Many Jews in the Palestinian Mandate contemplated retreating to Mount Carmel and organizing a defense line, due to prospects of a Nazi invasion of the region. Known alternatively as the "Northern Program", "The Carmel Plan", "The Massada Plan", and the "Musa Dagh Plan", it was envisioned as a bastion against Nazi incursions, to hold out for at least three to four months. Meri Batz, one of the leaders of the Jewish militias who had also read the novel, stated that the community wished to "turn Carmel into the Musa Dagh of Palestinian Jewry ... We put our faith in the power of the Jewish 'Musa Dagh' and were determined to hold out for at least three to four months."