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