ISRAEL IS 70 YEARS

(part 3)

Different forms of Zionism

Disagreements in philosophy has led to rifts in the Zionist movement of the years and as a result a number of separate forms have emerged. The most notable ones, being: Political Zionism, Religious Zionism, Socialist Zionism and Territorial Zionism.

Political Zionism stressed the importance of political action and deemed the attainment of political rights in Palestine a prerequisite for the fulfilment of the Zionist enterprise. This movement is very much linked to Theodore Herzl (part2), who considered the Jewish problem a political one that should be solved bi overt action in the international arena. His main aim was to obtain a charter, recognised by the world most important leaders, who would grant the Jews sovereignty in a Jewish owned territory.

The "Basle Program", drawn up in accordance with these principles, states that Zionism aims to establish "a secure haven, under public law, for the Jewish people in the Land of Israel".

Different organisational and economic mechanisms were established to carry out this program; the Zionist Organisation (ZO), the Jewish National Fund, the Jewish Colonial Trust and so on.

Religious Zionism can be traced to the so called "augurers of Zion", those who predicted and conjecture (Mevasrei Zion, precursors of Hibbat Zion), including Rabbis Yehudah Alkali, Shmuel Mohilever, Zvi Kalischer and Naftali Zvi Yehudah Berlin.

Based on a fusion of Jewish religion and nationhood, it aims to restore not only Jewish political freedom but also Jewish religion in the light of the Torah and its commandments. It was very important to this movement that Judaism based on the commandments is a necessary condition, indispensable and something essential without which was not possible to Jewish national life in the homeland. Religious Zionism has pledged much of its efforts and resources to constructing a national religious education system.

Socialist Zionism or Labour Zionism strove to achieve Jewish national and social redemption by fusing Zionism and Socialism. This movement was promulgated shortly after the "Third Zionist Congress in 1899. Its founder was Nachman Syrkin, who's philosophy was based on the assumption that the problem of "Diaspora Jewry" would remain unsolved even after the Socialist revolution, and that the solution to the anomaly of Jewish existence was the emigration and concentration of Jews in a territorial base. Dov Ber Borochov, a prominent advocate of Socialism Zionism, argued that the development of capitalism would inevitably prompt Jews to immigrate to Palestine, and that only there could the economic structure of the Jewish people be reconstituted as a base for the class struggle of the Jewish proletariat. He asserted that Zionism is a historic-economic necessity for the Jewish people and the historic role of spearheading the Jewish national liberation process is reserved for the Jewish proletariat.

Territorial Zionism preached the formation of a Jewish collective in Palestine, or anywhere else, on the basis of self-rule.

The Territorialist outlook is based on the blend of the debate over the "Uganda Program". In July 1905, after the "Zionist Congress" rejected this plan, the Territorialist Jewish Organisation was established in Basle under the leadership of the writer Israel Zanwill. It attempted to locate territory suitable for Jewish settlement in various parts of Africa, Asia and Australia, but with little success. The "Balfour Declaration" (part 4) and the resulting Zionist awakening negated the movement and led to its dissolution in 1925.

(to be continued...)