The dispute over terminology

When the British had become convinced that further access to oil could not be reconciled with further Jewish immigration they placed their sympathies on the side of the Arabs (there were after all tens of millions of them in the Middle East) and started to gradually withdraw from the promises made to Jews in the Balfour Declaration. In practice this meant limiting Jewish immigration to Palestine. The Jews understood London's policy as a breaking of the promises made to them and they started to organize immigration by means other than those legally available. They defined it – as opposed to the aliyah allowed by the Mandate authorities – as “type B immigration,” that is, Aliyah Bet.

Aliyah Bet is a term derived from Hebrew. Aliyah, the word for the influx of Jews to Palestine (then, beginning in 1948, to Israel), also means “growth, increase, augmentation,” e.g. an increase in temperature, the raising or rising of something, promotion at work, etc. Many religious Jews believed that the process of leaving the Diaspora constituted a mystical means of bringing oneself closer to perfection. “Bet” is the second letter of the Hebrew alphabet and in combination with the word “aliyah” connotes something secret and illegal.

The immigrants who took this route were called ma'apilim, from the Hebrew ha'apala – doggedly raising themselves upwards, ascending through effort or the overcoming of difficulties. Within the context of Jewish immigration ha'apala is a term used specifically for the illegal forms of immigration that occurred during the period of the British mandate, and evokes the related strenuous effort and difficulties.