"History," it has been said, "is written by the winners." The aphorism does much to explain why, in the official history of the State of Israel, little or no mention is made of Irgun Zvai Leumi, the small band of courageous men and women who, during the years of the British Mandate over Palestine, fought a valiant battle as an underground army and forced Great Britain to bring the problem to the United Nations, leading to the founding of the State of Israel. That is a matter of record.
The story told here, fiction based on fact, tells how the American League For A Free Palestine, in the difficult years (1939-1947), drew support in this country from thousands of anonymous Jews and a coterie of sympathetic Gentiles attracted from the diverse worlds of art, music, literature and politics.
If the name of the organization today, for a principally Jewish group, seems incongruous, it must be remembered that fifty years ago Palestinians were mainly Jews. The Arabs living in that land then were largely descendants of roving bands of Bedouin and Druze tribes.
The story of the Altalena, half a century later, still arouses strong feelings both here and in Israel among those who were involved on either side of the story.
