(Lovers of Zion)
A movement that was established in 1882, as a direct reaction to the widespread pogroms in Russia (especially Odessa) in 1881, for the purpose of encouraging Jewish settlement in Palestine and achieving a Jewish national revival there. The founders concluded that the way to save the Jewish people was to return to Zion and rebuild the land. They generally favored practical Zionist settlement in Eretz Israel. The members of the Hibbat Zion Movement joined farm villages or established new ones (such as Rishon Le-Zion, Zichron Yaakov, and Rosh Pina) in conformity with their view that immigration (see ALIYA) and settlement in Palestine would alleviate the problems of the Jewish communities in Europe.
Historical Dictionary of Israel. Bernard Reich David H. Goldberg. Edited by Jon Woronoff..