issues in the world are happening every single day. we need to put an end to the hate in this evil cruel world. TW// some resource may be to graphic or descriptive for some viewers.
highest rank: non fiction #57
biography: #47
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About Alma's Guide to the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict
Part of: Alma's Guide to the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict The goal of this guide is to provide an entryway into the Israeli-Palestinian conflict for those who want to be more informed on the topic. Our aim was to make these articles as unbiased and factually-based as possible; our only agenda is to make a complicated issue easier to understand.
That being said, we are a Jewish website, and certain inherent biases may be at play. If you find something you believe to be factually incorrect in this guide or have any other comments (or compliments, we'll take those too), we encourage you to reach out to us at israelguide@heyalma.com.
This guide was a group effort in every sense of the word, created by Team Alma and the larger 70 Faces Media staff. All header illustrations are by Hane Grace Yagel. A special thanks to Emily Burack for her work on this project.
ZIONISM What is Zionism?
Part of: Alma's Guide to the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict Most likely any conversation around the Israeli-Palestinian conflict will include the words Zionism or Zionist. But what do these words actually mean, and how have they changed over time? Let's break it down.
What is Zionism?
The definition of Zionism has evolved over time: There's pre-1948 Zionism and post-1948 Zionism (not to be confused with post-Zionism, another idea altogether).
Post-1948 Zionism — arguably what most people consider the definition of Zionism today — can be simply defined as the belief that the State of Israel has a right to exist, that Jews have the right to self-determination. (This definition is up for debate, though.)
Pre-1948 Zionism is a little bit more complex. To sum, it was the general movement to establish a Jewish state. The modern state of Israel is therefore the culmination of Zionism, the Jewish effort to establish an autonomous state and end the diaspora of the Jewish people. Political Zionism was a product of many trends: the persecution of Jews in Europe and Arab lands; the rise of nationalism around the world; idealistic visions for building a new kind of society; and the conclusion that Jews would only be safe if they controlled their own destinies, to name a few.
Back up: What's the diaspora?
The Jewish diaspora, also called the galut (exile), is the dispersion of Israelites/Jews out of their ancestral homeland. Jews typically trace their status as a nation to the Kingdom of Israel — you know, the land ruled by King Saul, King David, and King Solomon from the Bible — around 900 BCE.
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The historical record shows Jewish kingdoms in various forms in what is present-day Israel from then through the era of Roman rule that began in about 60 BCE.
The Jewish exile is commonly dated from the Roman destruction of the second Temple in 70 C.E. Since the exile, there has been a Jewish longing to return to the "promised" land as God gave to Abraham and his descendants in Genesis 15:18 and Genesis 17:8, and where the Jewish Temples marked the center of Jewish religious and political life.
