<P> Theodor Herzl (1896). A Jewish State . Wikisource . (scan) </P> <P> The first wave of modern Jewish migration to Ottoman - ruled Palestine, known as the First Aliyah, began in 1881, as Jews fled pogroms in Eastern Europe . Although the Zionist movement already existed in practice, Austro - Hungarian journalist Theodor Herzl is credited with founding political Zionism, a movement which sought to establish a Jewish state in the Land of Israel, thus offering a solution to the so - called Jewish question of the European states, in conformity with the goals and achievements of other national projects of the time . In 1896, Herzl published Der Judenstaat (The Jewish State), offering his vision of a future Jewish state; the following year he presided over the First Zionist Congress . </P> <P> The Second Aliyah (1904--14), began after the Kishinev pogrom; some 40,000 Jews settled in Palestine, although nearly half of them left eventually . Both the first and second waves of migrants were mainly Orthodox Jews, although the Second Aliyah included socialist groups who established the kibbutz movement . During World War I, British Foreign Secretary Arthur Balfour sent the Balfour Declaration of 1917 to Baron Rothschild (Walter Rothschild, 2nd Baron Rothschild), a leader of the British Jewish community, that stated that Britain intended for the creation of a Jewish "national home" within the Palestinian Mandate . </P> <P> In 1918, the Jewish Legion, a group primarily of Zionist volunteers, assisted in the British conquest of Palestine . Arab opposition to British rule and Jewish immigration led to the 1920 Palestine riots and the formation of a Jewish militia known as the Haganah (meaning "The Defense" in Hebrew), from which the Irgun and Lehi, or the Stern Gang, paramilitary groups later split off . In 1922, the League of Nations granted Britain a mandate over Palestine under terms which included the Balfour Declaration with its promise to the Jews, and with similar provisions regarding the Arab Palestinians . The population of the area at this time was predominantly Arab and Muslim, with Jews accounting for about 11%, and Arab Christians at about 9.5% of the population . </P>

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