British Mandate: A Survey of Palestine: Volume II - Page 602

CHAPTER XV.

"Reasons for the formation of the National Military Organization:-

(i) The conquest of a country and the independence of a suppressed nation have never been crowned with success except

when supported by a military force. ..

(ii) The troubles of 1920-21 and 1929 definitely proved that the Arabs intended to use armed violence to oppose the establishment of a Jewish State And the passive attitude C1f the Jews in the face of this violence was an encouragement to the Arab terrorists.

(iii) We cannot rely on the Mandatory Power to defeat Arab violence. The British Administration is purely anti-Zionist and anti-Jewish. Arab violence has been encouraged by this Administration in order to justify the abolition of the Balfour Declaration and the Mandate. This policy reached its climax in the White Paper of MacDonald in May, 1939.

(iv) In the case of war, Palestine will be a strategic point of great importance to the western democracies. In wartime the historical, lawful and sentimental right of the Jews of Palestine would be less respected by Britain. It is only by keeping an armed force for the defence of Palestine that we can gain a position which would cause Britain to accept the creation of a “Jewish State".

The document continued with a description of the military activities of the Irgun. in its fight against the Arabs, its achievements in introducing thousands of illegal immigrants, the training of its members and its propaganda activities in the form of pamphlets and a secret broadcasting station.

44. Following the outbreak of the war the Irgun. announced an "armistice" until the cessation of hostilities. This decision caused a serious difference of opinion among its members and about fifty prominent figures, under the leadership of Abraham Stern, left the organization in June, 1940 and formed a group of political assassins who today call themselves the Lochsnei Herui Israel (Fighters for the freedom of Israel)-see below.

45. As the war progressed the Irgun began to suffer from lack of funds, through being deprived of its resources in Europe, and so embarked on a campaign of systematic extortion from wealthy members of the Jewish community. In some cases the victims were abducted. This intimidation continued until August, 1941, when, after numerous arrests had been effected and a sharp warning administered by Government to the party executive, the Revisionist party succeeded in prevailing upon the Irgun to abandon its campaign. From that time, until September, 1942, the National Military Organization appears to have passed through successive periods of disorganization and on the whole refrained from ads tending to embarrass Government; it did not oppose enlistment in His Majesty's Forces.

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