Jews living in Europe suffered for many years from varying degrees of anti-Semitism, and many had longed to return to the biblical land of Israel. But not until Theodor Herzl (pictured at left) published his pamphlet Der Judenstaat, or "The Jewish State," did Jews in Europe begin to formulate a political solution to anti-Semitism. Zionism emerged as the political movement to create a Jewish state. Herzl brought his followers together in the first Zionist Congress in Switzerland, in 1897, to formulate the movement's goals and strategies. Herzl had little interest in the Arabs who lived in Palestine, which was then part of the Ottoman Empire.In 1917, 20 years after the first Zionist Congress, Great Britain declared itself in favor of establishing a Jewish homeland in Palestine. (Arthur James Balfour, author of the declaration, is pictured at left.) Britain gained control of Palestine at the end of World War I, and in 1922, the League of Nations gave a mandate to Britain to rule Palestine, envisioning that the territory would eventually be granted independence. Britain attempted to bridge the political interests of both the Zionist settlers and the indigenous Palestinian Arabs, but violence broke out between the two communities almost from the start. It culminated in the Arab revolt of 1936, which left hundreds of Arabs and Jews dead. Britain proposed partitioning Palestine, an idea the Palestinians rejected and for which the Zionists had little enthusiasm. When World War II broke out, Great Britain was ready to leave Palestine.