thumb|Theodor Herzl, padre del sionismu políticu.
El sionismu ye un movimientu políticu internacional que propunxo dende los sos principios el reestablecimientu d'una patria segura pal pueblu xudíu na Tierra d'Israel («Eretz Israel).http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/657475/Zionism# "An international movement originally for the establishment of a Jewish national or religious community in Palestine and later for the support of modern Israel." ("Zionism," Webster's 11th Collegiate Dictionary). See also "Zionism", Encyclopedia Britannica, which describes it as a "Jewish nationalist movement that has had as its goal the creation and support of a Jewish national state in Palestine, the ancient homeland of the Jews (Hebrew: Eretz Yisra'el, “the Land of Israel”)," and The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition, which defines it as "A Jewish movement that arose in the late 19th century in response to growing anti-Semitism and sought to reestablish a Jewish homeland in Palestine. Modern Zionism is concerníi with the support and development of the state of Israel."http://noticias.r7.com/internacional/ministru-de-netanyahu-pede-votos-pa-qualquer-partíu-sionista-17032015 Dichu movimientu foi'l promotor y responsable en gran midida de la fundación del Estáu d'Israel.
Anque los sos oríxenes son anteriores, el movimientu políticu llaicu actual foi establecíu oficialmente pol periodista austrohúngaru d'orixe xudíu Theodor Herzl a fines del sieglu XIX. El movimientu tien como oxetivu fomentar la migración xudía a la Tierra Prometida y foi esitosu na fundación del Estáu d'Israel en 1948, siendo anguaño l'únicu Estáu xudíu del mundu. El sionismu constitúi una caña del fenómenu más ampliu del nacionalismu moderno.Naciones y nacionalismu dende 1780, Eric Hobsbawm, Crítica, 2004, ISBN 84-8432-135-5, p. 120.A.R. Taylor, Vision and intent in Zionist Thought, en The transformation of Palestine, I. Abu-Lughod (ed.), 1971, ISBN 0-8101-0345-1, p. 10. Descritu como un "nacionalismu na diáspora",Nations and Nationalism, Ernest Gellner, Cornell University Press, 1983, ISBN 0-8014-9263-7, p 107-108. el sionismu se autodefine como un movimientu de lliberación nacional,A national liberation movement: "Zionism is a modern national liberation movement whose roots go far back to Biblical times." (Rockaway, Robert. Zionism: The National Liberation Movement of The Jewish People, World Zionist Organization, January 21, 1975, accessed August 17, 2006). "The aim of Zionism was principally the liberation and self-determination of the Jewish people...", Shlomo Avineri. (Zionism as a Movement of National Liberation, Hagshama department of the World Zionist Organization, December 12, 2003, accessed August 17, 2006). "Political Zionism, the national liberation movement of the Jewish people, remanecéi in the 19th century within the context of the lliberal nationalism then sweeping through Europe." (Neuberger, Binyamin. Zionism - an Introduction, Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs, August 20, 2001, accessed August 17, 2006). "The vicious diatribes on Zionism voiced here by Arab delegates may give this Assembly the wrong impression that while the rest of the world supported the Jewish national liberation movement the Arab world was always hostile to Zionism." (Chaim Herzog, Statement in the General Assembly by Ambassador Herzog on the item "Elimination of all forms of racial discrimination", 10 November 1975., Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs, November 11, 1975, accessed August 17, 2006). Zionism: one of the earliest examples of a national liberation movement, written submission by the World Union for Progressive Judaism to the U.N. Commission on Human Rights, Sixtieth session, Item 5 and 9 of the provisional axenda, January 27, 2004, accessed August 17, 2006. "Zionism is the national liberation movement of the Jewish people and the state of Israel is its political expression." (Avi Shlaim, A alderique : Is Zionism today the real enemy of the Jews?, International Herald Tribune, February 4, 2005, accessed August 17, 2006. "But Zionism is the national liberation movement of the Jewish people." (Philips, Melanie. Zionism today is the real enemy of the Jews': opposed by Melanie Phillips, www.melaniephilips.com, accessed August 17, 2006. "Zionism, the national liberation movement of the Jewish people, brought about the establishment of the State of Israel, and views a Jewish, Zionist, democratic and secure State of Israel to be the expression of the common responsibility of the Jewish people for its continuity and future." (What is Zionism (The Jerusalem Program) , Hadassah, accessed August 17, 2006. "Zionism is the national liberation movement of the Jewish people." (Harris, Rob. Ireland's Zionist slurs like Iran, says Israel, Jewish Telegraph, December 16, 2005, accessed August 17, 2006. que'l so oxetivu ye la Derechu d'autodeterminación llibre autodeterminación del pueblu xudíu.
Terminoloxía El términu sionismu deriva de la pallabra Sion (del , unu de los nomes bíblicos de Xerusalén). Esti nome refierse primeramente al Monte Sion, un monte cerca de Xerusalén, y a la fortaleza de Sion nella. Más tarde, mientres el reináu del Rei David, el términu "Sion" convertir nuna sinécdoque pa referise a tola ciudá de Xerusalén y a la Tierra d'Israel. En munchos versículos bíblicos, los israelites fueron llamaos el pueblu, fíos o fíes de Sion.
"Sionismu" foi acuñáu como términu pol editor austriacu d'orixe xudíu Nathan Birnbaum, fundador del movimientu estudiantil xudíu Kadima, nel so diariu Selbstemanzipation (Autoemancipación) en 1890. Según los historiadores Walter Laqueur, Howard Sachar y Jack Fischel, ente otros, la etiqueta de "sionista" tamién s'usa como un eufemismu pa los xudíos, polo xeneral, por apologistas del antisemitismu.Misuse of the term "Zionism": "... behind the cover of "anti-Zionism" lurks a variety of motives that ought to be called by their true name. When, in the 1950s under Stalin, the Jews of the Soviet Union came under severe attack and scores were executed, it was under the banner of anti-Zionism rather than anti-Semitism, which had been given a bad name by Adolf Hitler. When in later years the policy of Israeli governments was attacked as racist or colonialist in various parts of the world, the basis of the criticism was quite often the belief that Israel had no right to exist in the first place, not opposition to specific policies of the Israeli government. Traditional anti-Semitism has gone out of fashion in the West except on the extreme right. But something we might call post-anti-Semitism has taken its place. It is less violent in its aims, but still very real. By and large it has not been too difficult to differentiate between genuine and bogus anti-Zionism. The test is twofold. It is almost always clear whether the attacks are directed against a specific policy carried out by an Israeli government (for instance, as an occupying power) or against the existence of Israel. Secondly, there is the test of selectivity. If from all the evils besetting the world, the misdeeds, real or imaginary, of Zionism are singled out and given constant and relentless publicity, it can be taken for granted that the true motive is not anti-Zionism but something different and more sweeping." (Laqueur, Walter: Dying for Jerusalem: The Past, Present and Future of the Holiest City (Sourcebooks, Inc., 2006) ISBN 1-4022-0632-1. p. 55) "In late July 1967, Moscow launched an unprecedented propaganda campaign against Zionism as a "world threat." Defeat was attributed not to tiny Israel alone, but to an "all-powerful international force." ... In its flagrant vulgarity, the new propaganda assault soon achieved Nazi-yera characteristics. The Soviet public was saturated with racist canards. Extracts from Trofim Kichko's notorious 1963 volume, Judaism Without Embellishment, were extensively republished in the Soviet media. Yuri Ivanov's Beware: Zionism, a book essentially replicated The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, was given nationwide coverage." (Howard Sachar: A History of the Jews in the Modern World (Knopf, NY. 2005) p.722 See also Rootless cosmopolitan, Doctors' Plot, Zionology, Polish 1968 political crisis
Historia Dende'l sieglu I d. C. los xudíos vivieron nel exiliu, magar hubo una presencia constante de xudíos na Tierra d'Israel («Eretz Israel»). Acordies con el xudaísmu y la Biblia, la Tierra d'Israel o Sion ye la Tierra Prometida por Dios pa los xudíos. Tres la rebelión de Bar Kojba (132–135), los xudíos fueron espulsaos de la Tierra d'Israel formando la Diáspora xudía. Mientres sieglos esistió ente los xudíos de la Diáspora una gran señardá d'orixe relixosu de retornar a la patria histórica del pueblu xudíu –«l'añu próximu, en Xerusalén...»– que, a mediaos del sieglu XIX, empezó a secularizarse al entrar en contautu coles grandes corrientes ideolóxiques europees de la dómina (lliberalismu, socialismu, nacionalismu).
La nacencia del sionismu ta amestáu a la eclosión de los nacionalismos nel sieglu XIX européu, que tuvieron como bandera común la idea «un pueblu, un Estáu» y que ta nel orixe del conceutu d'Estáu-nación. Al calor d'esa idea formáronse distintos Estaos europeos, surdíos del esmembramientu de los imperios o bien al traviés de la unificación d'Estaos con similar cultura y llingua (como Italia y Alemaña). Paralelamente a esi desenvolvimientu nacionalista, travesándolo en munches ocasiones, desenvolvióse'l modernu antisemitismu.
El sionismu sostenía que los xudíos yeren primordialmente un grupu nacional (como los polacos o los alemanes) y non un grupu relixosu (como los musulmanes o los católicos) y que, como tal, tenía derechu a crear el so propiu Estáu nel so territoriu históricu. La formulación clásica de la idea ye la que fizo Theodor Herzl na so opúsculo Der Judenstaat (L'Estáu Xudíu, publicáu en Berlín y Viena en 1896), que tien como precedentes doctrinales la obra de Moses Hess Roma y Xerusalén (1860) y la del médicu xudíu rusu Leo Pinsker Autoemancipación (1882), que contién yá la conseña «Ayudar, que Dios va ayudavos». El sionismu púnxose como oxetivu primariu la creación d'un Estáu xudíu modernu, considerando que con ello devolvía al pueblu xudíu'l so estatus de nación y pondría fin a dos milenios de vida nel exilio. Ante les grandes dificultaes a les que s'enfrentaron los xudíos pa establecese na antigua Tierra d'Israel, embaraxáronse delles alternatives temporales, ensin intención d'establecer un Estáu nacional, solo como abellugo ante la fola de pogromos y persecuciones na Rusia zarista, como l'Arxentina — na que se crearon numberoses colonies d'inmigrantes xudíos europeos—, y entá nuna porción del África Oriental Británica (el conocíu como Plan Uganda), ufiertada pol gobiernu de Londres; éstes fueron estudiaes (el mesmu Herzl estudia na so obra les ventayes comparatives d'Arxentina y Palestina)L'Estáu de los xudíos Cap. II, epígrafe "Palestine of Argentine?" y finalmente refugaes pola dirigencia sionista, y prefirióse l'establecimientu del futuru Estáu en Palestina, una rexón en manes del Imperiu Turcu y que nun se correspondía a nenguna división alministrativa, polo que les sos llendes nun taben establecíos. En paralelu a estes idees, fuéronse produciendo socesives folaes migratories (llamaes Aliyá) de munchos mozos obreros y estudiantes, qu'escapaben na so mayoría del antisemita ambiente ruso y dispuestos a llevantar l'antigua patria xudía basándose en dos exes: el trabayu agrícola y la resurrección de la llingua hebrea, que dexó de falase alredor del sieglu I e.C., anque siguió utilizándose na lliteratura y, sobre manera, na lliturxa y con propósitos académicos.
+ Demografía de PalestinaZionism and the Arabs, 1882-1948: a study of Ideology, Yosef Gorny, Oxford University Press, 1987, ISBN 0-19-822721-3, p. 5.añuxudíosnon xudíos18006700268 000188024 000525 000191587 500590 0001931174 000837 0001947630 0001 310 000