By Richard S. Dunn October 23, 2023  READ

The genesis of the current Israeli/Palestine conflict began in 1897 when the First Zionist Congress was held in Switzerland, establishing the World Zionist Movement.

The Jews strove for their own homeland after suffering systemic anti-semitism and pogroms in Europe. The Zionists initially considered countries like Cyprus, Argentina, Uganda, and the State of Texas in the United States. However they ultimately decided on Palestine, the historic homeland of the Jews where Arabs had been living for thousands of years and now owned close to 100 percent of the land. Liberal Zionists like Achad Ha’am wanted to coexist with the Arabs but a more violent element of the Zionist settlers wanted to displace them.