Zionism

Zionism is 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. Having created this state, national aspirations conflict with those of the surrounding Arab countries and the Palestinian Arabs who live either within Israel or exiled elsewhere. The conflict is originally based on territorial dispute but has become divided on religious and ideological grounds: in the first instance Judaism against Islam (including all Muslims, not just Arabs), and in the second, capitalism versus communism, because of the very close affiliations of the USA with Israel and the sympathy of western Europe for the Jewish national state.

Sympathy for Zionism may exist among Jewish communities worldwide, but the embodiment of the idea lies solely within the Jewish state. Armed conflict between the Arab countries and Israel has existed since 1967, with support from the USA to Israel and from the USSR to the Arab countries. American citizens may take Israeli citizenship and fight in the Israeli army without giving up their American nationality – a provision which applies to no other country.