JOHN WAAGE: In 1897, Jewish leaders from around the world

gathered in Basel, Switzerland to discuss

the idea of a Jewish state.

They were trying to combine the practical with the ideal.

The ideal was to establish a Jewish state.

But there were already practical steps on the ground.

JOHN WAAGE: Historian Michael Widlanski

says Jewish pioneers were already here,

trying to farm the barren land.

MICHAEL WIDLANSKI: Theodor Herzl said, we need a state.

And he predicted that in 50 years from 1897,

there would be a Jewish state.

And sure enough, there was.

Herzl died in 1904 and didn't live

to see his dream fulfilled.

But in 1949, the father of modern Zionism

was reburied here in this Jerusalem cemetery

that was named for him.

His grave lies next to some of Israel's greatest

military leaders and statesmen.

Herzl, a Viennese journalist, initially

believed the Jewish people should

assimilate into the Christian world to be accepted.

That changed after he witnessed rampant anti-Semitism

in France.

Herzl then wrote about the idea of a Jewish state.

On August 29, 1897, he opened the first Zionist Congress,

declaring they were laying the foundation

stone of the house that would shelter the Jewish people.

MICHAEL WIDLANSKI: When Congress wanted to set up an idea--

a program, they called it the Basel program.

It was a very starry eyed program

but with its feet on the ground.

JOHN WAAGE: According to Widlanski,

the initial goal was the organization

of various Jewish groups worldwide.

MICHAEL WIDLANSKI: They wanted to get them together

on the same page, organize financing, organize transport,

continuing organization for bringing people

from many, many countries, different languages,

into this faraway country that was mostly desert.

And again, they succeeded.

JOHN WAAGE: He said the name Zion pointed to the importance

God himself put on this place.

It comes from the Hebrew term "Tsiyyon."

Tsiyyon literally means, "the place that God made his mark."

He signified it.

God says, "and I will take you to the place

that I will designate, that I will have marked,

which I will have chosen."

That is Zion.

That is God's place on Earth, where

He chooses to be recognized.

Of course, he's everywhere.

But He wants you to know that He's

got his feet, as it were, on the ground in Jerusalem,

on the temple mount.

And in just 50 years, despite Russian persecution, two world

wars, and the Holocaust, Israel was reborn.

John Waage, CBN News, Jerusalem.