A few more details: The Irgun, L'chi, Haganah, were established as self-defence organizations against Arab attacks. The Haganah evolved from the turn-of-the-century Shomrim and was affiliated with the socialists who were building kibbutzim. The Irgun and L'chi were established by demoblised soldiers from Britian's WW1 "Jewish Brigade" who left "palestine" to enlist and return to fight the Turks. They were right wing nationalists and led by Zeev Jabotinsky. Since the British took the side of the Arabs:
1)Closing the country to Jewish immigration while allowing unrestricted Arab immigration
2)Providing logistical & material support to Arab militias like that of kwaukji
3)Trying to disarm the Jewish community
4)When the British left they handed all their military infrastructure over to the Arabs, and even fought alongside the Arab militias in Jaffa when the Irgun attacked in order to stop them from firing at civilians in Tel Aviv
the British were correctly seen as an enemy.
The Haganah had a truce of sorts with the British when they fought together against the Arabs in the late '30's who turned on the British. The Haganah also became a segregated unit in the British army during WW2.
The Irgun decided not to have any truce with the British and maintained their guerrilla war against them (the Haganah provided the British with intel against them). While most of the Irgun's action was against the British colonial government and it's troops, it did engage in reciprocal acts of terrorism against the Arabs. As for the King David Hotel it was a gov't/military target when it was blown up since it was requisitioned as a HQ surrounded by 6 rows of concertina wire.
The British left "palestine" for the same reason they left India, they didn't have the political will or money to suppress tribal conflicts in order to maintain their empire. Speaking of moral equivalency, I find equating guerrilla combat with terrorism wearying. There actually is a difference between fighting soldiers and deliberately murdering civilians. FWIW Begin was in the opposition for almost 30 years before becoming prime minister. Arafat was president of the palestinian authority too--with Israel's cooperation.
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