The Zionist Movement had high hopes for the Labour administration elected in Britain after the Second World War.

The latter, however, continued to apply the policies laid down in the White Paper of 1939 which included restrictions on Jewish immigration to Palestine.

Negotiations began for the formation of the movement in August 1945 at the behest of Haganah leaders Moshe Sneh and Israel Galili.

Notable among these were: In August 1946, in the wake of the King David Hotel bombing, Chaim Weizmann, president of the World Zionist Organization appealed to the movement to cease all further military activity until a decision on the issue had been reached by the Jewish Agency.

The Jewish Agency backed Weizmann's recommendation to cease activities, a decision reluctantly accepted by the Haganah, but not by the Irgun and the Lehi.