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The Importance Of Zionism In Palestine

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The major reason why Zionists prevailed over Palestinians in the struggle to control Palestine was due to the continued immigration of Jews into Palestine, strong Zionist organizations as well as support from the international community, primarily Great Britain and the United States. These factors led to the creation of a Jewish state. A major movement for Zionism began in 1896 when Theodor Herzl called for the creation of a Jewish state in his book Der Judenstaat (p. 30). The World Zionist Organization, with Herzl being its first president, was founded in 1897 (p. 31). Furthermore, he lobbied for their own bank, which was established in 1901 as the Jewish National Fund. Its mission was to buy and develop land for Jewish settlements in Palestine (p. 32). Having such organizations that looked out for the interests of Zionists and calling for creation of a Jewish state was critical to Zionism gaining more momentum. By 1914, thousands of Jews had already migrated to Palestine and made up about 14 percent of the population (p. 25).
In 1917, the British Government increased their support for Zionism in order to persuade the Russians and Americans to support Great Britain during World War I (p. 62). Additionally, lobbying of Zionists, such as Chaim Weizmann, made a profound impact on the British supporting Zionism as well. He convinced Great Britain that it was in their best interest to control Palestine. The result of that lobbying resulted in the creation of the

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