With World War II over and the Nazi death camps open for the world to see, Zionists redoubled their demands that Britain open its Palestine mandate to unlimited Jewish immigration.

Jewish terrorist groups the Irgun Zvei Lumi and the Stern Gang escalated their campaign to force Britain's hand.

Arabs in the region opposed a Jewish influx, but in Palestine itself they lacked unified leadership. So in March 1945, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, Transjordan, Yemen, and Egypt organized the League of Arab States to pressure Britain from the other side. Britain's new labour government (unlike its predecessor) strongly sympathized with Zionism's goal, yet it hoped to remain friendly with the Arabs. Adding to the British quandary was President Truman. whose Zionist leanings were clear. In April 1946, yielding to U. S. pressure, Britain sent yet another commission to study the issue. The Anglo-American Committee of Inquiry recommended that 100,000 European Jewish refugees be admitted immediately, that restrictions on Jewish land purchases in Palestine be lifted, and that a binational Jewish-Arab state be established under United Nations trusteeship. Faced with the political and economic costs of policing Palestine, the British gladly turned the matter over to the UN. In 1947 the UN sent its own commission to seek answers to the Palestine problem. The result, the following year, was the founding of Israel and a war between the Jewish and Arab.