Keith: It would be idle to deny that such "acts of terrorism" as the murder of Lord Moyne, the British representative minister, & his unfortunate non-politically involved driver, a simple corporal of the RASC, by two members of the Stern Gang [Lehi], on 6 Nov 1944; and the blowing up of the King David Hotel, then a mandatory Govt HQ, in Jerusalem by Irgun Zvai Leumi on 22 July 1946 with loss of 91 lives; were important factors in the complex of incidents which led up to the ending of the British Mandate and British withdrawal, the UN partition decision, and the declaration of the State in 1948.

These are only two of the most blatant and memorable examples of the violent campaign that some of the Jews of then Palestine waged during the 30s & 40s. The extent that the State came into being 'through' such acts is an imponderable; but, I repeat, they are among the factors that historians and political analysts will have to take into consideration regarding the emergence of Israel as a geographical and political entity.

Arthur Koestler's novel "Thieves In The Night"(1946 - pre-Israel & set back in late-30s), though a work of fiction, gives something of an account of the background of events which led some to feel that such means were necessary if the British were ever to be dislodged from the Mandatory stranglehold which many saw them as keeping on the region: with its turning away of 'illegal' Jewish refugee immigrant ships ~ some even sent back to what by then was known to be the Nazi persecution occurring in Europe, or, later, the passengers and crew interned in camps in Cyprus. It was a complex situation, from which few emerged with credit. Koestler gives a reasonably balanced view (tho my then prominent in the Zionist movement father always denied this) of what went on in the late-30s — early-40s, leading to various sorts of impasse. Worth a read if you can get hold of a copy.

~Michael~