Adapted from the Jewish Virtual Library

Altelena Affair: Deadly battle between the Irgun and the newly established Israel Defence Force in which the Irgun attempted to land a ship laden with arms on the beach in Tel Aviv. David Ben-Gurion was afraid the Irgun would be a threat to the new government and ordered the cargo to be confiscated. When Menachem Begin objected, Ben-Gurion ordered the ship, the Altalena, to be taken by force. Begin used the Irgun radio to urge his fighters not to resist after Ben-Gurion ordered the sinking of the Altalena. In the course of shelling, the ship caught fire and the Irgunists were forced to abandon the ship. Sixteen Irgun fighters were killed in the confrontation with the army, which lost three soldiers.

British Mandate in Palestine: The Mandate system was instituted by the League of Nations in the early 20th century to administer non-self-governing territories. The mandatory power, appointed by an international body, was to consider the mandated territory a temporary trust and to see to the well-being and advancement of its population. On July 24, 1922, the League of Nations entrusted Great Britain with the Mandate for Palestine. Recognizing "the historical connection of the Jewish people with Palestine," Great Britain was called upon to facilitate the establishment of a Jewish national home in Palestine-Eretz Israel (Land of Israel). Shortly afterward, in September 1922, the League of Nations and Great Britain decided that the provisions for setting up a Jewish national home would not apply to the area east of the Jordan River, which constituted three-fourths of the territory included in the Mandate and which eventually became the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan.

Chaim Weizmann: Mainstream Zionist leader who was president of the World Zionist Organization and head of the Jewish Agency. He was chosen to serve as the first President of Israel.

David Ben-Gurion: First Prime Minister of Israel and widely hailed as the State’s main founder. Prior to the founding of the state, Ben-Gurion was the leader of the mainstream Labor Zionist movement in Eretz Israel.

Haganah: The Haganah was the underground military organization of the yishuv in Eretz Yisrael from 1920 to 1948, affiliated with the mainstream Labor Zionist movement.

Irgun/Etzel/IZL: The Irgun was a Jewish underground organization, founded in 1931 by a group of Haganah commanders, who left the Haganah in protest against its policies. Specifically, the Irgun rejected the “restraint” policy of the Haganah and carried out armed reprisals against the British and sometimes, the Arabs. These armed actions were often condemned by the mainstream Zionist leadership.

Jewish Agency: The Jewish Agency for Israel (JAFI) is an international, non-governmental body headquartered in Jerusalem which is the executive and representative of the World Zionist Organization, whose aims are to assist and encourage Jews throughout the world to help in the development and settlement of Erez Israel.

LEHI/Stern Gang: Lehi was the acronym for Lohamei Herut Israel, an armed underground organization in Palestine founded by Avraham “Yair” Stern (also referred to as the Stern Gang). In June 1940, Stern broke away from the Irgun Zeva’i Le’umi (Etzel). The split was due to disagreement on three main issues: (a) Stern’s demand that the military struggle against the British government be continued irrespective of the war against Nazi Germany; (b) opposition to enlistment in the British army, which Jabotinsky supported; and (c) willingness to collaborate, as a tactical measure, with anyone who supported the struggle against the British in Palestine.

Menachem Begin: Leader of the Irgun during the British Mandate, and elected prime minister of Israel in 1977.

Revisionist Zionism: Revisionist Zionism was the movement of maximalist political Zionists founded and led by Vladimir (Ze'ev) Jabotinsky. The Revisionists based their ideology on Theodor Herzl's concept of Zionism as essentially a political movement. The basic assumption was that as long as the mandatory regime in Palestine was essentially anti-Zionist, no piecemeal economic achievements could lead to the realization of Zionism, i.e., the establishment of a Jewish state with a Jewish majority in the entire territory of Palestine, on both sides of the Jordan. In the later 1920s and in the 1930s, the Revisionists became the principal Zionist opposition party to the mainstream Zionist leadership and to the methods and policy of the World Zionist Organization, the Jewish Agency, and the elected Jewish leadership in Eretz Israel.

UN Partition Plan: 1947 proposal by the United Nations to divide Mandatory Palestine into separate independent Arab and Jewish states, with Jerusalem placed under international administration.

White Paper of 1939: Policy paper issued by Britain, severely curtailing Jewish immigration to Mandate Palestine.

Ze’ev (Vladimir) Jabotinsky: Ze’ev Jabotinsky was a Zionist activist, orator, and writer who founded the Revisionist Zionist movement.