The British governed Palestine from 1920 to 1948. The period was marked by hostility between the Jewish and Arab communities. Ships full of Jewish refugees were turned back from Palestine by British officials. Tensions rose as Jews, frustrated by British-imposed immigration quotas for Palestine, turned to violence.
Skirmishes in the streets of Jerusalem and Tel Aviv were common. Jews also attacked the British soldiers sent by mandate from the League of Nations. One of the worst of those attacks was the 1946 bombing of the King David Hotel in Jerusalem. The hotel housed the British Administrative Headquarters for Palestine. The bombing was perpetrated by a militant underground Zionist organization known as Irgun. Jews disguised as Arabs carried explosives concealed in milk pails into the basement of the hotel. Ninety-one people were killed.
Visit UW’s American Heritage Center, where you can see the papers of journalist Robert Conway, who covered Palestine for the New York Daily News in the 1940s.