Editing Irgun (section)

===Second split===
[[File:Avraham Stern.jpg|thumb|left|upright|[[Avraham Stern|Avraham (Yair) Stern]]]]
Throughout this entire period, the British continued enforcing the [[White Paper of 1939|White Paper]]'s provisions, which included a ban on the sale of land, restrictions on Jewish immigration and increased vigilance against illegal immigration. Part of the reason why the British banned land sales (to anyone) was the confused state of the post Ottoman land registry; it was difficult to determine who actually owned the land that was for sale.

Within the ranks of the Irgun this created much disappointment and unrest, at the center of which was disagreement with the leadership of the [[New Zionist Organization]], David Raziel and the Irgun Headquarters. On June 18, 1939, Avraham (Yair) Stern and others of the leadership were released from prison and a rift opened between them the Irgun and Hatzohar leadership. The controversy centred on the issues of the underground movement submitting to public political leadership and fighting the British. On his release from prison Raziel resigned from Headquarters. To his chagrin, independent operations of senior members of the Irgun were carried out and some commanders even doubted Raziel's loyalty.

In his place, Stern was elected to the leadership. In the past, Stern had founded secret Irgun cells in Poland without Jabotinsky's knowledge, in opposition to his wishes. Furthermore, Stern was in favor of removing the Irgun from the authority of the New Zionist Organization, whose leadership urged Raziel to return to the command of the Irgun. He finally consented. Jabotinsky wrote to Raziel and to Stern, and these letters were distributed to the branches of the Irgun:

<blockquote>... I call upon you: Let nothing disturb our unity. Listen to the commissioner (Raziel), whom I trust, and promise me that you and [[Betar]], the greatest of my life's achievements, will stand strong and united and allow me to continue with the hope for victory in the war to realize our old [[Maccabees|Maccabean]] dream....</blockquote>

Stern was sent a telegram with an order to obey Raziel, who was reappointed. However, these events did not prevent the splitting of the organization. Suspicion and distrust were rampant among the members. Out of the Irgun a new organization was created on July 17, 1940,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.etzel.org.il/english/ac05.htm |title=The Split Within The Irgun |publisher=Etzel.org.il |access-date=2013-08-12 |archive-date=2013-09-25 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130925234908/http://www.etzel.org.il/english/ac05.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref> which was first named "The National Military Organization in Israel" (as opposed to the "National Military Organization in '''the Land of''' Israel") and later on changed its name to [[Lehi (group)|Lehi]], an acronym for '''Lohamei Herut Israel''', "Fighters for the Freedom of Israel", (לח"י – לוחמי חירות ישראל). Jabotinsky died in [[New York (state)|New York]] on August 4, 1940, yet this did not prevent the Lehi split. Following Jabotinsky's death, ties were formed between the Irgun and the [[New Zionist Organization]]. These ties would last until 1944, when the Irgun declared a revolt against the British.

The primary difference between the Irgun and the newly formed organization was its intention to fight the British in Palestine, regardless of their war against Germany. Later, additional operational and ideological differences developed that contradicted some of the Irgun's guiding principles. For example, the Lehi, unlike the Irgun, supported a [[population exchange]] with local Arabs.