Reply #54: Zionism as a modern political movement did develop in the late 1800's

[Douglas Carpenter]

I don't think there is anyone who disputes that. At least I have never heard of anyone disputing that.

Here is a quote form the Jewish Virtual Library -- a VERY pro-Israel and VERY pro-Zionist website/organization:

"Zionism, the national movement for the return of the Jewish people to their homeland and the resumption of Jewish sovereignty in the Land of Israel, advocated, from its inception, tangible as well as spiritual aims. Jews of all persuasions, left and right, religious and secular, joined to form the Zionist movement and worked together toward these goals. Disagreements led to rifts, but ultimately, the common goal of a Jewish state in its ancient homeland was attained. The term "Zionism" was coined in 1890 by Nathan Birnbaum."

link: http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Zionism/zionism.html

and from another very pro-Israeli website:

"Zionism did not spring full blown from a void with the creation of the Zionist movement in 1897. Jews had lived in "Eretz Yisrael (called Palestine by the Romans and Greeks) since about 1200 years B.C.E. The land was at a crossroads of the Middle East and the Mediterranean and was therefore conquered many times: by Egyptians, Hittites, Assyrians, Babylonians, Persians, Seleucid Greeks and Romans, as well as invading Philistines. Of these, only the Jews made the land into their national home. Jewish national culture, fused with religion, centered around the geography, seasons and history of the land and of the Jews in the land. The Jews created the Old Testament Bible- The Tanach, which described their history and the history of the land, and their connection to it. The bible formed the backbone of Jewish culture and later was to form the backbone of Western Christian culture, so that the entire world recognized the connection between the Jews and their land. When the Romans conquered Palestine, and Jews were exiled, the connection to the land was preserved in the Bible, and in prayers that daily called for the rebuilding of Jerusalem, and it was expressed in the writings of medieval poets, "

"Theodor Herzl and the Foundation of the Zionist Movement
The Dreyfus affair, which developed in France beginning in 1893, made Western European Jews conscious of their national identity, and in particular, affected a young Vienna journalist, TTheodor Herzl and his friend Max Nordau. Herzl's pamphlet Der Judenstaat, The Jewish State, was published in 1896. Herzl's plan for creating a Jewish State, arrived at after contemplating other solutions as well, provided the practical program of Zionism, and led to the first Zionist Congress in Basle, Switzerland, in August, 1897 ’”

link - http://www.zionism-israel.com/zionism_history.htm