Theodor Herzl: “A Solution to the Jewish Question”

Impact

Herzl's article had an enormous impact. It planted the seed of the idea for a Jewish homeland among like-minded Zionists and other Jews and in the minds of others as well. If nothing else, he outlined a plan and its necessity. For Herzl, the article helped propel him to the forefront of the Zionist movement. He transformed from a bystander to one of the leaders of Zionism. His influence and charisma became most evident with his success in organizing the First World Zionist Congress in 1897 and his subsequent election as president of the organization.

Although Herzl failed to establish an independent state, in part because of his own lack of tact when dealing with world leaders, he laid the foundation for the future establishment of a homeland in Palestine. Such a homeland was impossible during his lifetime simply because of the existence of the Ottoman Empire. His British friends could exert only so much pressure and influence on the Ottomans, who were concerned with not only waves of immigrants but also the increasing European influence within the empire—influence that undermined Ottoman authority within their own territories. Not until World War I did the opportunity manifest itself: Herzl's seed, first planted in the “The Solution to the Jewish Question,” ultimately matured into a possibility through the 1917 Balfour Declaration, in which Britain offered supported for a Jewish state in Palestine.

After World War I, Great Britain and France partitioned the Ottoman Empire, with Syria and Lebanon becoming a French Mandate and Palestine becoming a British Mandate. The intent of the League of Nations, the predecessor of the United Nations, was that Britain and France would develop their mandates so that they would eventually emerge as fully functioning independent states. Well-organized and well-funded Jewish immigration to Palestine, arranged by the Jewish Agency—a part of the World Zionist Organization—increased. The British government generally cooperated with the Jewish Agency in its efforts, although military commanders on the ground often opposed the agency and its work, for they saw the brewing hostility between Jews and Arabs. Eventually violence occurred, giving rise to the Haganah, a Jewish defense force. Also coming to the fore were Jewish terrorist groups such as the Irgun, which sought not only to create a Jewish homeland but also to drive the British out of Palestine.

The Arabs, much to their detriment, were less well organized or funded. With the rise of Adolf Hitler in Nazi Germany, Jewish immigration increased. Although the British government attempted to limit it, sympathy for the Jewish plight made it impossible for the government to enact limits to immigration, leading to an Arab rebellion against the British. During World War II many Jews living in Palestine joined the British army to fight the Nazis, thus receiving valuable military training. After World War II, tensions between Jewish settlers, Arabs, and the British only heightened. With stunning revelations about the Holocaust, international pressure, led by the United States, for a Jewish homeland increased. In 1947 the United Nations approved a partition of Palestine into Jewish and Arab areas, and on May 14, 1948, Israel claimed its independence.