[zahy-uh-niz-uh
m] 
| a worldwide Jewish movement that resulted in the establishment and development of the state of Israel. |
The belief that Jews should have their own nation; Jewish nationalism. Zionism gained much support among Jews and others in the early twentieth century, and the hoped-for nation was established in the late 1940s in Palestine, as the state of Israel. Zionism is opposed by most Arabs. (See Arab-Israeli conflict.)