The A to Z of isms... Zionism.
For its supporters, Zionism is the
national liberation movement
of the Jewish people.
For its opponents, it is a means
to establish a settler-colonial state
in the developing world.
Theodor Herzl, a Viennese
journalist and playwright,
founded the modern
Zionist movement in 1897.
Yet many orthodox Jews strongly
opposed the rise of Zionism.
They believed that the Jews
would only return to Zion,
the land promised by God
to the Jews in the Hebrew Bible,
with the eventual coming
of the Messiah.
Jews should therefore
not force God's hand.
There were many types of Zionist -
Marxist, religious and nationalist,
Liberal, Social Democrat -
the forerunners of today's
political parties in Israel.
But Zionism and Arab nationalism
arose during the same
period of history,
with claims over
the same piece of land -
a geographical area,
known for centuries to Jews as
the Land of Israel.
This is the ideological basis
of the seemingly intractable
Israel-Palestinian conflict.
While there's been a Jewish
presence in the Holy Land
since biblical times, at the
beginning of the 20th Century
the Jews were few in number compared
to Christian and Muslim Arabs.
Unlike other national liberation
movements whose supporters
were actually living on the territory
that they wished to free,
Zionist Jews had first to emigrate
from a far-flung diaspora,
build an infrastructure, and only
then initiate a liberation struggle.
Zionism therefore does not fit
into conventional theory.
So, is Zionism wrong
or just different?
In the aftermath of the French
Revolution, many 19th Century Jews
began to regard
themselves as a people
with a history, literature,
culture and language -
and not just followers of an
ancient religion, Judaism.
Many were highly influenced by
progressive national movements
in Europe, such as the
Risorgimento of Mazzini and Garibaldi
for a united Italy,
and Irish Republican efforts to throw
off the yoke of British domination.
The example of
Russian revolutionary Lenin
influenced the
socialist Zionist leader
and first prime minister of Israel,
David Ben-Gurion.
Lenin demonstrated
what could be achieved
with a handful of supporters.
Many East European Jews
wanted to escape the heavy hand
of Russian anti-Semitism,
so the early Zionists were
often revolutionary socialists
who not only wished
to build a new country,
but also to construct a new society,
unlike the ones they had just left.
One of the building blocks of this
new society was the kibbutz,
a self-sufficient,
self-governing collective.
There were many possible territorial
solutions where a Jewish state
could be built. They ranged from
the Portuguese colony of Angola
to the Jewish Autonomous Region
in the USSR, Birobidzhan
on the border of China.
Herzl even approached the British
with the idea that Uganda might be
"a night shelter" on the
road to the Land of Israel.
Some supporters believe that
Zionism completed its task
when the state of Israel
was established in 1948.
Others believe that the Zionist
project cannot be considered complete
until Israel is at peace,
secure within its boundaries
and within the wider region,
and creates a fairer society
for all its inhabitants.
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