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Zionism

From Encyc
Trees planted by the Jewish National Fund, a Zionist organization.

Zionism is the belief that Jews are destined to live in their ancestral homeland, Israel. It is an integral part of the Jewish religion, with roots in the story of Abraham and his covenant with God.

A Jewish civilization flourished in Israel until about the year 70 CE, when a rebellion was brutally suppressed by the Roman Empire. Although they lost political and military control of the country, a number of Jews lived in the area continuously since then.

A great impetus was given to Zionism by the founding of the Zionist Congress by Theodor Herzl, a Hungarian Jew, in the late 19th century. He believed that the only way to regain political representation in Israel was by direct action. He was opposed by many Jews who believed that this was blasphemous, and that Jews should await the coming of the Messiah. This view is still held by a small minority of Jews today.

Other Jews argued that in modern society, equal rights would be guaranteed to all, and ethnic identity would be less important. They theorized that Jews were safe in Europe, and that there was no need for a homeland. This debate pretty much ended with the Holocaust.

The fulfillment of Zionism is generally considered to be the modern state of Israel, which was built upon a small part of the former Ottoman Empire, which the British administered for thirty years as the British Mandate of Palestine. Prior to the large influx of Jews during the 19th century, very few people lived in the area and the majority were Arabs and Bedouins in the Negev Desert.

Some of the 19th century supporters of the right of the Jews to a homeland were not committed to having it specifically in the Biblical area, or even the Middle East. However, a suggestion by the United Kingdom that it should be in what is now Uganda (at the time referred to as Kenya), while received favourably in some quarters, was overwhelmingly rejected by the Zionist Congress.

The Balfour Declaration, signed in 1917 by the United Kingdom, stated that the U.K. government looked with favour on the establishment of a Jewish state in the area. Subsequently, when the League of Nations was set up, it awarded the U.K. a mandate over the whole of what are now Israel and Jordan, recognizing the Balfour Declaration.

The signing of the Balfour Declaration is generally seen by Israelis as a victory that guaranteed their future as Jews living in the Middle East. Realizing that they were a tiny minority in a very diverse Middle Eastern community, they made many efforts to reach out to their Arab and Muslim neighbors. Early Zionists lived on the most undesirable land, and made it productive through irrigation and other modern farming practices. They built roads, hospitals, schools, water and sewer services, planted trees, and made other improvements. Zionism embraced a spirit of friendship and cooperation for the mutual benefit of all people, regardless of their background or religion.

In the latter part of the 20th and early 21st century, opportunists dependent on money from the United Nations and autocratic regimes spread propaganda denouncing Zionism and calling it a "settler colonialist" movement. Worldwide, many friends of Israel and Israeli nationalists dispute this claim.

Key figures[edit | edit source]

  • Theodor Herzl: Founder of modern political Zionism.
  • Chaim Weizmann: Instrumental in securing the Balfour Declaration and Israel’s founding.
  • David Ben-Gurion: Israel’s first prime minister and a leading Labor Zionist.
  • Golda Meir: Prime minister from 1969-1974.

References[edit | edit source]

External links[edit | edit source]

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