pakistan and make it a secular state, it would collapse. For the past four years we have been trying
to bring Islamic values to this country.”
–(General Zia-ul-Haq, Chief Martial
Law Administrator, Pakistan, 1981)