85
community], the elite Palmach Force of the Haganah, and to stifle the activist leaders, in
order, it was hoped, to pave the way for moderate leaders who would be willing to
cooperate with the [British Mandate].”
249
By targeting the Palmach specifically, the
British hoped that the Haganah would recognize that a military
operation was intended to
stop offensive actions of the militia and not the Haganah’s tradition role as a self defense
force. In Operation Agatha, approximately 17,000 British participated in a two week
cordon and search military operation throughout Palestine. They arrested over 2,700
people and confiscated massive amounts of documents, plans, weapons, and materiel
from multiple locations. This also enabled British authorities
to officially link David
Ben-Gurion and the Jewish Agency to the military activities of the UR militia.
250
Unfortunately, the military operation did not achieve the intended effects that the British
military desired.
In response to Operation Agatha, the UR bombed the British government offices
in the left wing of the King David Hotel, killing 28 Britons, 41 Arabs, 17 Jews, and five
others – all civilians.
251
The large number of casualties was unexpected.
Irgun stated
that they had warned the British, the French consulate across the street, and the
Palestine
Post
prior to the detonation. Although the bombing of the King David Hotel was
successful, the resort to terrorist tactics shocked the Jewish community and its leadership,
and undermined support for the UR. Even though the Haganah was involved in the
planning of the bombing as
a response to Operation Agatha, the Irgun accepted full
responsibility at the request of the Haganah due to the condemnation by David Ben-
Gurion, other leaders of the Jewish Agency, and British population and Jewish
community. The Irgun issued a statement a year later attempting to highlight the truth of
the matter, however it had no effect and they were still strongly
condemned by the British
and Hebrew press.
252
As a result of the bombing, moderates in the Jewish Agency
Executive gained enough strength to abolish the UR on August 5, 1946, after ten months
249
Lapidot,
The Irgun Site
.
250
Lapidot.
251
Ibid
.
252
To this day controversy surrounds the role that the Haganah had with involvement in the King
David Hotel bombing.
86
of synchronized
operations between the Haganah, Irgun, and Stern Gang. The Irgun and
Stern Gang continued to conduct military operations on their own, while the Haganah
returned to supporting Jewish immigration and reinvigorated its earlier efforts to establish
a Jewish state through diplomacy with Great Britain.
253
The British response to the tragedy was less than successful. They were faced
with two options. First was the possibility of conducting “large scale arms searches”
similar to Operation Agatha. However, they realized that
Operation Agatha failed to
produce any tangible results against the UR and even helped them with pursing a decision
to bomb the King David hotel. They also felt that there would be a secondary effect of
pushing Palestine over the edge into an all-out state of war which Great Britain was
incapable of providing the large numbers of troops and equipment needed to maintain
security in Palestine. The 80,000 troops that were currently deployed to Palestine
represented eight percent of their force structure and had placed
increased strain on the
already battered, post World War military.
254
Therefore the British were left with
implementing a myopic political solution that demoralized troops through the imposed
military restriction while resentment for the British occupation increased. General Sir
Evelyn Barker, British Army Commander in Palestine issued an anti-Semitic letter
intended “to punish Jews in a way the race dislikes as any by striking at their pockets and
showing our contempt for them” by ordering “all
Jewish places of entertainment,
restaurants, shops and Jewish homes off-limits to British troops.
255
After the letter was
intercepted by the Irgun, it was made public immediately which assisted with countering
253
Lapidot,
Do'stlaringiz bilan baham: 
