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Zionism: Practical Zionism

Practical Zionism emphasized practical means of attaining Zionist goals, such as aliyah (immigration), rural settlement and educational institutions, despite inadequate political conditions. This approach originated in the Hibbat Zion movement in the 1880s, well before Political Zionism. After Theodor Herzl's death (1904), as hopes of obtaining a charter in Palestine were dashed, and after the Uganda Program controversy (1905), Practical Zionism, calling for the intensification of rural settlement in Palestine, gained strength. The champions of this doctrine were the members of the Second Aliyah, who settled in Palestine at this time. They founded rural settlements, some along cooperative principles; built modern towns; and established the first industrial enterprises. The 1907 decision to establish the Palestine office of the Zionist movement in Jaffa, headed by Dr. Arthur Ruppin, further reinforced this approach.