Zionism
Political Zionism wanted to work with the established powers to get a publicly recognized and legally assured homeland. Palestine at the time was under the control of the Ottoman Empire, but Herzl's attempts to get support from the Ottomans failed, and he had to appeal to the imperial powers of Europe. Herzl negotiated with British and Russian officials to use their influence to get official support for a Jewish homeland in Palestine, but this failed as well. In 1903 the British offered Herzl a Jewish homeland in Uganda instead, but this was eventually rejected by the Zionist congress. Only during World War I did the Zionist movement get the great power support they had been seeking. In 1917 the British signed the Balfour Declaration, wherein they declared that they "favour the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people". Part of the British motivation in signing was getting support of Jews in Russia and the U.S.A. for the allied cause. After the war, the British Empire took control of Palestine and administered it as their own colony, the Mandate of Palestine. During this time the cooperation between the Zionist movement and the British continued, though there were still tensions. The alliance would fall apart just before World War II.