ABSTRACT
The decision to set up a joint Jordanian Palestinian National Front came in fact as a culmination of two major developments which involved the PLO. For one, the events of "Black September" 1970 led the PLO to try and mobilize the support of the nationalist forces in Jordan - both Jordanian and Palestinian - against the Hashemite regime by stressing the unity of both banks of the Jordan and of both peoples. Secondly, the close relations developed between the PLO and the Soviet Union as well as the various Arab communist parties, led the PLO to seek the cooperation of the Jordanian Communist Party in organizing the West Bank Palestinians against the Israeli occupation. The PLO attempted to influence the West Bank mayors even before the 1973 war. There was the emergence of the PLO as an important factor in both the inter-Arab and international arenas, as well as the growing political and economic power of the Arab world.
