Zionism, Jewish nationalist movement that has had as its goal the creation and support of a Jewish national state in the ancient homeland of the Jews (Hebrew: Eretz Yisraʾel, "the Land of Israel”). The vast majority of Jews around the world feel a connection or kinship with Israel, whether or not they explicitly identify as Zionists, and regardless of their opinions on the policies of the Israeli government.

Though Zionism originated in eastern and central Europe in the latter part of the 19th century, it is in many ways a continuation of the ancient attachment of the Jews and of the Jewish religion to the historical region of Palestine, where one of the hills of ancient Jerusalem was called Zion.

The Zionist Movement, the generator of modern Jewish nationalism, emerged in the late nineteenth century in Russia and Eastern Europe. In the 1880s the first national Jewish settlers arrived in Palestine, where they lived under Ottoman rule and established close to 50 villages (moshavot). By the beginning of World War I, around 85,000 Jews lived in Palestine, about two-thirds of them new immigrants.

Towards the end of the war, Palestine was conquered by Britain. Immigration to Palestine continued under the British mandate, though with restrictions and in face of growing Arab rejection, and by the end of World War II the Jewish community (Yishuv) numbered close to half a million. In 1948 the community gained independence and the state of Israel was established. Today the population numbers 9.364 million. It is ethnically, culturally, and nationally heterogeneous. At its inception, Israel was an impoverished agricultural society; today it lags just behind the club of the twenty richest industrialized societies in the world, with a per capita GDP of more than US$17,000, 65% of that of the US. It also belongs to the club of stable parliamentarian democracies.

Zionism is a religious and political effort that brought thousands of Jews from around the world back to their ancient homeland in the Middle East and re-established Israel as the central location for Jewish identity. The Zionist movement has successfully established a Jewish homeland in the nation of Israel. While the fundamental philosophies of the Zionist movement have existed for hundreds of years, modern Zionism formally took root in the late 19th century. Around that time, Jews throughout the world faced growing anti-Semitism.

In 1917, British Foreign Secretary Arthur James Balfour wrote a letter to Baron Rothschild, a wealthy and prominent leader in the British Jewish community. In the brief correspondence, Balfour expressed the British government’s support for the establishment of a Jewish home in Palestine. This letter was published in the press one week later and eventually became known as the "Balfour Declaration.” The text was included in the Mandate for Palestine—a document issued by the League of Nations in 1923 that gave Great Britain the responsibility of establishing a Jewish national homeland in British-controlled Palestine.
Two well-known Zionists, Chaim Weizmann and Nahum Sokolow, played important roles in obtaining the Balfour Declaration.

Zionism and World War II
Many Jews living in Russia and Europe suffered horrific persecution and death during Russian pogroms and under Nazi rule. Most historians estimate that about 6 million Jews were killed in Europe during the Holocaust. In the years before and during World War II, thousands of European Jews fled to Palestine or other regions to escape hostility. After the Holocaust ended, Zionist leaders actively promoted the idea of an independent Jewish nation. With the end of Great Britain’s mandate in Palestine and the British army’s withdrawal, Israel was officially declared an independent state on May 14, 1948.

Jewish Resettlement in Israel
The rise of Zionism led to massive Jewish immigration into Israel. About 35,000 Jews relocated to the area between 1882 and 1903. Another 40,000 made their way to the homeland between 1904 and 1914. Most Jews—about 57 percent of them—lived in Europe in 1939. However, by the end of World War II, only about 35 percent of the Jewish population still resided in European countries. In 1949, more than 249,000 Jewish settlers moved to Israel. This was the largest number of immigrants to arrive in a single year. The Jewish population in Israel increased from about 500,000 in 1945 to 5.6 million in 2010. Today, around 43 percent of the world’s Jews live in Israel.

The Current State of Zionism
Since it started more than 120 years ago, Zionism has evolved, and different ideologies—political, religious and cultural—within the Zionist movement have emerged. Advocates of the Zionist movement see it as an important effort to offer refuge to persecuted minorities and re-establish settlements in Israel.

Streams of Zionism
Within the new emerging Zionist movement there were many different streams competing for the attention of the Jewish public. Each stream contributed its own ideology regarding the future of the Zionist movement, how it should be built, appropriate goals it should set and the order it should attempt to accomplish these goals. The main streams of Zionism are:

Political Zionism - The Zionist movement developed into a politically dynamic force with the meteoric emergence of Theodor Herzl and the convening of the First Zionist Congress in Basel, Switzerland, in 1897. After Herzl’s death, there was no hope for a breakthrough for the Zionist movement until the collapse of the Ottoman Empire, which at that time included Palestine. The leadership of the Zionist movement, therefore, moved from the hands of those who sought a political solution to those who supported a more practical orientation in the form of the steady immigration of Jews to Palestine and the development of the infrastructure for a Jewish homeland.

Spiritual and Cultural Zionism - Spiritual and Cultural Zionism was meant to offer spiritual Jewish values to both the individual Jew in Western Europe who was unable to integrate into the liberal culture of his home country and the East European Jew unable to identify with the nationalist culture of his home country.

Religious Zionism - The roots of Religious Zionism can be traced back to the establishment of the Lovers of Zion. Prominent rabbis recognized the need to take part in the national reawakening process and influence the reconstruction of a new Jewish identity.
Zionism is a big tent movement that includes those across the spectrum from progressives, moderates and conservatives and those who are apolitical. There are also millions of non-Jews who consider themselves Zionists and supporters of the Jewish state, who are motivated by factors including religion, history, security or politics.