| You are depending on the history as written by Ben Gurion and his followers. The Altalena sailed with refugees and military supplies. There was agreement with Ben Gurion that some of the supplies would go to Irgun troops in Jerusalem and the rest to the Haganah. Jerusalem was beseiged and the troops there were not united under the Haganah. The ship first landed, unloaded the refugees and some arms at Kfar Vitkin. The Haganah attacked members of the Irgun and fighting broke out over the destination of the arms. The ship sailed and headed for Tel Aviv where the Irgun hoped to unload and send its shasre to its troops in Jerusalem. Begin was on board. Ben Gurion ordered the Haganah to fire on the ship but they refused. Palmach troops under Rabin were sent and they fired on the sip. Begin ordered his men not to return fire and sought a truce. Was this an attept by Ben Gurion to kill Begin? At this time the Irgun had integrated into the Haganah except for Jaffa and Jerusalem. |
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