Today begins the 38th Zionist Congress

The First Zionist Congress was convened by Theodor Herzl in 1897 in Basel, Switzerland, with the participation of some 200 delegates representing 17 countries. Together, the delegates then established the World Zionist Organization & endorsed the Basel Program which called for Zionism to establish a home for the Jewish people to be secured under public law with international recognition in what was then the Ottoman-ruled territory of Palestine.