I had always thought of Zionism as a quest for a permanent homeland from the moment the Diaspora began. Every ethnic and national group seems to deserve a homeland except for Jews.

One comment specific to what you wrote, though. You said that Palestinians have been in the territory of today's Israel for as long as Jews have. I have never been able to find evidence of this in the history books. There is no mention of Palestinians anywhere, but if you could point me to a couple of university sources that would be helpful.

There is a prayer in the Jewish tradition that commands Jews not to forget Jerusalem as their home. I'm not sure how old that prayer is, but it goes to show how long the longing for a return to their land has been on their minds — this is Zionism and nothing more. The Arab world worked very diligently for decades to defame the very idea of Zionism and equate it with colonialism and aggression. If we look at what's going on on college campuses, they've done a pretty effective job.