Throughout the book thus far, Jewish terrorist groups are mentioned. Particularly, Irgun "Then, at the beginning of March, there was another major bombing in Jerusalem carried out by Irgun... Between fiftey and eighty dead and wounded it was thought, all British." (Page 68) I decided to research Irgun because while I was aware of the range of policies the varying Jewish groups had in Palestine, I wanted to learn more about who and what Irgun was.
Irgun has been described as a terrorist group who is responsible for shootings, bombings and attacking British soldiers in an effort to drive the British out of Palestine. They are extreme, and are hinted to not get along with the more moderate and less religious Jewish groups in Palestine. Especially the Jewish Agency who is the face for most European Jewish in the area. Irgun, and other groups alike, are lead by conservative Zionist. I am Jewish and I therefore know about the Zionist movement. Zionist are a sections of Judaism that is extreme and conservative. Their beliefs are that what is now Israel, Palestine in the book, should be a homeland for the Jewish, only. As the book points out these are not the majority of the Jewish people in Palestine. Even so, groups like Irgun were destructive with in the state and were responsible for the massacre of innocent people.
According to the British Encyclopedia, Irgun was a "Jewish Right-wing underground movement in Palestine." Most of them illegally came into the state and committed acts of terror in an effort to establish a Jewish State. They oppose the moderate and peaceful Jewish groups such as Haganah and the World Zionist Organization. Commonly, they bombed British military buildings. In turn, the British military and the underground group exchanged hostages, while these acts of terror occurred, from 1937 to 1948. Additionally, The Jewish Agency for Israel, once Palestine became Israel in 1948, Irgun and other terrorist groups disbanded. These extreme groups were daring, destructive and violent in the final years of Palestine. Also they contributed heavily to the British secession from Palestine in 1948.
While Ghada Karmi makes a distinction between the Jews that were already in Palestine and the European immigrants, it is important to note that the people who established the state of Israel, and wrote the constitution on which it operates today where Zionists from both the Irgun and Stern gang. Of course there are many great Israeli intelectuals (Such as Ilan Pappe and Amira Hass) who support the Idea of peace and justice among Israelis and the Palestinian people, but they are in the minority.
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