In 1968, the city of Karameh served as the political and military headquarters of the Palestinian al-Fatah movement. Israeli military forces entered the city in search of the Palestinian leadership, which the Israelis labelled as terrorists. In this battle, the heavily armed and technologically advanced Israeli military was rebuffed and forced to retreat, suffering a blow to their reputation while heartening the Palestinian resistance to Israel.

The Battle of Karameh set up a series of events leading to Black September in Jordan, in which King Hussein ordered the Jordanian army to crush the emboldened Palestinian forces.

the Israel Defense Forces entered the village of Karameh on March 21, 1968. The Israelis, who aimed to destroy Fatah in their assault, were unsuccessful and quickly withdrew. Arafat managed to leave Karameh at night after being informed of the impending attack. King Hussein gave orders to the Jordanian forces to not intervene but the Jordanian general Mash'hor Haditha and some Jordanian offciers ignored their king's orders and engaged the battle. The arrival of Jordanian troops in full-force shifted the tide of the battle and managed to inflict serious damage on the IDF. In fact, the Jordanian Army's intervention was not expected at all. An estimated 28 Israeli soldiers were killed and 80 wounded; the IDF also lost four tanks. Although the Jordanian Army had been decisive, the incident was a public relations coup for the PLO and Arafat in particular. The Karameh battle boosted Palestinian morale and gave the PLO additional prestige within the Arab community.