History of Zionism (1948–present)

As an organised nationalist movement, Zionism is generally considered to have been founded by Theodor Herzl in 1897. Herzl sought an independent Jewish state (usually defined as a secular state with a Jewish-majority population, in contrast to a theocratic Halakhic state), as expressed in his 1896 pamphlet . Though he did not live to witness it, his vision was fulfilled with the founding of the State of Israel in 1948.

The Zionist movement continues to exist in the form of various organisations working to support Israel, combat antisemitism, assist persecuted Jews, and encourage diaspora Jews to move to Israel. Most Israeli political parties continue to define themselves as Zionist.

Background

As an organised nationalist movement, Zionism is generally considered to have been founded by Theodor Herzl in 1897. Herzl sought an independent Jewish state (usually defined as a secular state with a Jewish-majority population, in contrast to a theocratic Halakhic state), as expressed in his 1896 pamphlet .

Ben-Gurion declared the establishment of the state of Israel in 1948. The Declaration of Independence of Israel described a democracy with equality of social and political rights for all citizens, and extended a peace offering to neighbouring states and their Arab citizens. As a result, many Zionist institutions became government institutions, and the four Zionist militias—Haganah, Palmach, Irgun, and Lehi—were combined to form the Israel Defense Forces. Ben White noted that the declaration states equality on the basis of citizenship but not nationality.

With the declaration and the entry of Arab regular armies the following day, the civil war in Mandatory Palestine became a war of separate states. Ben-Gurion referred to this war as the "war of sovereignty", while the newly established Israel Defense Forces referred to it as the "war of liberation".: "Ben-Gurion called it "Milkhemet Hakommemiut," a phrase that literally translates as "the War of Sovereignty" but whose actual meaning is somewhat vague and difficult to render. The closest phrase in English is "the War of Independence," which expresses the most important change that resulted from it—the achievement of Jewish sovereignty. The fighters of the Palmach—the precursor and spearhead of the new Israeli army—called it "the War of Liberation," as if it were another anticolonial war leading to liberation from the yoke of a foreign ruler, in this case the British. However, the war was not waged against the British, but against the Arabs." In 1949, the Green Line borders of Israel were set in a series of armistice agreements with the countries that made up the Arab League. The demarcations set out in these armistices saw Israel taking control of 78% of Mandatory Palestine, instead of the 55% outlined in the 1947 UN partition plan. The war, remembered by Palestinians as the Nakba, resulted in the expulsion and flight of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians, the depopulation of towns and villages, and destruction of much of Palestinian society and the Arab landscape.: "The 'War of Liberation', which led to the creation of the State of Israel on 78 per cent of historic Palestine (not the 55 per cent according to the UN partition resolution), resulted not in 'equality for all citizens' 'as taught by the Hebrew prophets' but in the destruction of much of Palestinian society, and much of the Arab landscape, in the name of the Bible, by the Zionist Yishuv, a European settler community that emigrated to Palestine in the period between 1882 and 1948." This war, led by the Zionist Yishuv, was framed by its leaders in biblical and messianic terms as a "miraculous clearing of the land", akin to the biblical War of Joshua. Nur Masalha writes that it is not clear who the Yishuv was declaring independence from, as it was neither from the British colonial rule, which facilitated Jewish settlement against Palestinian wishes, nor from the land's indigenous inhabitants, who had long cultivated and owned it. By the end of the war, 700-800,000 Palestinians – about half of Mandatory Palestine's predominantly Arab population – were displaced in total, and hundreds of villages were destroyed. The 1948 Palestinian expulsion and flight is known in the Palestinian historiography as the Nakba ("the catastrophe").

After the 1949 Armistice Agreements, a series of laws passed by the first Israeli government prevented displaced Palestinians from claiming private property or returning on the state's territories. They and many of their descendants remain refugees supported by UNRWA.Kodmani-Darwish, p. 126Féron, Féron, p. 94.

Zionist politics in the new state

A 120-seat parliament, the Knesset, met first in Tel Aviv, then moved to Jerusalem after the 1949 ceasefire. In January 1949, Israel held its first elections. The Socialist-Zionist parties Mapai and Mapam won the most seats (46 and 19 respectively). Mapai's leader David Ben-Gurion was appointed prime minister, and formed a coalition that did not include Mapam, who were Stalinist and loyal to the USSR (another Stalinist party, non-Zionist Maki won 4 seats). This was a significant decision because it signaled that Israel would not be in the Soviet bloc. The Knesset elected Chaim Weizmann as the first (largely ceremonial) president of Israel. Hebrew and Arabic were made the official languages of the new state. All governments have been coalitions—no party has ever won a majority in the Knesset. From 1948 until 1977 all governments were led by Mapai and the Alignment, predecessors of the Labour Party. In those years Labour Zionists, initially led by David Ben-Gurion, dominated Israeli politics and the economy was run on primarily socialist lines.

After the founding of the State of Israel, the Zionist Organization of America (ZOA) helped mobilised political support in the United States for Israel, with large scale funding and pressure on Washington and on public opinion. Emanuel Neumann and Abba Hillel Silver were two leaders of the Zionist Organization of America. They felt its massive funding legitimised taking a major role in shaping Israeli government policy and Israeli society, a minority position among members of the ZOA. They opposed the social and economic policies of Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion and his Mapai (Labour) Party, according to historian Zohar Segev. Their interventions were rejected and Israeli politicians agreed that American Zionists had a major role in funding but not in policy guidance.

In 1950 the Knesset passed the Law of Return, which granted to all Jews and those of Jewish ancestry (Jewish grandparent), and their spouses, the right to settle in Israel and gain citizenship.

Most liberal Zionists were highly supportive of this new Jewish state, which they believed was a guarantee for liberal values by fulfilling Jewish self-determination. Some, like Judah Leon Magnes and Martin Buber were critical of the methods used, including the expulsions of Palestinians, but accepted the Jewish state as a practical reality on the ground. Chaim Weizmann and Pinchas Rosen were both signatories of the Israeli Declaration of Independence, which proclaimed Israel to be a "Jewish and democratic state."

Liberal Zionists were split between the General Zionists, who opposed David Ben-Gurion's government, and Pinchas Rosen's new Progressive Party who supported it. Rosen was Israel's first Minister of Justice and repeatedly pushed for an Israeli constitution to no avail. At the same time, Chaim Weizmann, a stalwart member of the General Zionists, also served as the first President of Israel from independence in 1948 until his death in 1952.

During this time period, the Progressive Party still represented the Yekke German Jews who were part of the Fifth Aliyah while the General Zionists still tended to represent the middle class. In 1961, Rosen and Peretz Bernstein, leader of the General Zionists and another signatory of the Israeli Declaration of Independence, united their two parties to form the Israeli Liberal Party. However, by 1964, the right-leaning faction of the party was becoming dominant, seeking an alliance with the ardently right-wing Herut.

In 1956, Mizrachi, HaPoel HaMizrachi, and other religious Zionists formed the National Religious Party. The Irgun wing of the Revisionist Party formed Herut. In 1965, right-leaning liberal Zionists from the Liberal Party and revisionist Zionists from Herut formed a new party called Gahal, leaving Rosen dismayed and causing him to break away to form a new party, the Independent Liberals. In 1973 the new Likud Party was formed by a group of parties which were dominated by the Revisionist Herut/Gahal.

Middle eastern and north African exodus

Between 1948 and 1951, 250,000 Jews immigrated to Israel from Arab countries. This included 49,000 Yemenite Jews as part of Operation Magic Carpet between 16 December 1948 and 24 September 1950 In response, the Israeli government implemented policies to accommodate 600,000 immigrants over four years, doubling the country's Jewish population.: "After independence, the government presented the Knesset with a plan to double the Jewish population within four years. This meant bringing in 600,000 immigrants in a four-year period, or 150,000 per year. Absorbing 150,000 newcomers annually under the trying conditions facing the new state was a heavy burden indeed. Opponents in the Jewish Agency and the government of mass immigration argued that there was no justification for organizing large-scale emigration among Jews whose lives were not in danger, particularly when the desire and motivation were not their own." Reactions in the Knesset were mixed; in addition to some Israeli officials, there were those within the Jewish Agency who opposed promoting a large-scale emigration movement among Jews whose lives were not in immediate danger.

Iraq

Initially Iraq had banned its Jewish population from emigrating to Israel, but later reversed this decision in 1951. Between 1951 and 1952, the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee and Israel conducted Operation Ezra and Nehemiah between 120,000 and 130,000 Iraqi Jews airlifted to Israel.

Morocco

Morocco, like Iraq, also instituted a ban on migration to the newly established State of Israel, and sought to distinguish between Zionism and their local Jewish communities, but Zionist organisations continued to work clandestinely under the organisation with the support of Mossad to facilitate immigration to Israel. Subsequently agents from Mossad in discussions with representatives of Hassan II of Morocco, agreed to facilitate a large public migration operation called Operation Yachin, which ran from 1961 to 1964. During the operation, 17.9% of the Jewish population of Tangier, 77.2% from Marrakesh, and 54.5% from Casablanca were migrated to Israel, with the operation in total facilitating the migration of 97,000 Jews from Morocco.

By 1972, 600,000 Jews from Arab and Muslim countries had relocated to Israel.

The World Zionist Organization and immigration policy