Understanding the evolution of Jewish and Arab, through a socio-political nationalism, allows for a more thoughtful understanding. This essay shall argue that Zionism was, to a slight extent, a response to the failure of assimilation, but especially due to the Haskalah, or Jewish Enlightenment, whose …show more content…
Zionism was a response to this oppression of assimilation, it sought to cultivate harmony and unity within the Jewish nation. Zionism was a self-conscious psycho-political effect of the failure of assimilation, and looked to the Jewish state to provide a remedy.
The genesis of Zionism was in large part caused by the great rise of anti-Semitism, especially the events of 1881-84 in Russia, following the death of Tsar Alexander II. This created and fueled the movement in its formative years. Russia was engulfed by 215 pogroms, which destroyed nearly $80 million worth of Jewish property6. Newspapers and literature cultivated the stereotype of the “sly Jew” and Herzl highlights the encounters of anti-Semitism, such as abusive language, that were more dangerous than political …show more content…
The Tanzimat Reforms gathered policies of Turkification, where Arabs began demanding equality, however, it also allowed for the intellectual and physical development of Arabs; some of whom began to become more politically active and could serve in the army. The strength of the Ottoman Empire forced ideas of territorial and ethnic loyalty to the head, but it also encouraged the growth of Arab nationalism, by highlighting the corruption of Turkish rulers. Arabs began to seek a return to the “purity of Islam,” thus moving the center from the Turks, to the Arabs, so therefore the caliph should be Arab. This only became more necessary with the victory of the Committee of Union and Progress in 1913, where the Arabs were cut loose, driving many Arab nationalism, which sought to reform Islam. And, doing so would move away from the Turks, and enforce the need for an Arab