VR 1951 Jewish PHOTO BOOK ALBUM Israel INDEPENDENCE Underground IRGUN ETZEL SZYK

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VR 1951 Jewish PHOTO BOOK ALBUM Israel INDEPENDENCE Underground IRGUN ETZEL SZYK:
$145.00

DESCRIPTION :Here for sale is an EXTREMLY RARE Jewish book. It\'s a PHOTO ALBUM which describes with NUMEROUS PHOTOGRAPHS the essential and important role of the Jewish-Israeli UNDERGROUNDS in the ISRAEL War for its INDEPENDENCE. Thebook was published ( FIRST and ONLY edition ) in 1951. The book was given the symbolic name \" DIVREI HAYAMIM LEMILCHEMET HASHICHRUR \" ( Namely THE HISTORY of the WAR OF INDEPENDENCE ) , Somewhat challenging the \"Formal-Official\" Israeli narative which ignored and neglected ( For Poloitical reasons ) the ANTI British Mandate underground organizations such as ETZEL , LECHI etc. Among the contributers to this edition : ARTHUR SZYK ,Uri Zvi Grinberg (also Uri Zvi Greenberg) , ABA AHIMEIR ,Israel Eldad (Hebrew: ישראל אלדד) (born 1910 as Israel Scheib and others. The LUXURIOUS ALBUM consists of 45 plates PP ( Around 200 photos ) Accompanied by Hebrew text , Maps, Broadsides , Newspapers clips etc. The book holds literaly hundreds of photographed and written documents and articles Hebrew. Originalluxurious leather immitationHC . Mounted top. Golden embossed headings.7 \"x10 \" .168pp . Good condition . Original HC. Spine redone. Cover wear. Inner quite clean. ( Pls look at scan for accurate AS IS images )Book will be sent inside a protective envelope .

AUTHENTICITY :Thebook is the FIRST and ONLY 1951 edition, It is NOT areprint or a recentlypublish4d edition,It comes with life long GUARANTEE for itsAUTHENTICITY and ORIGINALITY.

PAYMENTS : payment method accepted : Paypal.SHIPPMENT : Shipp worldwide via registered airmail is$18 .Album will be sent inside a protective envelope .Handling within 3-5 days after payment. Estimated duration 14 days.

Armed Jewish underground organization, founded in 1931 by a group ofHaganahcommanders, who left theHaganahin protest against its defense charter. In April 1937, during the Arab riots, the organization split—about half its members returned to theHaganah. The rest formed a new Irgun Zeva\'i Le\'umi (abbr. Etzel), which was ideologically linked with the Revisionist Movement and accepted the authority of its leader,Vladimir Jabotinsky. Etzel rejected the “restraint” policy of theHaganahand carried out armed reprisals against Arabs, which were condemned by the Jewish Agency. Many of its members were arrested by the British authorities; one of them, Shlomo Ben Yosef, was hanged for shooting an Arab bus. After the publication of the White Paper in May 1939, Etzel directed its activities against the British Mandatory autorities. At the outbreak of World War II, the organization declared a truce, which led to a second split (see Lohamei Herut Yisrael). Etzel members joined the British Army\'s Palestinian units and later the Jewish Brigade. From 1943 Etzel was headed byMenachem Begin. In February 1944, Etzel declared war against the British administration. It attacked and blew up government offices, military installations and police stations. The Jewish Agency and theHaganahmoved against the Etzel in a campaign nicknamed the Sezon. Etzel joined the Jewish Resistance Movement and after its disintegration in August 1946, Etzel continued attacks on British military and government objectives. In April 1947, four members of the organization were hanged in Acre prison. In May 1947, Etzel broke into the fortress at Acre and freed 41 prisoners. In July 1947, when 3 other Etzel members were executed, the I.Z.L. hanged two British sergeants. After theDeclaration of Independence, the Etzel high command offered to disband the organization and integrate its members into the army of the new Jewish state. Full integration was achieved in September 1948. ******** Irgun(Hebrew:ארגון‎; shorthand forHa\'Irgun HaTzva\'i HaLe\'umi BeEretz Yisra\'el,הארגון הצבאי הלאומי בארץ ישראל, \"National Military Organization in the Land of Israel\") was amilitantZionistgroup that operated inthe British mandate of Palestinebetween 1931 and 1948. It was an offshoot of the earlier and \"The Defense\", ההגנה). Since the group originally broke from the Haganah it became known as theHaganah Bet(Hebrew: literally \"Defense \'B\' \" or \"Second Defense\",הגנה ב), or alternatively as Haganah Ha\'leumit (ההגנה הלאומית) or Ha\'ma\'amad (המעמד‎).[1]Irgun members were absorbed into theIsrael Defence Forcesat the start of the1948 Arab-Israeli war. In present-dayIsrael, the Irgun is commonly referred to asEtzel(אצ\"ל), an acronym of the Hebrew initials. The Irgun policy was based on what was then calledRevisionist Zionismfounded byZe\'ev Jabotinsky. According toHoward Sachar,\"The policy of the new organization was based squarely on Jabotinsky\'s teachings: everyJewhad the right to enterPalestine; only active retaliation would deter theArabs; only Jewish armed force would ensure the Jewish state\".[2]Some of the better-known attacks by the Irgun were thebombing of the King David Hotelin Jerusalem on 22 July 1946 and theDeir Yassin massacre(accomplished together withLehi) on 9 April 1948. In 1947 \"the British army in Mandate Palestine banned the use of the term \'terrorist\' to refer to the Irgun zvai Leumi ... because it implied that British forces had reason to be terrified,\"[3]but this did not stop others referring to it as aterroristorganization, e.g. theAnglo-American Committee of Inquiry,[4]several media sources,[5][6][7][8][9]and a number of prominent world and Jewish figures.[10][11][12]Irgun attacks prompted a formal declaration from theWorld Zionist Congressin 1946, which strongly condemned \"the shedding of innocent blood as a means of political warfare.\"[13]The Israeli government, in September 1948, acting in response to the assassination ofLord Moyne, dissolved the Irgun andLehigroups as part of the Prevention of Terrorism Ordinance.[14]The Irgun was a political predecessor to Israel\'sright-wingHerut(or \"Freedom\") party, which led to today\'sLikudparty. Likud has led or been part of mostIsraeli governmentssince 1977Nature of the MovementMembers of the Irgun came mostly fromBeitarand from theRevisionist Partyboth in Palestine and abroad. The Revisionist Movement made up a popular backing for the underground organization.Ze\'ev Jabotinsky, founder of Revisionist Zionism, was the commander of the organization until he died. He formulated the general realm of operation, regardingRestraintand the end thereof, and was the inspiration for the organization overall. An additional major source of idealogical inspiration was the poetry ofUri Zvi Greenberg. The symbol of the organization, with the motto רק כך (Only Thus), alongside a hand holding a rifle in the foreground of all of mandatory Palestine (both sides of theJordan River), symbolized the striving for Hebrew independence over the entire land of Israel, to be achieved only by the power of \"Jewish weapons\". The number of members of the Irgun varied from a few hundred to a few thousand. Most of its members were people who joined the organization\'s command, under which they carried out various operations and filled positions, largely in opposition toBritish law. Most of them were \"ordinary\" people, who held regular jobs, and only a few dozen worked full time in the Irgun. The Irgun disagreed with the policy of theYishuvand with theWorld Zionist Organization, both with regard to strategy and basic ideology and with regard to PR and military tactics, such as use of armed force to accomplish the Zionist ends, operations towards the Arabs during the riots, and relations with the British mandatory government. Therefore the Irgun tended to ignore the decisions made by the Zionist leadership and the Yishuv\'s institutions. This fact caused the elected bodies not to recognize the independent organization, and during most of the time of its existence the organization was seen as irresponsible, and its actions thus worthy of thwarting. Therefore the Irgun accompanied its armed operations with public relations campaigns, in order to convince the public of the Irgun\'s way and the problems with the official political leadership of the Yishuv. The Irgun put out numerous advertisements, an underground newspaper and even ran the first independent Hebrew radio station -Kol Zion HaLochemet.Structure, command, insigniaAs an underground armed organization, members did not normally call it by its name, but rather used other names. In the first years of its existence it was known primarily as \"ההגנה הלאומית\" (the National Haganah), and also by names such as \"Irgun Bet\", \"Haganah Bet\", the \"Parallel Organization\" and the \"Rightwing Organization\". Later on it was most widely known as \"המעמד\" (the Stand). The anthem adopted by the Irgun was \"Anonymous Soldiers\",[16]written byAvraham (Yair) Sternwho was at the time a commander in the Irgun. Later on Stern defected from the Irgun and foundedLehi, and the song became the anthem of the Lehi. The Irgun\'s new anthem then became the third verse of the \"Beitar Song\", by Ze\'ev Jabotinsky. In August 1933 a \"Supervisory Committee\" for the Irgun was established, which included representatives from most of the Zionist political parties. The members of this committee wereMeir Grossman(of the Hebrew State Party),Rabbi Meir Bar Ilan(of theMizrachi Party, eitherImmanuel NeumannorYehoshua Supersky(of theGeneral Zionists) andZe\'ev JabotinskyorEliyahu Ben Horin(ofHatzohar). The committee was in charge of the Irgun until 1937, when the group split yet again. From that point on, the Irgun was under Jabotinsky\'s command. After his death ties were formed between the Irgun and theNew Zionist Organization. These ties were broken in 1944 when the Irgun declared war on theBritish government. Within the Irgun,Avraham Tehomiwas the first to serve as \"Head of the Headquarters\" or \"Chief Commander\". Alongside Tehomi served the \"Headquarters\". When the armed group expanded, districts were laid out within the movement. A local Irgun unit was called a \"Branch\". A \"Brigade\" in the Irgun was made up of three sections. A section was made up of two groups, at the head of each was a \"Group Head\", and a deputy. Later on various newer units were established, who answered to a \"Center\" or \"Staff\"). Ranks were put into use later on and were (in ascending order) Deputy, Group Head, Sergeant (for a Section), Sergeant A (Brigade), First Sergeant (Battalion); officer ranks were \"Gundar\" (District of Unit Commander) and First Gundar (Senior Commander). A rank of Major was awarded to the Irgun commanderYaakov Meridorand a rank of Major General (Aluf) toDavid Raziel. Until his death in 1940, Jabotinsky was known as the \"Military Commander of the Etzel\" or the \"Supreme Commander\". The militant nature of the organization manifested itself in two ways. First, was the execution of strict drill exercises, carrying out of ceremonies at different times, and strict attention given to discipline, formal ceremonies and military relationships between the various ranks. Another way the military nature was apparent was the organized training regime. The Irgun trained with handguns and submachine guns, hand grenade throwing, and combined attacks on targets. The Irgun put out professional publications on combat doctrine, weaponry, leadership, drill exercises, etc. Among these publications were the 240-page book \"The Gun\" byDavid Razieland Avraham Stern, and the 284-page book \"The Compiled and Expanded Guide to Drill Exercises\" by Raziel. Up until theArab Revolt of 1936-1939the Haganah also made use of these guidebooks (afterwards the Haganah published its own military literature). UntilWorld War IIthe group armed itself by weapons purchased inEurope, primarilyItalyandPoland, and smuggled to Palestine. The Irgun also established workshops that manufactured spare parts and attachments for the weapons. Also manufactured were land mines and simple hand grenades. Another way in which the Irgun armed itself was \"Confiscations\" - stealing weapons from theBritish policeand military.Prior to World War IIFoundingThe Irgun\'s first steps were in the aftermath of theRiots of 1929. In theJerusalembranch of the Haganah there were feelings of disappointment and internal unrest towards the leadership of the movements and theHistadrut(at that time the organization running the Haganah). These feelings were a result of the view that the Haganah was not adequately defending Jewish interests in the region. Likewise, critics of the leadership spoke out against alleged failures in the amount of weapons, readiness of the movement and its policy of restraint and not fighting back. On April 10, 1931, commanders and equipment managers announced that they refuse to return weapons to the Haganah that had been issued to them earlier, prior to theNebi Musaholiday. These weapons were later returned by the commander of the Jerusalem branch,Abraham Tehomi, aka \"Gideon\". However, the commanders who decided to rebel against the leadership of the Haganah relayed a message regarding their resignations to theVaad Leumi, and thus this schism created a new independent movement. The leader of the new underground movement wasAvraham Tehomi, alongside other founding members who were all senior commanders in the Haganah, members of the Young Labor Party and of the Histadrut. Also among them wasEliyahu Ben Horin, an activist in theRevisionist Party. This group was known as the \"Odessan Gang\", because they previously had been members of theHaganah Ha\'Atzmitof JewishOdessa. The new movement was namedIrgun Tsvai Leumi, (\"National Military Organization\") in order to emphasize its active nature in contrast to the Haganah. Moreover, the organization was founded with the desire to become a true military organization and not just amilitiaas the Haganah was at the time. In the autumn of that year the Jerusalem group merged with other armed groups affiliated withBeitar. The Beitar groups\' center of activity was inTel Aviv, and they began their activity in 1928 with the establishment of \"Officers and Instructors School of Beitar\". Students at this institution had broken away from the Haganah earlier, for political reasons, and the new group called itself the \"National Defense\", הגנה הלאומית. During the riots of 1929 Beitar youth participated in the defense of Tel Aviv neighborhoods under the command of Yermiyahu Halperin, at the behest of the Tel Aviv city hall. After the riots the Tel Avivian group expanded, and was known as \"TheRight WingOrganization\". After the Tel Aviv expansion another branch was established inHaifa. Towards the end of 1932 the Haganah branch ofSafedalso defected and joined the Irgun, as well as many members of theMaccabisports association. At that time the movement\'s underground newsletter,Ha\'Metsudah(the Tower) also began publication, expressing the active trend of the movement. The Irgun also increased its numbers by expanding draft regiments of Beitar - groups of volunteers, committed to two years of security and pioneer activities. These regiments were based in places that from which stemmed new Irgun strongholds in the many places, including the settlements ofYesod HaMa\'ala,Mishmar HaYarden,Rosh Pina,MetulaandNahariyain the north; in the center Sava, and south of there -Rishon LeZion,RehovotandNess Ziona. Later on regiments were also active in theOld City of Jerusalem(\"the Kotel Brigades\") among others. Primary training centers were based inRamat Gan,Qastina(byKiryat Mal\'akhiof today) and other places.Under Tehomi\'s commandIn 1933 there were some signs of unrest, seen by the incitement of the local Arab leadership to act against the authorities. The strong British response put down the disturbances quickly. During that time the Irgun operated in a similar manner to the Haganah and was a guarding organization. The two organizations cooperated in ways such as coordination of posts and even intelligence sharing. In protest against, and with the aim of endingJewish immigration to Palestine, theGreat Arab Revolt of 1936-1939broke out on April 19, 1936. The riots took the form of attacks by Arab rioters ambushing main roads, bombing of roads and settlements as well as property and agriculture vandalism. In the beginning, the Irgun and the Haganah generally maintained a policy of restraint, apart from a few instances. Some expressed resentment at this policy, leading up internal unrest in the two organizations. The Irgun tended to retaliate more often, and sometimes Irgun members patrolled areas beyond their positions in order to encounter attackers ahead of time. However, there were differences of opinion regarding what to do in the Haganah, as well. Due to the joining of manyBeitarYouth members, Jabotinsky (founder of Beitar) had a great deal of influence over Irgun policy. Nevertheless, Jabotinsky was of the opinion that for moral reasons violent retaliation was not to be undertaken. During the first stage of the Revolt, from April 1936 until October of that year, 80 Jews were killed, 369 were injured, 19 schools were attacked, nine orphanages and three old-age homes. 380 attacks on trains and buses were carried out, and approximately 4,000 acres (16km²) of agricultural land were destroyed. These actions were carried out by armed Palestinian Arab gangs who were joined bySyrianandIraqireinforcements. TheSupreme Arab Committee, led byHaj Amin al-Husayni, which directed the riots[citation needed], also declared ageneral strikeon labor and trade. In the beginning of October 1936 gang activity declined due to the intervention of theBritish army. In November 1936 thePeel Commissionwas sent to inquire regarding the breakout of the riots and propose a solution to end the Revolt. In early 1937 there were still some in theYishuvwho felt the commission would recommend a partition of the land west of theJordan River, thus creating a Jewish state on part of the land. The Irgun leadership, as well as the \"Supervisory Committee\" held similar beliefs, as did some members of the Haganah and theJewish Agency. This belief strengthened the policy ofrestraintand led to the position that there was no room for defense institutions in the future Jewish state. Tehomi was quoted as saying: \"We stand before great events: a Jewish state and a Jewish army. There is a need for a single military force\". This position intensified the differences of opinion regarding the policy of restraint, both within the Irgun and within the political camp aligned with the organization. The leadership committee of the Irgun supported a merger with the Haganah. On April 24, 1937 a referendum was held among Irgun members regarding its continued independent existence. David Raziel and Avraham (Yair) Stern came out publicly in support for the continued existence of the Irgun:The Irgun has been placed... before a decision to make, whether to submit to the authority of the government and theJewish Agencyor to prepare for a double sacrifice and endangerment. Some of our friends do not have appropriate willingness for this difficult position, and have submitted to the Jewish Agency and has left the battle... all of the attempts... to unite with the leftist organization have failed, because the Left entered into negotiations not on the basis of unification of forces, but the submission of one such force to the other...[17]The first splitIn April 1937 the Irgun split after the referendum. Approximately 1,500-2,000 people, about half of the Irgun\'s membership, including the senior command staff, regional committee members, along with most of the Irgun\'s weapons, returned to the Haganah, which at that time was under the Jewish Agency\'s leadership. In their opinion, the removal of the Haganah from the Jewish Agency\'s leadership to the national institutions necessitated their return. Furthermore, they no longer saw significant ideological differences between the movements. Those who remained in the Irgun were primarily young activists, mostly laypeople, who sided with the independent existence of the Irgun. In fact, most of those who remained were originally Beitar people.Moshe Rosenbergestimated that approximately 1,800 members remained. In theory, the Irgun remained an organization not aligned with a political party, but in reality the supervisory committee was disbanded and the Irgun\'s continued ideological path was outlined according to Ze\'ev Jabotinsky\'s school of thought and his decisions, until the movement eventually became Revisionist Zionism\'s military arm. One of the major changes in policy by Jabotinsky was the end of the policy ofrestraint. On April 27, 1937 the Irgun founded a new headquarters, staffed by Moshe Rosenberg at the head,Avraham (Yair) Sternas secretary,David Razielas head of the Jerusalem branch,Hanoch Kalaias commander of Haifa andAharon Haichmanas commander of Tel Aviv. On the 20th ofTammuz, (June 29) the day ofTheodor Herzl\'sdeath, a ceremony was held in honor of the reorganization of the underground movement. For security purposes this ceremony was held at a construction site in Tel Aviv. Ze\'ev Jabotinsky placed Col.Robert Bitkerat the head of the Irgun. Bitker had previously served as Beitar commissioner inChinaand had military experience. A few months later, probably due to total incompatibility with the position, Jabotinsky replaced Bitker with Moshe Rosenberg. When thePeel Commissionreport was published a few months later, the Revisionist camp decided not to accept the commission\'s recommendations. Moreover, the organizations of Beitar,Hatzoharand the Irgun began to increase their efforts to bring Jews to the land of Israel, illegally. ThisAliyahwas known as the עליית אף על פי \"Af Al Pi (Nevertheless) Aliyah\". As opposed to this position, the Jewish Agency began acting on behalf of the Zionist interest on the political front, and continued the policy of restraint. From this point onwards the differences between the Haganah and the Irgun were much more obvious.Illegal AliyahAccording to Jabotinsky\'s \"Evacuation Plan\", which called for millions ofEuropean Jewsto be brought to Palestine at once, the Irgun helped theillegal immigrationof European Jews to the land of Israel. This was named by Jabotinsky the \"National Sport\". The most significant part of this immigration prior toWorld War IIwas carried out by theRevisionistcamp, largely because theYishuvinstitutions and the Jewish Agency shied away from such an expensive project, as well as the belief that Britain would in the future allow widespread Jewish immigration. The Irgun joined forces withHatzoharandBeitarin September 1937, when it assisted with the Aliyah of a convoy of 54 Beitar members at Tantura Beach (nearHaifa). The Irgun was responsible for discreetly bringing theOlim, or Jewish immigrants, to the beaches, and dispersing them among the various Jewish settlements. The Irgun also began participating in the organizing of the immigration enterprise and undertook the process of accompanying the ships. This began with the shipDragawhich arrived at the coast of the land of Israel in September 1938. In August of the same year, an agreement was made between Ari Jabotinsky (the son of Ze\'ev Jabotinsky), the Beitar representative andHillel Kook, the Irgun representative, to coordinate the immigration (also known asHaapala). This agreement was also made in the \"Paris Convention\" in February 1939, at which also present were Ze\'ev Jabotinsky and David Raziel. Afterwards, the \"Aliyah Center\" was founded, made up of representatives of Hatzohar, Beitar, and the Irgun, thereby making the Irgun a full participant in the organization and execution process. The difficult conditions on the ships demanded a high level of discipline. The people on board the ships were often split into units, led by commanders. In addition to having a daily roll call and the distribution of food and water (usually very little of either), organized talks were held to provide information regarding the actual arrival in Palestine. One of the largest ships was theSakaria, with 2,300 Olim, who at the time made up 0.5% of the Jewish population in Palestine. The first vessel arrived on April 13, 1937, and the last on February 13, 1940. All told, about 18,000 Jews reached Palestine with the help of the Revisionist organizations and private initiatives of other Revisionists. Most were not caught by the British.End of restraintIrgun members continued to defend settlements, but at the same time began counter-attacks, thus ending the policy of restraint. These attacks were intended to instill fear in the Arab side, in order to cause the Arabs to wish for peace and quiet. In March 1938,David Razielwrote in the underground newspaper \"By the Sword\" a constitutive article for the Irgun overall, in which he coined the term\"Active Defense\":The actions of the Haganah alone will never be a true victory. If the goal of the war is to break the will of the enemy - and this cannot be attained without destroying his spirit - clearly we cannot be satisfied with solely defensive operations... Such a method of defense, that allows the enemy to attack at will, to reorganize and attack again... and does not intend to remove the enemy\'s ability to attack a second time - is called passive defense, and ends in downfall and destruction... whoever does not wish to be beaten has no choice but to attack. The fighting side, that does not intend to oppress but to save its liberty and honor, he too has only one way available - the way of attack. Defensiveness by way of offensiveness, in order to deprive the enemy the option of attacking, is calledactive defense.The first operations began around April 1936, and by the end of World War II, more than 250 Arabs had been killed. The trend of activities was an attempt to respond \"an eye for an eye\" in the form of violent operations against Arab violence, and often to match the form of retaliation or its location to correspond to the attack that provoked it. A number of examples: After an Arab shooting at Carmel school in Tel Aviv, which resulted in the death of a Jewish child, Irgun members attacked an Arab neighborhood nearKerem Hatemanimin Tel Aviv, killing one Arab man and injuring another. On August 17, the Irgun responded to shootings by Arabs from theJaffa-Jerusalemtrain towards Jews that were waiting by the train block on Herzl Street in Tel Aviv. The same day, when a Jewish child was injured by the shooting, Irgun members attacked a train on the same route, killing one Arab and injuring five. During 1936, Irgun members carried out approximately ten retaliatory operations. Throughout 1937 the Irgun continued this line of operation. On March 6, a Jew at Sabbath prayers at theWestern Wallwas shot by a local Arab. A few hours later, the Irgun shot at an Arab in the Jerusalem neighborhood of Rechavia. On June 29, a band of Arabs attacked anEggedbus on the Jerusalem - Tel Aviv road, killing one Jew. The following day, two Jews were also killed nearKarkur. A few hours later, the Irgun carried out a number of operations. An Arab bus making its way fromLiftawas attacked in Jerusalem. In two other locations in Jerusalem, Arabs were shot as well. In Tel Aviv, a hand grenade was thrown at an Arab coffee shop on Carmel St., injuring many of the patrons. Irgun members also injured an Arab on Reines St. in Tel Aviv. On September 5, the Irgun responded to the murder of a rabbi on his way home from prayer in theOld City of Jerusalemby throwing explosives at an Arab bus that had left Lifta, injuring two female passengers and a British police officer A more complete list can be foundhere. At that time, however, these acts were not yet a part of a formulated policy of the Irgun.[18]Not all of the aforementioned operations received a commander\'s approval, and Jabotinsky was not in favor of such actions at the time. Jabotinsky still hoped to establish a Jewish force out in the open that would not have to operate underground. However, the failure, in its eyes, of thePeel Commissionand the renewal of violence on the part of the Arabs caused the Irgun to rethink its official policy.Increase in operations14 November, 1937 was a watershed in Irgun activity. From that date, the Irgun increased its reprisals. Following an increase in the number of attacks aimed at Jews, including the killing of fivekibbutzmembers nearKiryat Anavim(today kibbutzMa\'ale HaHamisha), the Irgun undertook a series of attacks in various places in Jerusalem, killing five Arabs. Operations were also undertaken inHaifa(shooting at the Arab-populatedWadi Nisnasneighborhood) and inHerzliya. The date is known as the day the policy of restraint (Havlagah) ended, or as \"Black Sunday\". This is when the organization fully changed its policy, with the approval of Jabotinsky and Headquarters to the policy of \"active defense\" in respect of Irgun actions.[19]The British responded with the arrest of Beitar and Hatzohar members as suspected members of the Irgun.Military courtswere allowed to act under \"Time of Emergency Regulations\" and even sentence people to death. In this mannerYehezkel Altman, a guard in a Beitar battalion in theNahalat Yizchakneighborhood of Tel Aviv, shot at an Arab bus, without his commanders\' knowledge. Altman was acting in response to a shooting at Jewish vehicles on the Tel Aviv-Jerusalem road the day before. He turned himself in later and was sentenced to death, a sentence which was later commuted to a life sentence. Despite the arrests, Irgun members continued fighting. Jabotinsky lent his moral support to these activities. In a letter to Moshe Rosenberg on 18 March 1938 he wrote:Tell them: from afar I collect and save, as precious treasures, news items about your lives. I know of the obstacles that have not impeded your spirit; and I know of your actions as well. I am overjoyed that I have been blessed with such studentsAlthough the Irgun continued activities such as these, following Rosenberg\'s orders, they were greatly curtailed. Furthermore, in fear of the British threat of the death sentence for anyone found carrying a weapon, all operations were suspended for eight months. However, opposition to this policy gradually increased. In April, 1938, responding to the killing of six Jews, in which a woman was raped and dismembered, Beitar members from theRosh PinaBrigade went on a reprisal mission, without the consent of their commander, as described by historianAvi Shlaim:On 21 April 1938, after several weeks of planning, he and two of his colleagues from the Irgun (Etzel) ambushed an Arab bus at a bend on a mountain road near Safad. They had a hand-grenade, a gun and a pistol. Their plan was to destroy the engine so that the bus would fall off the side of the road and all the passengers would be killed. When the bus approached, they fired at it (not in the air, as Mailer has it) but the grenade lobbed by Ben Yosef did not detonate. The bus with its screaming and terrified passengers drove on.[20]Although the incident ended without casualties, the three were caught, and one of them -Shlomo Ben-Yosefwas sentenced to death. Demonstrations around the country, as well as pressure from institutions and people such asDr. Chaim Weizmannand theChief RabbiofMandatory Palestine,Yitzhak HaLevi Herzogdid not reduce his sentence. In Shlomo Ben-Yosef\'s writings in Hebrew were later found:I am going to die and I am not sorry at all. Why? Because I am going to die for our country. Shlomo Ben-Yosef.On 29 June 1938 he was executed, and was the first of theOlei Hagardom. The Irgun revered him after his death and many regarded him as an example. In light of this, and due to the anger of the Irgun leadership over the decision to adopt a policy of restraint until that point, Jabotinsky relieved Rosenberg of his post and replaced him with David Raziel, who proved to be the most prominent Irgun commander untilMenachem Begin. Jabotinsky simultaneously instructed the Irgun to end its policy of restraint, leading to armed offensive operations until the end of the Arab Revolt in 1939. In this time, the Irgun mounted about 40 operations against Arabs and Arab villages, for instance: After a Jewish father and son were killed in theOld City of Jerusalem, on June 6, 1938, Irgun members threw explosives from the roof of a nearby house, killing two Arabs and injuring four. The Irgun plantedland minesin a number of Arabmarkets, primarily in places identified by the Irgun as activity centers of armed Arab gangs. Explosives detonated in the Arabsoukin Jerusalem on July 15, killed ten local Arabs. In similar circumstances, 70 Arabs were killed by aland mineplanted in the Arab souk in Haifa. This action led theBritish Parliamentto discuss the disturbances in Palestine. On 23 February 1939 theSecretary of State for the Colonies,Malcolm MacDonaldrevealed the British intention to cancel the mandate and establish a state that would preserve Arab rights. This caused a wave of riots and attacks by Arabs against Jews. The Irgun responded four days later with a series of attacks on Arab buses and other sites. The British used military force against the Arab rioters and in the latter stages of the revolt by the Arab community in Palestine, it deteriorated into a series of internal gang wars.During the same periodIn reality, the armed operations against Arabs were the actions of small groups, or even individual Irgun members. Most of the Irgun were involved during this time with protection and defense of settlements. By the late thirties, the Irgun comprised mainly Beitar youth (from its branches or from its work brigades), Hazohar members and the National Workers Union, youth belonging to theMaccabiyouth group, members of the religious youth group \"Alliance of the Hasmoneans\" and students from the national unionsYavneh,YodfatandElal. In certain places, including settlements inSamaria(now known as the northernWest Bank), theSharonand southernJudea, these were the primary defensive forces. In some areas Irgun forces cooperated with Haganah members, such as in the setting up of Tel Tzur (now known asEven Yehuda), atower and stockadeBeitar settlement. At the same time, the Irgun also established itself in Europe. The Irgun built underground cells that participated in organizing Aliyah convoys. The cells were made up almost entirely of Beitar members, and their primary activity was military training in preparation for emigration to Palestine. Ties formed with the Polish authorities brought about courses in which Irgun commanders were trained by Polish officers in advanced military issues such asguerrilla warfare,tacticsand laying land mines.Avraham (Yair) Sternwas notable among the cell organizers in Europe. In 1937 the Polish authorities began to deliver large amounts of weapons to the underground. The transfer of handguns, rifles, explosives and ammunition stopped with the outbreak of World War II. Another field in which the Irgun operated was the training of pilots, so they could serve in theAir Forcein the future war for independence, in the flight school inLod. Towards the end of 1938 there was progress towards aligning the ideologies of the Irgun and the Haganah. Many rid themselves of the illusion that the land would be divided and a Jewish state would soon exist. The Haganah founded פו\"מ, a special operations unit, (pronouncedpoom), which carried out armed operations in response to, and in order to prevent Arab violence. These operations continued into 1939. Furthermore, the opposition within theYishuvto illegal immigration significantly decreased, and the Haganah began to bring Jews to Palestine using rented ships, as the Irgun had in the past.First operations against the BritishThe publishing of theMacDonald White Paperin May 1939 brought with it new edicts that were intended to lead to a more equitable settlement between Jews and Arabs. However, it was considered by some Jews to have an adverse effect on the continued development of the Jewish community in Palestine. Chief among these was the prohibition on selling land to Jews, and the smaller quotas for Jewish immigration. The entire Yishuv was furious at the contents of the White Paper. There were demonstrations against the \"Treacherous Paper\", as it was considered that it would preclude the establishment of a Jewish homeland in Palestine. The Irgun began sabotaging strategic infrastructure such as electricity facilities, radio and telephone lines. It also started publicizing its activity and its goals. This was done in street announcements, newspapers, as well as the underground radio stationKol Zion HaLochemet. The British responded with numerous arrests of Beitar andHatzoharmembers, some of whom were mistreated to obtain information about the Irgun. The Irgun warned that such activity by the authorities would lead to a violent response. On August 26, 1939 the Irgun published adeath sentenceonRalph Krans, a British police officer who, as head of the Jewish Department in thePalestine Police, hadtortureda number of youths who were underground members. Krans and another British officer in the secret police were blown up by the Irgun when a hidden mine exploded.[citation needed]The British increased their efforts against the Irgun. As a result David Raziel, commander of the Irgun, was arrested on May 19. On August 31 the British police arrested members meeting in the Irgun headquarters. On the next day, September 1, 1939, World War II broke out.During World War IIFollowing the outbreak of war, Ze\'ev Jabotinsky and theNew Zionist Organizationvoiced their support for Britain and France. In mid-September 1939 Raziel was moved from his place of detention inTzrifin. This, among other events, encouraged the Irgun to announce a cessation of its activities against the British so as not to hinder Britain\'s effort to fight \"the Hebrew\'s greatest enemy in the world - GermanNazism\". This announcement ended with the hope that after the war a Hebrew state would be founded \"within the historical borders of the liberated homeland\". After this announcement Irgun, Beitar and Hatzohar members, including Raziel and the Irgun leadership, were gradually released from detention. The Irgun did not rule out joining the British army and theJewish Brigade. Irgun members did enlist in various British units.[21]Irgun members also assisted British forces with intelligence inRomania,Bulgaria,MoroccoandTunisia. An Irgun unit also operated inSyriaandLebanon. David Raziel later died during one of these operations. During theHolocaust, Beitar members revolted numerous times against the Nazis inoccupied Europe. The largest of these revolts was theWarsaw Ghetto Uprisingwhere an armed underground organization fought, comprising Beitar, Hatzohar and Polish Irgun members, under the political leadership ofDavid Wdowiński, and known asŻydowski Związek Wojskowy(Jewish Military Union).[22]There were instances of Beitar members enlisted in the British military smuggling British weapons to the Irgun. From 1939 onwards, an Irgun delegation in theUnited Statesworked for the creation of a Jewish army made up of Jewish refugees and Jews from Palestine, to fight alongside theAllied Forces. In July 1943 the \"Emergency Committee to Save the Jewish People in Europe\" was formed, and worked until the end of the war to rescue theJews of Europefrom the Nazis and to garner public support for a Jewish state. However, it was not until January 1944 thatUS PresidentFranklin Rooseveltestablished theWar Refugee Board, which achieved some success in saving European Jews . The second splitThroughout this entire period the British continued enforcing theMacDonald White Paper\'s provisions, which included a ban on the sale of land, restrictions on Jewish immigration and increased vigilance against illegal immigration. Part of the reason why the British banned land sales (to anyone) was the confused state of the post Ottoman land registry; it was difficult to determine who actually owned the land that was for sale. Within the ranks of the Irgun this created much disappointment and unrest, at the center of which was disagreement with the leadership of theNew Zionist Organization, David Raziel and the Irgun Headquarters. On June 18, 1939, Avraham (Yair) Stern and others of the leadership were released from prison and a rift opened between them the Irgun and Hatzohar leadership. The controversy centred on the issues of the underground movement submitting to public political leadership and fighting the British. On his release from prison Raziel resigned from Headquarters. To his chagrin, independent operations of senior members of the Irgun were carried out and some commanders even doubted Raziel\'s loyalty. In his place, Stern was elected to the leadership. Beitar and Hatzohar members resented this appointment because it was seen as undermining Jabotinsky\'s authority. In the past, Stern had founded secret Irgun cells in Poland without Jabotinsky\'s knowledge, in opposition to his wishes. Furthermore, Stern was in favor of removing the Irgun from the authority of the New Zionist Organization, whose leadership urged Raziel to return to the command of the Irgun. He finally consented. Jabotinsky wrote to Raziel and to Stern, and these letters were distributed to the branches of the Irgun: \"...I call upon you: Let nothing disturb our unity. Listen to the commissioner (Raziel), whom I trust, and promise me that you andBeitar, the greatest of my life\'s achievements, will stand strong and united and allow me to continue with the hope for victory in the war to realize our oldMaccabeandream...\" Stern was sent a telegram with an order to obey Raziel, who was reappointed. However, these events did not prevent the splitting of the organization. Suspicion and distrust were rampant among the members. Out of the Irgun a new organization was created on July 17, 1940,[23]which was first named \"The National Military Organization in Israel\" (as opposed to the \"National Military Organization inthe Land ofIsrael\") and later on changed its name toLehi, an acronym forLohamei Herut Israel, \"Fighters for the Freedom of Israel\", (לח\"י - לוחמי חירות ישראל). Jabotinsky died inNew Yorkon August 4 1940, yet this did not prevent the Lehi split. The primary difference between the Irgun and the newly formed organization was its intention to fight the British in Palestine, regardless of their war against Germany. Later, additional operational and ideological differences developed that contradicted some of the Irgun\'s guiding principles. For example, the Lehi supported apopulation exchangewith local Arabs. The Irgun, on the other hand, acted according the Revisionist school of thought that said \"There he shall quench his thirst with plenty and happiness, the son of Arab, son of Nazareth (i.e. Christian) and my son.\"[citation needed]Moreover, the Irgun\'s fight against the British was only intended to expel them from the area, and the option of future diplomatic ties with Britain was not discounted. The Lehi, however, declared total war againstimperialismand theBritish Empire. Unlike Irgun fighters, Lehi fighters travelled with their weapons on them at all times. One more striking difference was the fact that the Irgun concentrated its operations against British centres of government and its facilities in Palestine, and sometimes warned the British about impending explosions. This contrasted with the Lehi\'s struggle that concentrated more on attacks on people and theassassinationof political leaders, military and police.Towards a change of policyThe split damaged the Irgun both organizationally and from a morale point of view. As their spiritual leader, Jabotinsky\'s death also added to this feeling. Together, these factor brought about a mass abandonment by members. The British took advantage of this weakness to gather intelligence and arrest Irgun activists. The new Irgun leadership, which included Meridor, Yerachmiel Ha\'Levi, Moshe Segal and others used the forced hiatus in activity to rebuild the injured organization. This period was also marked by more cooperation between the Irgun and the Jewish Agency, howeverBen Gurion\'suncompromising demand that Irgun accept the Agency\'s command foiled any further cooperation. In both the Irgun and the Haganah more voices were being heard opposing any cooperation with the British. Nevertheless, an Irgun operation carried out in the service of Britain was aimed at sabotaging pro-Nazi forces inIraq, including the assassination ofHaj Amin al-Husayni. Among others, Raziel andYaakov Meridorparticipated. On April 20, 1941, during aLuftwaffeair raid onHabbaniya AirportnearBaghdad, David Raziel, commander of the Irgun, was killed during the operation. In late 1943 a joint Haganah - Irgun initiative was developed, to form a single fighting body, unaligned with any political party, by the name of עם לוחם (Fighting Nation).[25][26]The new body\'s first plan was to kidnap the British High Commissioner of Palestine,Sir Harold MacMichaeland deport him toCyprus. However, the Haganah leaked the planned operation and it was thwarted before it got off the ground. Nevertheless, at this stage the Irgun ceased its cooperation with the British. AsEliyahu Lankintells in his book:Immediately following the failure ofFighting Nationpractical discussions began in the Irgun Headquarters regarding a declaration of warThe \"Revolt\"In 1943 thePolish II Corps, commanded byWładysław Anders, arrived in Palestine fromIraq. The British insisted that no Jewish units of the army be created. Eventually, many of the soldiers of Jewish origin that arrived with the army were released and allowed to stay in Palestine. One of them wasMenachem Begin,[27]whose arrival in Palestine created new-found expectations within the Irgun and Beitar. Begin had served as head of the Beitar movement inPoland,[28]and was a respected leader.Yaakov Meridor, then the commander of the Irgun, raised the idea of appointing Begin to the post. In late 1943, when Begin accepted the position, a new leadership was formed. Meridor became Begin\'s deputy, and other members of the board were Aryeh Ben Eliezer, Eliyahu Lankin, and Shlomo Lev Ami.[29]On February 1, 1944 the Irgun put up posters all around the country, proclaiming a revolt against the British mandatory government. The posters began by saying that all of theZionistmovements stood by theAllied Forcesand over 25,000 Jews had enlisted in the British military. The hope to establish a Jewish army had died. Throughout the war the Middle East Arabs had favoured Germany\'s side. European Jewry was trapped and was being destroyed, yet Britain, for its part, did not allow any rescue missions. This part of the document ends with the following words:The White Paperis still in effect. It is enforced, despite the betrayal of the Arabs and the loyalty of the Jews; despite the mass enlisting to the British Army; despite theceasefireand the quiet in The Land of Israel; despite the massacre of masses of the Jewish people in Europe...The facts are simple and horrible as one. Over the last four years ofthe warwe have lost millions of the best of our people; millions more are in danger of eradication. And The Land of Israel is closed off and quarantined because the British rule it, realizing the White Paper, and strives for the destruction of our people\'s last hope.The Irgun then declared that, for its part, the ceasefire was over and they were now at war with the British. It demanded the transfer of rule to a Jewish government, to implement ten policies. Among these were the mass evacuation of Jews from Europe, the signing of treaties with any state that recognized the Jewish state\'s sovereignty, including Britain, granting social justice to the state\'s residents, and full equality to the Arab population. The proclamation ended with:The God of Israel, God of Hosts, will be at our side. There is no retreat. Liberty or death. ...the fighting youth will not recoil in the face of sacrifices and suffering, blood and torment. They will not surrender, so long as our days of old are not renewed, so long as our nation is not ensured a homeland, liberty, honor, bread, justice and law.The Irgun began this campaign rather weakly — the organization was only about 1,000 strong, out of which only some 200 were fighters. Weapons were also sparse. The Irgun underwent a reorganization and was redivided in different brigades: Combat Corps - the Irgun\'s primary fighting force; The Sea - the Irgun\'s special operations unit; Delek (דלק - Gasoline) - intelligence; HATAM ( חת\"מ - Revolutionary Publicity Corps); and HAT (ח\"ת - Planning Division). The Irgun became more secretive and its commanders assumed new identities and homes. Begin, for example, assumed a Rabbi\'s identity (\"Yisrael Sasover\"), and was sometimes known as \"Ben Ze\'ev\" or \"Dr. Kenigshopper\".Struggle against the BritishThe Irgun began a militant operation against the symbols of government, in an attempt to harm the regime\'s operation as well as its reputation. The Irgun made a rule for itself - no individual terror and an attempt to avoid casualties;[29]it is a matter of debate as to whether Irgun met these rules. The first attack was on February 12, 1944 at the government immigration offices, a symbol of the immigration laws. The attacks went smoothly and ended with no casualties—as they took place on a Saturday night, when the buildings were empty—in the three largest cities: Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, and Haifa. On February 27 the income tax offices were bombed. Parts of the same cities were blown up, also on a Saturday night; prior warnings were put up near the buildings. On March 23 the national headquarters building of the British police in theRussian Compoundin Jerusalem was attacked, and part of it was blown up. These attacks in the first few months were sharply condemned by the organized leadership of the Yishuv and by the Jewish Agency, who saw them as dangerous provocations. At the same time theLehialso renewed its attacks against the British.[30]The Irgun continued to attack police stations and headquarters, andTegart Fort, a fortified police station (today the location ofLatrun). One relatively complex operation was overtaking of the governmental radio station inRamallah, on May 17, 1944. One symbolic act by the Irgun happened beforeYom Kippurof 1944. They plastered notices around town, warning that no British officers should come to theWestern Wallon Yom Kippur, and for the first time since the mandate began no British police officers were there to prevent the Jews from the traditionalShofarblowing at the end of the fast.[31]After the fast that year the Irgun attacked four police stations in Arab settlements. In order to obtain weapons, the Irgun carried out \"confiscation\" operations - they took over British armouries and smuggled stolen weapons to their own hiding places. During this phase of activity the Irgun also cut all of its official ties with theNew Zionist Organization, so as not to tie their fate in the underground organization. Begin wrote in hismemoirs,The Revolt:History and experience taught us that if we are able to destroy the prestige of the British in Palestine, the regime will break. Since we found the enslaving government\'s weak point, we did not let go of it.[32]Underground exilesMain article:Irgun and Lehi internment in AfricaIn October 1944 the British began expelling hundreds of arrested Irgun and Lehi members to detention camps inAfrica. 251 detainees fromLatrunwere flown on thirteen planes, on October 19 to a camp inAsmara,Eritrea. Eleven additional transports were made. Throughout the period of their detention, the detainees often initiated rebellions and hunger strikes. Many escape attempts were made until July 1948 when the exiles were returned to Israel. While there were numerous successful escapes from the camp itself, only nine men actually made it back all the way. One noted success was that ofYaakov Meridor, who escaped nine times before finally reaching Europe in April 1948. These tribulations were the subject of his bookLong is the Path to Freedom: Chronicles of one of the Exiles.Hunting SeasonMain article:The Hunting SeasonOn November 6, 1944,Lord Moyne, British Deputy Resident Minister of State inCairowas assassinated by Lehi membersEliyahu HakimandEliyahu Bet-Zuri. This act raised concerns within the Yishuv from the British regime\'s reaction to the underground\'s violent acts against them. Therefore the Jewish Agency decided on starting aHunting Season,[33][34]known as thesaison, (from theFrench\"la saison de chasse\"). During the Hunting Season people suspected of belonging to or supporting the Irgun or the Lehi were removed from schools, work places and theKlalitHMO. Most of the people who partook in these activities were members of the Haganah and thePalmach. They carried out surveillance, kidnapping, investigation of Irgun and Lehi members and either turned them over to the British, or provided details regarding their whereabouts. Among those turned over were members of the Irgun headquarters - Yaakov Meridor, Shlomo Lev Ami, and Eliyahu Lankin. The Hunting Season managed to paralyze the Irgun\'s activity for a few months, but not destroy the organization. The Irgun\'s recuperation was noticeable when it began to renew its cooperation with the Lehi in May 1945, when it sabotaged oil pipelines, telephone lines and railroad bridges. All in all, over 1,000 members of the Irgun and Lehi were arrested and interred in British camps during theSaison. Eventually the Hunting Season died out, and there was even talk of cooperation with the Haganah leading to the formation of theJewish Resistance Movement.The Jewish Resistance MovementMain article:The Jewish Resistance MovementTowards the end of July 1945 theLabourparty in Britain was elected to power. The Yishuv leadership had high hopes that this would change the anti-Zionist policy that the British maintained at the time. However, these hopes were quickly dashed when the government limited Jewish immigration, with the intention that the population of Palestine west of theJordan Riverwould not be more than one third of the total. This, along with the stepping up of arrests and their pursuit of underground members and illegal immigration organizers led to the formation of theJewish Resistance Movement. This body consolidated the armed resistance to the British of the Irgun, Lehi, and the Haganah. For ten months the Irgun and the Lehi cooperated and they carried out nineteen attacks and defense operations. The Haganah and the Palmach carried out ten such operations. Furthermore, the Haganah assisted in landing 13,000 illegal immigrants. Tension between the underground movements and the British increased with the increase in operations. On April 23, 1945 an operation undertaken by the Irgun inTegart Fortwent badly and gunfights broke out. One Irgun member was killed and his body was later hanged on the fort\'s fence. Another fighter,Yizchak Bilu, was killed as well in a diversionary ploy - an explosive device fell out of his hand, and he leapt onto it in order to save his comrades, who were also carrying explosives. A third fighter,Dov Gruner, was caught. He stood trial and was sentenced to be death by hanging, refusing to sign a pardon request.[35]In 1946, British relations with the Yishuv worsened, building up toOperation Agathaof June 29. The authorities ignored theAnglo-American Committee of Inquiry\'s recommendation to allow 100,000 Jews into Palestine at once. As a result of the discovery of documents tying the Jewish Agency to the Jewish Resistance Movement, the Irgun was asked to speed up the plans for theKing David Hotel bombingof July 22.[36]The hotel was where the documents were located, the base for the British Secretariat, the military command and a branch of theCriminal Investigation Divisionof the police. The Irgun later said that a warning sent out ahead of time was never taken seriously.[37]Further struggle against the BritishThe King David Hotel bombing and the arrest of Jewish Agency and other Yishuv leaders as part ofOperation Agathacaused the Haganah to cease their armed activity against the British. Yishuv and Jewish Agency leaders were released from prison atTegart Fort. From then until the end of the British mandate, resistance activities were led by the Irgun and Lehi. In early September 1946 the Irgun renewed its attacks against civil structures, railroads, communication lines and bridges. One operation was the attack on the train station in Jerusalem, in whichMeir Feinsteinwas arrested and later committed suicide awaiting execution. According to the Irgun these sort of armed attacks were legitimate, since the trains primarily served the British, for redeployment of their forces. For a while the British stopped train traffic at night. The Irgun also publicized leaflets, in three languages, not to use specific trains in danger of being attacked. The Irgun also re-established many representative offices internationally, and by 1948 operated in 23 states. In these countries the Irgun sometimes acted against the local British representatives or led public relations campaigns against Britain. On October 31, 1946, in response to the British barring entry of Jews from Palestine, the Irgun blew up the British embassy inRome.[38]In December 1946 a sentence of 18 years and 18 beatings was handed down to a young Irgun member. The Irgun made good on a threat they made and after the detainee was beaten, Irgun members kidnapped British officers and beat them in public. The operation, known as the \"Night of the Beatings\" brought an end to British punitive beatings. The British, taking these acts seriously, moved many British families in Palestine into the confines of military bases, and some moved home. On February 14 1947,Ernest Bevinannounced that the Jews and Arabs would not be able to agree on any British proposed solution for the land, and therefore the issue must be brought to theUnited Nations(UN) for a final decision. The Yishuv thought of the idea to transfer the issue to the UN as a British attempt to save time until a UN inquiry commission would be established, and its ideas discussed, all the while the Yishuv would weaken.Foundation for Immigration Bincreased the number of ships which, in fact, saved the lives ofEuropean Jews. The British still strictly enforced the policy of limited Jewish immigration and illegal immigrants were placed in detention camps inCyprus, which increased the anger of the Jewish community towards the mandate government. The Irgun stepped up its activity and from February 19 until March 3 it attacked 18 British military camps, convoy routes, vehicles, and other facilities. The most notable of these attacks was the use of a car bomb to destroy the Goldschmidt House Officers Club in Jerusalem, which was in a heavily guarded compound.[39]Seventeen officers were killed in the attack. As a result, acurfewwas imposed over much of the country, enforced by approximately 20,000 British soldiers. Some of the British press supported a British exit from Palestine.[citation needed]During the martial conditions imposed by the British, the Lehi and the Irgun carried out 68 armed attacks, many against military targets, includingSchneller Orphanagein Jerusalem, by breaking through the outer fortifications.[citation needed]This attack, which succeeded in overcoming the many British security measures, created a media uproar, and the curfew was cancelled four days later.[citation needed]The Acre Prison breakMain article:Acre Prison breakOn April 16, 1947 Dov Gruner, Yehiel Drezner, Eliezer Kashani, and Mordechai El\'kachi were hanged, while singingHatikvah. On April 21Meir Feinsteinand Lehi memberMoshe Barazaniblew themselves up, using animprovised explosive device(IED), hours before their scheduled hanging. And on May 4 one of the Irgun\'s largest operations took place - the raid of the prison in the citadel inAcre. The operation was carried out by 23 men, commanded byDov Cohen- AKA \"Shimshon\", along with the help of the Irgun andLehiprisoners inside the prison. The raid allowed 41 underground members to escape, although some were caught outside of the prison, and some were killed in the escape. Along with the underground movement members, other criminals - including Arabs - also escaped. Three of the attackers - Meir Nakar, Avshalom Haviv, and Yaakov Weiss - were caught and sentenced to death.The Sergeants affairMain article:The Sergeants affairAfter the death sentences of the three were confirmed, the Irgun tried to save them by kidnappinghostages— British sergeants Clifford Martin and Mervyn Paice — in the streets ofNetanya. British forces closed off and combed the area in search of the two, but did not find them. On July 29, 1947, in the afternoon, Meir Nakar, Avshalom Haviv, and Yaakov Weiss were executed. Approximately thirteen hours later the hostages were hanged in retaliation by the Irgun and their bodies, booby-trapped with an explosive, afterwards strung up from trees in woodlands south of Netanya. This action caused an outcry in Britain and was condemned both there and by leaders of the Yishuv.[40]This episode has been given as a major influence on the British decision to terminate the Mandate and leave Palestine. TheUnited Nations Special Committee on Palestine (UNSCOP)was also influenced by this and other actions. At the same time another incident was developing - the events of the shipExodus 1947. The 4,500 Holocaust survivors on board were not allowed to enter Palestine. UNSCOP also covered the events. Some of its members were even present at Haifa port when the putative immigrants were forcefully removed from their ship (later found to have been rigged with an IED by some of its passengers) onto the deportation ships, and later commented that this strong image helped them press for an immediate solution for Jewish immigration and the question of Palestine. Two weeks later, the House of Commons convened for a special debate on events in Palestine, and concluded that the British soldiers must be withdrawn as soon as possible.The 1948 Palestine WarMain article:1948 Palestine WarUNSCOP\'s conclusion was a unanimous decision to end the British mandate and majority opinion to divide the area west of theJordan Riverbetween a Jewish state and an Arab state. During the UN\'s deliberations regarding the committee\'s recommendations the Irgun avoided initiating any attacks, so as not to influence the UN negatively on the idea of a Jewish state. On November 29 theUN General Assemblyvoted in favor of ending the mandate andestablishing two stateson the land. That very same day the Irgun and the Lehi renewed their attacks on British targets. Then next day the local Arabs began attacking the Jewish community, thus beginning the first stage of theIsraeli War of Independence. The first attacks on Jews were in Jewish neighborhoods ofJerusalem, in and aroundJaffa,Bat Yam,Holon, and Ha\'Tikvah neighborhood inTel Aviv. In the autumn of 1947 the Irgun membership was approximately 4,000 people. The goal of the organization at that point was the conquest of the land between the Jordan River and theMediterranean Seafor the sake of the future Jewish state and preventing theArab Legionfrom destroying the Jewish community. The Irgun became almost an overt organization, establishing military bases inRamat GanandPetah Tikva. Additionally it recruited openly, thus significantly increasing in size. During the war the Irgun fought alongside the Lehi and the Haganah in the front against the Arab attacks. At first the Haganah maintained a defensive policy, as it had until then, but after theConvoy of 35incident it completely abandoned its policy of restraint: \"Distinguishing between individuals is longer possible, for now - it is a war, and the even the innocent shall not be absolved.\"[41]The Irgun also began carrying out reprisal missions, as it had under David Raziel\'s command. At the same time though, it published announcements calling on the Arabs to lay down their weapons and maintain a ceasefire:The National Military Organization has warned you, if the murderous attacks on Jewish civilians shall continue, its soldiers will penetrate your centers of activity and plague you. You have not heeded the warning. You continued to harm our brothers and murder them in wild cruelty. Therefore soldiers of the National Military Organization will go on the attack, as we have warned you....However even in these frenzied time, when Arab and Jewish blood is spilled at the British enslaver, we hereby call upon you... to stop the attacks and create peace between us. We do not want a war with you. We are certain that neither do you want a war with us...[42]However the mutual attacks continued. The Irgun attacked the Arab villages ofTiranearHaifa,Yehudiya(\'Abassiya) in the center, andShuafatby Jerusalem. The Irgun also attacked in theWadi Rushmiyaneighborhood in Haifa andAbu KabirinJaffa. On December 29 Irgun units arrived by boat to the Jaffa shore and a gunfight between them and Arab gangs ensued. Thefollowing dayseven Arabs were killed, and dozens injured, near the refineries in Haifa. In response, Arab workersattacked Jews in the area, killing 41. This sparked a Haganah response inBalad al-Sheykh. The Irgun\'s goal in the fighting was to move the battles from Jewish populated areas to Arab populated areas. On January 1, 1948 the Irgun attacked again in Jaffa, its men entering the city dressed as British; later in the month it attacked inBeit Nabala, a base for many Arab fighters. On 5 January 1948 the Irgun detonated a lorry bomb outside Jaffa\'s Ottoman built Town Hall, killing 14 and injuring 19.[43]In Jerusalem, two days later, Irgun members in a stolen police van rolled a barrel bomb[44]into a large group of civilians who were waiting for a bus by theJaffa Gate, killing around sixteen.[45]In the pursuit that followed three of the attackers were killed and two taken prisoner.[46]In February the Irgun attacked traffic near Yehudiya (\'Abassiya), Yazur, andRamle. Irgun fighters participated in fights against Arab militants in Ramle andQalqilyah. On 29 February the Irgun blew up the Cairo to Haifa train shortly after it leftRehovot Railway Stationkilling 29 British soldiers. The Irgun announcement said the bombing was in retaliation for the bombing ofBen Yehuda Street, Jerusalem, a week earlier.[47]An identical attack, on 31 March, killed forty people and injured 60 \'when the Haifa-Cairo express train was blown up by electrically-detonated mines near the Jewish colony of Benyamina\'.[48]In March the Irgun attacked the village of Qaqun (nearTulkarem), which had many Arab militants among its residents. On 6 April 1948, the Irgun raided the British Army camp atPardes Hannakilling six British soldiers and their commanding officer.[49]TheDeir Yassin massacrewas carried out in a village west of Jerusalem that had signed a non-belligerency pact with its Jewish neighbors and the Haganah, and repeatedly had barred entry to foreign irregulars.[50][51]On 9 April approximately 120 Irgun andLehimembers began an operation to capture the village. During the operation Irgun members shot at fleeing individuals and families. A Haganah report writes:The conquest of the village was carried out with great cruelty. Whole families - women, old people, children - were killed. ... Some of the prisoners moved to places of detention, including women and children, were murdered viciously by their captors.[52]The operation resulted in five Irgun members dead and 40 injured and 100 to 120 dead villagers.[53]Some say that this incident was an event that accelerated the Arab exodus from Palestine.[54]Four days later, on April 13, the Arabs launched a strike on a medical convoy traveling toHadassah Hospital. Around 77 doctors, nurses, and other Jewish civilians were massacred. The Irgun cooperated with the Haganah in the conquest of Haifa. At the regional commander\'s request, on April 21 the Irgun took over an Arab post above Hadar Ha\'Carmel as well as the Arab neighborhood of Wadi Nisnas, adjacent to the Lower City. The Irgun acted independently in the conquest ofJaffa(part of the proposed Arab State according to theUN Partition Plan). On April 25 Irgun units, about 600 strong, left the Irgun base inRamat Gantowards Arab Jaffa. Difficult battles ensued, and the Irgun faced resistance from the Arabs as well as the British.[55]Under Amichai \"Gidi\" Faglin\'s command, the Irgun\'s chief operations officer, the Irgun captured the neighborhood of Manshiya, which threatened the city ofTel Aviv. Afterwards the force continued to the sea, towards the area of the port, and using mortars, shelled the southern neighborhoods. In his report concerning the fall of Jaffa the local Arab military commander, Michel Issa, writes: \'Continuous shelling with mortars of the city by Jews for four days, beginning 25 April, […] caused inhabitants of city, unaccustomed to such bombardment, to panic and flee.\'[56]According to Morris the shelling was done by the Irgun. Their objective was \'to prevent constant military traffic in the city, to break the spirit of the enemy troops [and] to cause chaos among the civilian population in order to create a mass flight\'.[57]High Commissioner Cunningham wrote a few days later \'It should be made clear that IZL attack with mortars was indiscriminate and designed to create panic among the civilian inhabitants\'.[57]These actions caused many Arab residents to flee the city, and 30 Irgun members were killed in the flight. The British demanded the evacuation of the newly conquered city, however the Irgun had previously agreed with the Haganah that British pressure would not lead to withdrawal from Jaffa and that custody of captured areas would be turned over to the Haganah. The city ultimately fell on May 13 after Haganah forces entered the city and took control of the rest of the city, from the south - part of theHametz Operationwhich included the conquest of a number of villages in the area. The battles in Jaffa were a great victory for the Irgun. This operation was the largest in the history of the organization, which took place in highly built up area that had many militants in shooting positions. During the battles explosives were used in order to break into homes and continue forging a way though them. Furthermore, this was the first occasion in which the Irgun had directly fought British forces, reinforced with armor and heavy weaponry. The city began these battles with a population estimated at 55,000, which shrank to some 4,100 Arab residents by the end of major hostilities. Since the Irgun captured the neighborhood of Manshiya on its own, causing the flight of many of Jaffa\'s residents, the Irgun took credit for the conquest of Jaffa.Integration with the IDF and the Altalena AffairMain article:Altalena AffairOn May 14, 1948the establishmentof theState of Israelwas proclaimed. The declaration of independence was followed by the establishment of theIsrael Defense Forces(IDF), and the process of absorbing all military organizations into the IDF started. On June 1, an agreement had been signed BetweenMenachem BeginandYisrael Galilifor the absorption of the Irgun into the IDF. One of the clauses stated that the Irgun had to stop smuggling arms. Meanwhile in France, Irgun representatives purchased a ship, renamedAltalena(a pseudonym ofZe\'ev Jabotinsky), and weapons. The ship sailed on June 11 and arrived to the Israeli shore on June 20 in violation of the four-week ceasefire agreement in the ongoing war with the neighbouring arab states and theUnited Nations Security Council Resolution 50. When the ship arrived, the Israeli government, headed byBen Gurionwas adamant in its demand that the Irgun surrender and hand over all of the weapons. Ben Gurion said:We must decide whether to hand over power to Begin or to order him to cease his activities. If he does not do so, we will open fire! Otherwise, we must decide to disperse our own army.There were two confrontations between the newly formed IDF and the Irgun: whenAltalenareachedKfar Vitkinin the late afternoon of Sunday, June 20 many Irgun militants, including Begin, waited on the shore. A clash with theAlexandroni Brigade, commanded by Dan Even (Epstein), occurred. Fighting ensued and there were a number of casualties on both sides. The clash ended in a ceasefire and the transfer of the weapons on shore to the local IDF commander, and with the Ship, now reinforced with (local) Irgun members, including Begin, sailing to Tel Aviv, where the Irgun had more supporters. Many Irgun members, who joined the IDF earlier that month, left their bases and concentrated on the Tel Aviv beach. A confrontation between them and the IDF units started. In response, Ben-Gurion orderedYigael Yadin(acting Chief of Staff) to concentrate large forces on the Tel Aviv beach and to take the ship by force. Heavy guns were transferred to the area and at four in the afternoon, Ben-Gurion ordered the shelling of theAltalena. One of the shells hit the ship, which began to burn. Sixteen Irgun fighters were killed in the confrontation with the army (all but three were veteran members and not newcomers in the ship); six were killed in the Kfar Vitkin area and ten on Tel Aviv beach. Three IDF soldiers were killed: two at Kfar Vitkin and one in Tel Aviv. After the shelling of theAltalena, more than 200 Irgun fighters were arrested. Most of them were freed several weeks later. The Irgun militants were fully integrated with the IDF and not kept in separate units. The initial agreement for the integration of the Irgun into the IDF did not includeJerusalem, which was undersiege. The Irgun operated an armed group known as theJerusalem Battalion, numbering around 400 fighters. Following the assassination of UN Envoy for PeaceFolke Bernadotteby theLEHIin September 1948, this separate unit collapsed and integrated into the IDF.CriticismLeaders within the mainstreamJewish Agency,Haganah,Histadrut, as well as British authorities, routinely condemned Irgun operations asterroristand branded it an illegal organization as a result of the group\'s attacks oncivilian targets.[9]However, privately at least the Haganah kept a dialogue with the dissident groups.[citation needed]In 1948,The New York Timespublished a letter signed by a number of prominent Jewish figures includingHannah Arendt,Albert Einstein,Sidney Hook, andRabbiJessurun Cardozo, which described Irgun as a \"a in Palestine\".[58][59]The letter went on to state that Irgun and the Stern gang \"inaugurated a reign of terror in the Palestine Jewish community. Teachers were beaten up for speaking against them, adults were shot for not letting their children join them. By gangster methods, beatings, window-smashing, and widespread robberies, the terrorists intimidated the population and exacted a heavy tribute.\"[12]Soon after World War II, Winston Churchill said \"we should never have stopped immigration before the war\", but that the Irgun were \"the vilestgangsters\" and that he would \"never forgive the Irgun terrorists.\"[10]A US Military Intelligence report, dated January 1948, described Irgun recruiting tactics amongstDisplaced Persons(DP) in the camps across Germany: \'Irgun ... seems to be concentrating on the DP police force. This is an old technique in Eastern Europe and in all police states. By controlling the police, a small, unscrupulous group of determined people can impose its will on a peaceful and inarticulate majority; it is done by threats, intimidation, by violence and if need be bloodshed ... they have embarked upon a course of violence within the camps.\'[60]Clare Hollingworth, the Daily Telegraph and Scotsman correspondent in Jerusalem during 1948 wrote several outspoken reports after spending several weeks in West Jerusalem: \'Irgun is in fact rapidly becoming the \'SS\' of the new state. There is also a strong \'Gestapo\' - but no-one knows who is in it.\' \'The shopkeepers are afraid not so much of shells as of raids by Irgun Zvai Leumi and the Stern Gang. These young toughs, who are beyond whatever law there is have cleaned out most private houses of the richer classes & started to prey upon the shopkeepers.\' —Clare Hollingworthreporting on West Jerusalem June 2 1948[61][62]In 2006, Simon McDonald, the British Ambassador in Tel Aviv at the time, and John Jenkins, the Consul-General in Jerusalem at the time, wrote in response to a pro-Irgun commemoration of theKing David Hotel bombing: \"We do not think that it is right for an act of terrorism, which led to the loss of many lives, to be commemorated.\" They also called for the removal of plaques at the site which blame the deaths on \"ignored warning calls.\" The plaques read: \"For reasons known only to the British, the hotel was not evacuated,” but McDonald and Jenkins asserted that no such warning calls were made, adding that even if they had, \"this does not absolve those who planted the bomb from responsibility for the deaths.\"[7]Ha\'aretz columnist and Israeli historian,Tom Segev, wrote of the Irgun: \"In the second half of 1940, a few members of the Irgun Zvai Leumi (National Military Organization) -- the anti-British terrorist group sponsored by the Revisionists and known by its acronym Etzel, and to the British simply as the Irgun -- made contact with representatives of Fascist Italy, offering to cooperate against the British.\"[11]Alan Dershowitzwrote in his bookThe Case for Israelthat \"[Removal of Arabs] certainly seems to have been the policy of the Irgun\".[63]