But what sometimes gets lost in this narrative is that, while practically all sectors of Palestinian Arab society rejected the UN plan, Palestinians were unable to devise coherent political institutions and a unified military command with which to confront the much smaller Jewish community. By contrast, the besieged Jewish community, under David Ben-Gurion and the Jewish self-defense force (the Hagannah) was able to mobilize, through its democratic institutions and with only marginal dissent, the resources needed for a successful military campaign.