CASE #0021 · OPENED 3 NOV · UPDATED YESTERDAY

Do Egypt and Jordan keep Palestinians out because of past 'coups'? What the record shows

Black September, Lebanon and Kuwait are real history, but 'coup attempt' is a contested label, no coup in Egypt appears in our sources, and the reasons Cairo and Amman give today are different.

Evidence board

• DisputedIn 1970 Palestinian fedayeen/PLO tried to overthrow King Hussein of Jordan (Black September).5 / 13 sources

  Part is documented: radical PLO factions (PFLP, DFLP) openly called for the monarchy's overthrow, armed groups ran a 'state within a state', and the PFLP's Dawson's Field hijackings triggered the army's offensive. But Fatah, the PLO's main group, officially favoured non-interference in Arab states, and Wikipedia notes there were Jordanians and Palestinians on both sides. Jordan's army launched the September offensive. Calling the whole episode a Palestinian 'coup attempt' compresses a power struggle between a state and armed factions into one label. It is accurate for some factions' stated aims, not as a description of Palestinians as a people.

• DisputedThe Jordanian army killed about 25,000 Palestinians in 1970.2 / 13 sources

  Portuguese Wikipedia reports estimates from 3,000 to over 5,000 dead for the ten days, Jordan's own figure of 3,400, Palestinian sources of 10,000, and Arafat's later claim of up to 20,000-25,000. The 25,000 figure sits at the top of the highest, partisan estimate and is presented as fact in the Newsrael text.

• UnsupportedIn Lebanon in 1976 Palestinians tried to overthrow the government and massacred civilians at Damour.3 / 13 sources

  Our sources document that the PLO built a 'state within a state' in Lebanon, that Arab pressure produced the 1969 Cairo agreement, and that the PLO became a party to the 1975-90 civil war alongside leftist groups against Christian militias, with Syria shifting sides. None says Palestinians tried to overthrow the Lebanese government, and none mentions Damour, so that part cannot be judged from this material. The Wikipedia article on the insurgency is itself one-sided in places and should be checked against academic sources.

• VerifiedThe PLO leadership sided with Saddam Hussein's Iraq during the 1990 invasion of Kuwait.4 / 13 sources

  Wikipedia, citing the Washington Post, says Arafat pressed Saddam to link withdrawal to Israeli withdrawals, and in December 2004 Mahmoud Abbas apologised to Kuwait for the Palestinian leadership's stance. Kuwait's 1991 UN letter alleges PLO-linked fighters helped Iraqi forces. That letter comes from a party to the dispute.

• DisputedPalestinians in Kuwait as a group backed the occupation, so their mass expulsion was a response to a 'betrayal' or coup.4 / 13 sources

  Kuwait was invaded and occupied by Iraq, so this was not a coup attempt by residents. Kuwait's government says some residents, including several dozen of 160,000 Jordanians, collaborated and were tried, and that most Palestinian-origin residents held Jordanian passports. Wikipedia reports that over 287,000 Palestinians were forced to leave in March 1991, that many had already fled earlier from fear, and that Kuwait's policy responded to the PLO's position. Kuwait's letter says nobody wanted to leave. Individual collaboration and leadership alignment are documented. Collective guilt of a population is a framing, not a finding. Palestinians again live in Kuwait (about 80,000 in 2012) and relations were repaired.

• UnsupportedPalestinians attempted a coup in Egypt.4 / 13 sources

  No source we gathered describes a Palestinian coup attempt in Egypt. The documented episodes are different. Wikipedia says Palestinians had equal status under Nasser until 1978, when Camp David and the assassination of a culture minister by Abu Nidal militants led to their being treated as foreigners. A 2013 Egyptian court said Hamas and Hezbollah helped the Muslim Brotherhood orchestrate the 2011 jailbreak, which some prisoners dispute. The AP says Egypt once accused Hamas of backing Sinai militants. These are specific incidents involving militant groups, not a coup.

• UnsupportedEgypt and Jordan close their borders today because of those past episodes.3 / 13 sources

  The AP reporting, carried by PBS and VOA, quotes the two governments giving other reasons, and none cite 1970 or Kuwait: fear that Israel seeks permanent expulsion and an end to the statehood demand, no guarantee of return, Hamas and militants in Sinai, the 1979 peace treaty and, for Egypt, a severe economic crisis. The Epoch Times op-ed asserts a history of 'bloodletting' and distrust, but quotes no official. Analysts' assessments of motives are interpretation. Past security episodes may inform the caution, but our sources do not show it as the stated reason.

• VerifiedJordan and Egypt have publicly refused to take in Gazans, citing fear of permanent displacement, security and regional stability.2 / 13 sources

  AP, via PBS and VOA, reports King Abdullah II's 'No refugees in Jordan, no refugees in Egypt' and President el-Sissi's warning that a mass exodus aims to 'eliminate the Palestinian cause' and could turn Sinai into a base for attacks on Israel. Jordan's already large Palestinian population and Egypt's economic strain and refugee load are noted as context. This reflects official positions in October 2023.

• DisputedArab states never took Palestinians in and keep their borders sealed.5 / 13 sources

  Jordan conferred citizenship on West Bank Palestinians in 1950 and, per Wikipedia, is the only Arab country to have fully integrated the 1948 refugees. Registered refugees there number about 2.18 million (2016). Egypt has never naturalised Palestinian refugees as a rule, and has restricted their rights since 1978. The Egypt–Gaza border is controlled, with Rafah the only crossing and open only to people. Egypt has backed the blockade since 2007. Still, the Palestinian Authority estimated at least 115,000 Gazans crossed into Egypt during the current war. 'Sealed' is therefore an overstatement for Egypt, and 'never took them in' is wrong for Jordan.