[News Terms] 'Sionism' Highlighted by the Israel-Palestine War

'Zionism' refers to the Jewish nationalist movement aimed at establishing a Jewish nation-state in their ancestral homeland, Palestine. 'Zion' is the name of a hill in the city of Jerusalem and is a term that means Jerusalem or the "land of the Israelites."

In AD 66, the Jews under Roman rule rebelled. Four years later, in AD 70, about 1,000 rebel fighters who resisted until the end committed suicide, and the Temple in Jerusalem, which had been the focal point of Jewish religious life since the time of King Solomon, was destroyed by the Roman army. Thus, the Kingdom of Israel (Kingdom of Judah), which had flourished under David and Solomon and had maintained its dynasty for 344 years, disappeared into history, and the Israelites (Jews) were scattered far and wide.

On the 17th (local time), when an Israeli airstrike occurred, a woman was sitting on the ground crying in the Rafah refugee camp in the Gaza Strip.
[Photo by Rafah AFP/ Yonhap News]

Since then, the Jewish people have persistently pursued Zionism, the desire to establish a state in the land of Israel, Zion, and from the late 19th century, Zionism began to show results. When British Foreign Secretary Balfour supported the establishment of Israel, Jews began to infiltrate Palestine, which was under British mandate after World War I.

Since the 7th century, Palestine had been the residence of the Islamic empire (Arabs) ruled by the four orthodox caliphs who succeeded the Prophet Muhammad. As Jews gathered in Palestine, Arabs and Jews came into conflict. After World War II, Jews who survived the Nazi Holocaust felt the necessity of Zionism, and many Jews flocked to Palestine.

Amid ongoing clashes between the Palestinian armed faction Hamas and Israel, on the 16th (local time), a man carrying a child is passing through the rubble of a building collapsed due to an Israeli airstrike in Khan Yunis, Gaza Strip.
Photo by Khan Yunis Xinhua/ Yonhap News

As the conflict between Arabs and Jews in Palestine worsened, Britain, which was administering the mandate, passed the issue to the United Nations. The United States, seeking to expand its influence in the Middle East, submitted the "Partition Plan for Palestine" to the UN, which proposed dividing Palestine into an Arab state (with 725,000 Arabs and 10,000 Jews) and a Jewish state (with 498,000 Jews and 49,000 Arabs), with Jerusalem placed under international administration. In 1947, the UN General Assembly approved this plan. While the Israelis supported the partition, the Arabs rejected it, and tensions escalated.

In 1948, after the British mandate ended and British troops withdrew, the Jews established the Republic of Israel. Zionism had finally borne fruit. However, five Arab countries?Egypt, Jordan, Iraq, Lebanon, and Syria?that did not recognize this attacked Israel, starting the First Arab-Israeli War. This war ended with Israel's victory, supported by aid from the United States.

The victorious Israel looted Arab cities and villages. One million Arabs living in Palestine were expelled from their homeland where they had lived for 1,300 years and became refugees in neighboring countries, while Jews living in surrounding countries were expelled in return. Subsequently, Israel, Palestine, and neighboring Arab countries continued to engage in bloodstained wars through four more Middle East wars and numerous local conflicts. Ultimately, the Zionism of the Israelis, who sought to rebuild a destroyed nation, can be said to be the cause of today's Palestinian tragedy.

Palestinian supporters are protesting in front of the Israeli Embassy in Washington DC, USA, on the 18th (local time).
[Photo by AFP Washington/ Yonhap News]

On the 18th (local time), major U.S. media outlets such as NBC News and ABC News reported that about 300 people were arrested during protests by Jewish left-wing groups opposing Zionism near the U.S. federal congressional office building, supporting Palestine and calling for a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.

The group leading the protest, called "Jewish Voice for Peace," described itself as "the largest progressive Jewish anti-Zionist organization in the world." On the day President Joe Biden was visiting Israel, hundreds of protesters led by 25 rabbis (Jewish law scholars) from this group gathered on the grounds of the U.S. Congress wearing black T-shirts with slogans such as "Jews Say Ceasefire Now" and "Not In My Name." Their stance is opposite to that of the Biden administration, which fully supports Israel.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.