ZIONISM. – A political movement aimed at securing for the Jews a national, independent, and recognized state, it was affirmed at the Zionist Congress in Basel (August 1897), where Theodor Herzl, a Hungarian Jewish journalist, succeeded in promoting the ideas already set forth in his programmatic book *Der Judenstaat* (Vienna 1896). Even before this, the age-old aspirations of the people of Israel to regain their homeland had taken concrete form, especially in Eastern Europe, in movements that promoted Jewish culture, the revival of Hebrew as a national language, and the colonization of Palestine; yet these small, unorganized attempts were often utopian.
**SION, DIOCESE OF** – St. Catherine before the judges (14th century). Sion, Valère Museum.
The revival of Hebrew as a national language and the colonization of Palestine; yet these small, unorganized attempts were often utopian.
In 1881, however, spurred by the most bloody *pogroms* (in southern Russia), the movements intensified and became more concrete. Groups of "Lovers of Zion" were formed in many cities to gather funds and recruit men for the colonization of Palestine, where the first colonies were founded in 1882: the beginnings of sporadic colonization. The physician from Odessa, Judah Leib Pinsker, in October 1883, established in that city the first nucleus and center of all the *Hovevei Zion* with an anonymous pamphlet (*Autoemancipation! Mahnruf an seine Stammesgenossen*), in which the Jewish question was presented with dramatic urgency and the only satisfactory solution was advocated: to give the Jews a homeland in Palestine (*Eres Jisra'el*). Pinsker’s pamphlet then had little immediate impact, but later Herzl was to say that, had he known it beforehand, he would not have deemed it necessary to write his *Der Judenstaat*. If Pinsker lacked fervor in action, Herzl possessed it in abundance. Converted to Zionism by the worsening of atheism (the final impetus being the Dreyfus Affair in France), he saw in it the only means of resolving the Jewish question and from then on devoted all his genius to II. After intense propaganda worldwide to instill the Zionist ideal in Jewish masses, to organize future colonists, to create the principal instruments for reconstruction, and to win over the great Powers to the Zionist cause, he convened the first Zionist Congress in Basel on 29 August 1897, which was attended by more than 200 delegates from all parts of the world. Here the "Basel Program" was established, and the World Zionist Organization was founded, with the supreme authority of a Congress (annual at first, later biennial). At the close of this Congress, Herzl could write in his private diary: "At Basel I founded the Jewish state. If I said this out loud today, I would be greeted by universal laughter. In five years, perhaps, but certainly in fifty, everyone will understand." At the precise end of fifty years, the State of Israel would be born, and the following year Herzl’s remains would enter Palestine amid the veneration of the newborn State of Israel, which would acclaim him "Father of the Nation."
After the Basel Congress, all similar movements converged into the Zionist movement, and numerous organizations and federations were founded everywhere. Herzl encountered no small difficulties, even among wealthy coreligionists from whom he sought financial means, to the extent that, seeing the near impossibility of obtaining Palestine, after other proposals he accepted the offer of the British Colonial Secretary Chamberlain, who proposed Uganda as a temporary refuge for the Jews; but the hostility of many Jews to the project was so vehement that Herzl died of grief on 3 June 1904. From then on, the "Basel Program" for Palestine remained fixed, and in 1907 the Seventh Congress, at the initiative of Chaim Weizmann (future first President of the State of Israel), advocated the "synthetic Zionism," which united Herzl’s political program with immediate practical colonization. With funds provided by wealthy Jewish financiers, such as Baron Edmond de Rothschild, through annual collections organized worldwide, the purchase of land in Palestine began, and the foundation of "colonies" in the most fertile and strategically important areas, in anticipation of the inevitable reaction from the Arabs. Successive waves of immigrants poured into Palestine, especially from Eastern European countries where antisemitic hostility was most violent. At first, colonizing immigration was disorderly and often yielded poor results; no organized plan regulated immigration, and nothing was prepared to receive the newcomers, who had to evade a prohibitive Turkish law (1882), as Turkey was then the ruler of Palestine. The First World War marked a decisive advance for organized Zionism. On 2 November 1917, the British Foreign Secretary, Lord Balfour, declared in a letter to Lionel Rothschild, president of the English Zionist Federation: "His Majesty’s Government view with favour the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people, and will use their best endeavours to facilitate the achievement of this object." This famous "Balfour Declaration" was later incorporated by the League of Nations into the text of the Mandate for Palestine entrusted to Britain (April 1922). But Britain, once the exigencies of war had passed and not wishing to incur the hostility of the Palestinian Arabs, did not hasten to implement the promise, cleverly exploiting the vague and equivocal form of the term "national home." On the other hand, the Jewish people, fortified by the recognized right, began an "invisible conquest" of Palestine, with subsequent immigration supported by various committees and directed by a central organization, the "Jewish Agency," with its two branches: the *Keren Kayemeth LeIsrael* ("Fund for the Redemption of Israel"), which acquired the land, and the *Keren Hayesod* ("Foundation Fund"), which distributed it to their colonies, organized in the form of large cooperatives (*qibbutzim*), very similar to Soviet *kolkhozes*. Thus, in the two decades between the world wars, there were three major waves of immigration (*aliyyot*) that marked the progress of the Zionist movement since 1882; of these, the largest, composed largely of Jews from Germany, was determined by Nazi antisemitism (1934–1939). International difficulties and repeated hostilities with the Arabs in Palestine posed obstacles, but the work was pursued with tenacity. Gradually, most of the productive land in Palestine was acquired, agriculture was modernized, industry was developed, and cities were founded; Tel Aviv, the ghetto of Haifa, became an elegant city in a few years and now, as the capital of the new State of Israel, has about 200,000 inhabitants. In 1943, the Jewish population of Palestine reached 539,000 individuals, 31.5% of the total population, and the properties of the "Jewish Agency" amounted to 1,300 km², i.e., 17% of the territory.
To further foster unity and national spirit, Yiddish was abandoned, defined as a "peddlers’ jargon," and classical Biblical Hebrew was adopted as the national language, for which Eliezer Ben Yehuda of Odessa compiled a 15-volume dictionary, adapting it to modern needs.
Before the extraordinary achievements of the Zionist movement, the Palestinian Arabs began to realize that a Jewish State was not only in the process of formation but already existed on their territory and that they would gradually be overwhelmed by II. Thus began the struggle between the two groups, marked by acts of terrorism, sabotage, and assassination, to which the Jews countered with a small but powerful clandestine army, known as the Haganah, which responded to reprisals and terrorism with the same weapons, while Britain skillfully oscillated between the two factions, though sympathizing with the Arabs. The Second World War (1939–45) marked a pause in the struggle, but it resumed more violently at the end of the conflict, since the British Mandate was due to expire in 1948. Proposals and attempts at reconciliation multiplied; it was suggested that the British Mandate be extended, allowing for the permanent immigration of 100,000 Jews, but the proposal failed due to popular outrage; likewise, the Morrison Plan for an independent state divided into two provinces also failed. Nevertheless, Britain announced that, upon the expiration of the Mandate (15 May 1948), it would relinquish Palestine into the hands of the United Nations.
On 31 August 1947, the UN adopted a plan for the partition of Palestine into two separate states, but the following day open conflict broke out in Jerusalem between Jews and Arabs, and on 15 May 1948, the official war began between Israel and the Arab League (Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, Transjordan, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia) in solidarity with the Palestinian Arabs. Israel, more unified, better armed, and prepared—mobilizing even women and children—gradually gained the upper hand. The brief conflict was characterized by fierce determination and cruelty, acts of terrorism, massacres, and reprisals on both sides.
The UN imposed three truces, which were not respected; indeed, the UN’s own mediator for the truce, the Swedish Count Bernadotte, was assassinated on 6 September 1948 by a group of Jewish terrorists. Finally, on 16 November 1948, the UN ordered the belligerents to conclude an armistice, which Israel in fact negotiated separately with each of the Arab League states the following spring. Israel found itself in control of more than two-thirds of the territory. On 11 May 1949, the UN admitted the State of Israel into its membership.
Having now achieved its original goal, one might say that Zionism, in the strict sense of the term, had fulfilled its purpose, yet the question of Jerusalem remained unresolved, still divided between the two contenders: the New City was in Israeli hands, while the Old City was occupied by the Arabs, who controlled most of the Holy Places with the Arab Legion. Israel demanded Jerusalem as its capital; the Arabs refused to yield; the UN proposed the internationalization of the city, but this proposal has not yet been implemented.
Pope Pius XII, concerned for the fate of the Holy Places, repeatedly urged nations to adopt the solution of internationalizing Jerusalem, as it is a sacred city for a billion people. He clearly expressed his anxiety for the Holy Places in three encyclical letters—1 May 1948, 24 October 1948, and 15 April 1949—and in the Exhortation of 8 November 1949. Although Jews and Arabs have repeatedly assured that they intend to respect the venerable sanctuaries, the profanations, destructions, and threats to which these sites were subjected during and after the conflict demonstrate how justified the Pope’s concerns were.