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tion between Jewish and Arab sec–
tors of Palestine, but the Arabs
refused. Tbis in tum led to a 1939
Britisb-imposed limit of 75,000 total
future Jewish immigrants.
Unfortunately, tbe quota proce–
dure closed Palestine to many refu–
gees from Nazi persecution. Even
departure from Europe was no
guarantee of safe arrival in Pa les–
tine or anywhere else. In one in–
stance six bundred Jews drowned
just offshore Palestine when their
boat, refused entry to tbe "bome–
land for the Jewish people," sank.
To tbe Arabs tbe demand of the
Jews to resettle in Palestine only
meant the "Jewish problem" was
being transferred from Europe to
their backyard. For· tbe British ,
trying to keep peace between Jews
and Arabs was becoming well nigb
impossible. For the Jews, tbe race to
find new bornes befare ending up in
Hitler's ovens was becoming desper–
ate. Tbey tried to find ent ry into
countries such as tbe United States,
Co lombia , Swede n , C uba a nd
otbers, but in nearly every case the
door was closed. Sorne Jewish refu–
geés died aboard ship; sorne per–
is he d in sunke n vessel s . The
German captain of tbe escape ship
Sr.
Louis
even contemplated beacb–
ing his ship on the Englisb coast to
prevent tbeir retum to Hamburg
and eventual death. It was not until
after the nations of th e world
refused to provide sanctuary for Eu–
ropean Jews that Hitler carne up
wi th his "final solution" to the Jew–
ish question: genocide. So to a cer–
tain extent, these other nations- our
own included- bear a responsibility
in what the Jews call the Holo–
caus t - tb e vicious s laug h ter of
6,000,000 Jews!
All of this of course serves as
background for events whicb oc–
curred in Palestine itself in the early
1940s- tbe "terrorist" movement of
the Irgun, the Stern Group and
(partia lly) the Haganah . all actively
engaged in trying to overturn Brit–
ish rule in a movement that tbe
Israelí press now often calls "the Re–
volt."
Begin's lrgun Actlvltles
At tbe request of the Zionist-Revi–
sionist movement, Begin took com–
ma nd of the Irgun in 1943. Begin
8
had been active in the youth branch
of that same Zionist group in Eu–
rope, and was serving in General
Ander's Polish army in the Middle
East wben the banner of revolt was
raised. According to Judity ben–
Eiiezer, writing in the
Jerusalem
Post,
the patriots were "spurred by
their passion to free the land from
the shackles of the Mandate and
open it to tormented Jewry." They
determined that "every effort, to the
point of self-sacrifice, would be
made to avoid taking civilian lives."
Naturally, the chief targets were
military installations, bases and ar–
senals. However, sorne civilian ta r–
gets were also on lrgun's list. These
included police headquarters and
immigration offi ces, both of which
kept dossiers on " illegal" immi–
grants. When such attacks were
deemed necessary, Irgun gave prior
warning to permit personnel to
evacuate the building. Such ad–
vance notice, Israelis point out now,
actually deprived the "freedom
figbters" of tbe surprise element and
tbus exposed them to added danger.
Not all went well in those early
days of resistance to Britisb rule.
Many of Begin's closest comrades
were captured and sent to intern–
ment camps in Africa. Begin bimself
was forced underground, living in
north Te! Aviv and assuming tbe
guise of Rabbi Israel Sassover. If we
may believe recent "soft-line" cov–
erage of Begin, his uppermost con–
sideration (after liberating Palestine
from British control) was the safety
of botb the attacking Irgunists and
the attacked British civilians. Orders
were given tha t sbould Britisb
women and cbi ldren be in tbe area
of a planned attack, tbe strike was to
be canceled or postponed. Further,
if British soldiers were taken pris–
oner in these guerri lla actions, they
were to be released wben tbe attack
was over.
However desirable and noble
these restrictions migbt seem, ex–
cesses and abuses will bappen in
war. And bappen tbey did.
On one occasion, tbe Irgun tor–
tured two British soldiers to death ,
then strung up their booby-trapped
bodies in an orange grove. But the
most notorious incidents of all were
the bombing of tbe King David Ho–
tel in July 1946 and the Deir Yassin
massacre of April 1948. In the hotel
bombing, tbe Irgun telephoned tbe
hotel 25 minutes befare, warning of
the impending blast in the nortb
wing. Tbe Britisb siroply would not
believe it; tbe explosion claimed tbe
lives of 91 people-British, Arab and
Jewisb.
The D eir Yassin incident is
harder to sort out. According to
Western so urces, a sound truck
which was supposed to wam the
Arab villagers of an impending as–
sault fell into a ditch. Not knowing
thís, the assault forces proceeded to
attack witb Sten guns, rifles, band
grenades and long Arab knives, re–
si.Jiting in tbe massacre of 251 ci ti–
zens , ma ny of t hem old men,
women and children. Many were re–
portedly mutilated ; women were
raped.
Moderate Jews were shocked
when the incident became known.
For what it was worth, David Ben–
Gurion, tbe Jewisb leader, tele–
pboned bis apologies to King Ab–
dullab of Jordan.
Wbile tbose incidents remain
buried in the blurred memory of
both sides, we can see clearly that
Begin did bend over backwards to
limit bis revolutionary activities to
specific bard-targeted objectives. Of
course, to today's Arabs, Begin re–
mains a hard-line Israelí terrorist–
now dressed up in conservati ve
clothes. (Begin , incidentally, seems
to prefer wearing a full men's suit,
a long wi tb a dress shirt and a tie-in
marked contras! lo the informal
style of tbe leaders of the Labor
Party.) The terrorist label- and one
side's patriot is the other's terrorist–
has produced sorne grim humor
here in Israel. One cartoon in the
Jerusalem Post
showed the PLO's
Yassir Arafat announcing that he
would refuse to go to Geneva and
talk peace, saying, "I refuse to deal
witb a former terrorist (Begin]!"
So much for the past and tbe
present. What of tbe future? For it is
tbe future where all tbe attitudes,
goals, doubts, suspicions and ha–
treds of the past and present will
converge.
West Bank Impasse
There is no doubt whatsoever that
the Arabs as a whole have legi ti-
(Continued on page 44)
The
PLAIN TRUTH August-September 1977