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Zionist Voluntarism in the Political Struggle: 1939-1948

April 2, 1990

A broad overview of the political system in the Jewish Yishuv in Palestine is presented for the years 1939-1945. The years 1939-1945 were characterized by political dissension. In the period 1945-1948 a crosscutting process may be discerned inside that system. Special attention is given to how this pluralistic and voluntaristic system functioned during World War II and the period of political and military struggle for the founding of the State of Israel. Emphasis is placed on the difference between constructive Zionism, led by the Labor movement and headed by David Ben-Gurion, and on the pure political military Revisionist movement. The political clash between the two movements is described as a confrontation of two political cultures, which eventually determined the fate of Zionism from the 1930s until the founding of the state.