| תנועת המרי העברי Jewish Resistance Movement | |
|---|---|
| Active | 1945–1946 |
| Disbanded | August 1946 |
| Country | Mandatory Palestine |
| Allegiance | Yishuv |
| Role | Defense ofYishuv |
| Commanders | |
| Notable commanders | Moshe Sneh Yisrael Galili Nathan Yellin-Mor Menachem Begin |
TheJewish Resistance Movement (Hebrew:תנועת המרי העברי,Tnu'at HaMeri Ha'Ivri, literallyHebrew Rebellion Movement), also called theUnited Resistance Movement (URM), was an alliance of theZionist paramilitary organizationsHaganah,Irgun andLehi in theBritish Mandate of Palestine. It was established in October 1945 by theJewish Agency and operated for some ten months, until August 1946.[1] The alliance coordinatedacts of sabotage to undermine the British authority in Mandatory Palestine.
TheZionist Movement had high hopes for theLabour administration elected in Britain after theSecond World War. The latter, however, continued to apply the policies laid down in theWhite Paper of 1939 which included restrictions on Jewish immigration to Palestine.
Negotiations began for the formation of the movement in August 1945 at the behest ofHaganah leadersMoshe Sneh andIsrael Galili. At the end of October of the same year, an agreement was signed forming the "Jewish Resistance Movement".[2] The leadership of the new movement included four representatives: Two from the Haganah (Sneh and Galili), a representative of theIrgun (Menachem Begin) and a representative ofLehi (Nathan Yellin Mor).
In order to coordinate the activities of the groups, a civilian committee known as "Committee X" was made up of six members, representatives of the various political stream, (includingLevi Eshkol). The operations board, who approved operations plans, was made up ofYitzhak Sadeh (of thePalmach),Eitan Livni (of the Irgun) and Yaakov Eliav (1917–1985) (of the Lehi).
During the movement's existence, eleven major operations were carried out, eight of them by the Palmach and Haganah, and three by the Irgun and Lehi, as well as many smaller operations. Notable among these were:
In August 1946, in the wake of the King David Hotel bombing,Chaim Weizmann, president of theWorld Zionist Organization appealed to the movement to cease all further military activity until a decision on the issue had been reached by theJewish Agency. The Jewish Agency backed Weizmann's recommendation to cease activities, a decision reluctantly accepted by theHaganah, but not by theIrgun and theLehi. The JRM was dismantled and each of the founding groups continued operating according to their own policy.[3]
