The visionary Austrian-Jewish journalist, Theodore Herzl, clarified and gave political weight to the concept of Jewish nationalism - or Zionism - and a national home for the Jews in Palestine at the first Zionist Congress at Basle, in Switzerland, in 1897.

BBC: The return of the Jews to the promised land

Organizations such as the Zionist Organization of America have been very helpful in keeping Congress informed about compliance issues in the Oslo process.

CENTERFORSECURITYPOLICY: 11 March 1998

Bronfman's personal journey began in 1981, when Nahum Goldmann, a Zionist leader whom Bronfman saw as a benign father figure, asked him to rescue the debt-ridden World Jewish Congress.

FORBES: The confrontationist