Conflict resolution in an underground group: The shamir-giladi clash

Underground movements in a struggle for political independence experience processes of crystallization as well as schism. Many times, severe struggles develop in these groups and focus on issues of leadership, operations, and ideology. The success of these movements in achieving their explicit goals depends on their ability to develop an effective mechanism(s) for inner conflict(s) resolution(s). Such inner conflicts and tensions can change, in the most profound way, the way an underground movement Junctions, its ability to attract and recruit new members, and its survivability. Lehi was one of the three prestate Jewish underground groups in Palestine (the two others were the Hagana and Etzel), struggling against the British and the Arabs with the explicit goal of establishing a new Jewish state. Lehi was established in the summer of 1940 and, in the autumn and winter of 1942, was already in an advanced stage of disintegration due to the British success in arresting or killing most of its members and leadership. In the summer of 1942, two leaders of Lehi—Itzhak Yazernitzky-Shamir and Eliahu Giladi—escaped from the British detention camp in Mazra and revived Lehi. During 1942, a severe conflict developed between these two leaders, focusing on issues of leadership, operations, and ideology. Consequently, Shamir instructed his men to kill Giladi, who was assassinated in the summer of 1943. This paper traces the development of this conflict in a political and historical context and examines the consequences of the assassination. The main conclusion is that the death of Giladi had a major impact on the reemerging Lehi.