Responding to growing anti-Semitism in Europe in the late 19th century, a number of influential European Jews founded a movement called Zionism whose goal was to re-create a Jewish homeland in Palestine. During the years before World War I, Zionists established dozens of colonies in Palestine amidst a population that was largely Arab and Muslim. There were, however, pockets of Arab Christians and Jews as well, and many of the Jewish settlements were on land purchased from Arabs. At the same time, Arab nationalism was beginning to surface in opposition to Turkish rule.