Roots of zionism
In 70 and again in 135 C.E., the Romans expelled the Jews from Judea (known as diaspora), the land that the Jewish people believe is their Biblical home. This begins a long history of persecution, particularly in Europe and Russia, where significant pogroms exiled Jews.
Because of the Diaspora, the Jews were spread across the world in the 1800s. In the late 1800s, they began to emigrate back to Palestine.Tthe Jewish national movement wanted to create a place where Jews could come together and settle permanently. The birth of political Zionism occurred in the late 1800s, when a German-born man named Theodore Herzl directly observed anti-Semitism in Europe. The discrimination he witnessed disturbed him so much that he decided to do something about it. In 1896, he wrote a book, Der Judenstaat, which literally translates to “The Jewish State.” In this book, he articulated the need for a Jewish homeland. Sparking the Jewish national movement, the Jews began to emigrate back to Palestine. Herzl also organized the Basel Congress to bring together people who want to establish a Jewish state in Palestine, which was still under the power of the Ottoman Empire. At the same time, European (especially British and French) influence grew throughout the region. The British were the leading global power and established commercial interests in Iraq and Iran. The French have commercial interest in Syria. Also significant, the Suez Canal opens to connect the Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea, making as an easier and much faster route for trade and transport. |
Zionism: describes Jewish Nationalism or the desire to create a strictly Jewish country
Diaspora: the scattering of the Jews to countries outside of Palestine
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