Zionism (Hebrew: ציונות‎, Tsiyonut) is the international nationalist political movement that originally supported the reestablishment of a homeland for the Jewish people in the Land of Israel (Hebrew: Eretz Yisra’el), the historical homeland of the Jews. Since the establishment of the State of Israel, the Zionist movement continues primarily to support it.

Palestine in British map 1924 the map now in the National Library of Scotland

A map showing the massive destruction of Palestinian villages and cities

The modern state of Israel has its historical and religious roots in the Biblical Land of Israel (Eretz Yisrael), also known as Zion, a concept central to Judaism since ancient times, and the heartland of the ancient kingdoms of Israel and Judah. Following the birth of political Zionism in 1897 and the Balfour Declaration, the League of Nations granted Great Britain the Mandate for Palestine after World War I, with responsibility for establishing “…such political, administrative and economic conditions as will secure the establishment of the Jewish national home, as laid down in the preamble, and the development of self-governing institutions, and also for safeguarding the civil and religious rights of all the inhabitants of Palestine, irrespective of race and religion…”

In November 1947, the United Nations voted in favor of the partition of Palestine, proposing the creation of a Jewish state, an Arab state and a UN-administered Jerusalem. Partition was accepted by Zionist leaders but rejected by Arab leaders leading to the 1947–1948 Civil War in Mandatory Palestine. Israel declared independence on 14 May 1948 and neighboring Arab states attacked the next day. Since then, Israel has fought a series of wars with neighboring Arab states, and in consequence occupies territories beyond those delineated in the 1949 Armistice Agreements.

Jews living in the Diaspora have long aspired to return to Zion and the Land of Israel.That hope and yearning was articulated in the Bible, and is a central theme in the Jewish prayer book. Beginning in the 12th century, Catholic persecution of Jews led to a steady stream leaving Europe to settle in the Holy Land, increasing in numbers after Jews were expelled from Spain in 1492. During the 16th century large communities struck roots in the Four Holy Cities, and in the second half of the 18th century, entire Hasidic communities from eastern Europe settled in the Holy Land.

The first large wave of modern immigration, known as the First Aliyah (Hebrew: עלייה), began in 1881, as Jews fled pogroms in Eastern Europe.^[42] While the Zionist movement already existed in theory, Theodor Herzl is credited with founding political Zionism, a movement which sought to establish a Jewish state in the Land of Israel, by elevating the Jewish Question to the international plane. In 1896, Herzl published Der Judenstaat (The State of the Jews), offering his vision of a future state; the following year he presided over the first World Zionist Congress.

The Second Aliyah (1904–1914), began after the Kishinev pogrom. Some 40,000 Jews settled in Palestine but nearly half of them left. Both the first and second waves of migrants were mainly Orthodox Jews, but those in the Second Aliyah included socialist pioneers who established the kibbutz movement. During World War I, British Foreign Secretary Arthur Balfour issued what became known as the Balfour Declaration, which “view[ed] with favour the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people”. At the request of Edwin Samuel Montagu and Lord Curzon, a line was also inserted stating “it being clearly understood that nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine, or the rights and political status enjoyed by Jews in any other country”.

The Jewish Legion, a group of battalions composed primarily of Zionist volunteers, assisted in the British conquest of Palestine. Arab opposition to the plan led to the 1920 Palestine riots and the formation of the Jewish organization known as the Haganah (meaning “The Defense” in Hebrew), from which the Irgun and Lehi split off. In 1922, the League of Nations granted the United Kingdom a mandate over Palestine under terms similar to the Balfour Declaration. The population of the area at this time was predominantly Muslim Arab, while the largest urban area in the region, Jerusalem, was predominantly Jewish.

The Third (1919–1923) and Fourth Aliyah (1924–1929) brought 100,000 Jews to Palestine.

The rise of Nazism in the 1930s led to the Fifth Aliyah, with an influx of a quarter of a million Jews. This caused the Arab revolt of 1936–1939 and led the British to cap immigration with the White Paper of 1939. With countries around the world turning away Jewish refugees fleeing the Holocaust, a clandestine movement known as Aliyah Bet was organized to bring Jews to Palestine.By the end of World War II, Jews accounted for 33% of the population of Palestine, up from 11% in 1922.

In 1967, as a result of the Six-Day War, Israel gained control of the West Bank, East Jerusalem, the Gaza strip and the Golan Heights. Israel also took control of the Sinai Peninsula, but returned it to Egypt as part of the 1979 Israel-Egypt Peace Treaty.

Following Israel’s capture of these territories, settlements consisting of Israeli citizens were established within each of them. Israel has applied civilian law to the Golan Heights and East Jerusalem, incorporating them into its territory and offering their inhabitants permanent residency status and the possibility to become full citizen if they asked it. In contrast, the West Bank has remained under military occupation, and it and the Gaza Strip are seen by the Palestinians and most of the international community as the site of a future Palestinian state. The UN Security Council has declared the incorporations of the Golan Heights and East Jerusalem to be “null and void” and continues to view the territories as occupied.

The status of East Jerusalem in any future peace settlement has at times been a difficult hurdle in negotiations between Israeli governments and representatives of the Palestinians. Most negotiations relating to the territories have been on the basis of United Nations Security Council Resolution 242, which calls on Israel to withdraw from occupied territories in return for normalization of relations with Arab states, a principle known as “Land for peace”.

The West Bank was annexed by Jordan in 1948, following the Arab rejection of the UN decision to create two states in Palestine. Only Britain recognized this annexation and Jordan has since ceded its claim to the territory to the PLO. The West Bank was occupied by Israel in 1967. The population are mainly Arab Palestinians, including refugees of the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. From their occupation in 1967 until 1993, the Palestinians living in these territories were under Israeli military administration. Since the Israel-PLO letters of recognition, most of the Palestinian population and cities have been under the internal jurisdiction of the Palestinian Authority, and only partial Israeli military control, although Israel has on several occasions redeployed its troops and reinstated full military administration during periods of unrest. In response to increasing attacks as part of the Second Intifada, the Israeli government started to construct the Israeli West Bank barrier, which is partially built within the West Bank.

The Gaza strip was occupied by Egypt from 1948 to 1967 and then by Israel from 1967 to 2005. In 2005, as part of Israel’s unilateral disengagement plan, Israel removed all of its residents and forces from the territory. However, Israel still controls Gaza’s airspace and sea access and has on occasion sent troops into the area.

Night time stealth Israeli strike on Gaza

If it was to take someone’s land taking based on similar claims, hypothetically speaking for example, England and Italy would be close to half the world now. In my region, Czech would become ruled by the initial minority of half Germany/half Austria, and we would more than likely become the minority under this now-fought, granted foreign rule.

Israeli strike on Gaza

As with Palestinians, ordered to become a rightless, voiceless minority (if lucky) in a land they once lived in.

Israeli strike on Gaza

I have nothing , absolutely nothing against Jewish people, but I do have as much against the Jewish religion as I have against any other religion, and the ‘conflicts’ between Ashkenazi and Sephardim.

Aftermatch of an Israeli strike in Gaza

Strike in Dresden, Germany, during World War II

As I also have something against the policies of the Israeli state, and from what I have been seeing over the years, its fascist behavior and doings, with reminds me much to what the Jewish themselves suffered during both World Wars, including, among other worse atrocities, their own version of the “Berlin” wall – the Israeli West Bank barrier and the Israeli Gaza strip barrier; just this time, the state minority are not the Jewish population in Europe, but the Arab population in the Middle East.

Almost a third of the 689 Palestinians killed in the beginning of Israel's Gaza offensive are children, with most killed since the start of a ground offensive after a week of aerial bombardment in January, 2009

While at the same time, films are made and released every year condemning so hard and in memory to what the Nazis did to themselves, in a similar fashion, not too long ago.

Gaza Strip Barrier near the Karni Crossing

I am not trying to defend the Muslims in any way, the Islam is a menace as much as it is every other religion, but the occupation is hypocritical, as in Israel factually breaching agreements, ignoring appeals from the international community in a baseless, unfounded and criminal “all or nothing” attitude, while apparently doing nothing on trying to develop and reach a proper and definite approach for lasting peace, not only for themselves, but also to the nations the Islam threatens Jihad against, fuelled by this ongoing conflict.

Part of the West Bank barrier between Abu Dis and Jerusalem, June 2004

The former Berlin Wall. The Berlin Wall came to symbolise what the Cold War was really about.  Hundreds died in an attempt to cross that desolate stretch, gunned down by the guards.