(Hebrew for “ascent”) Traditionally used to describe the act of a Jew moving to Eretz Yisrael, or the biblical land of Israel. In modern Israeli history, Aliyah refers to the various waves of immigration to what is now the State of Israel, beginning with the First Aliyah of 1882 to Palestine. From the 1880s to the end of World War II, Palestine experienced five major waves of Aliyah, and another major influx following the war. Since the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948, Israel has codified encouragement of Aliyah to Diaspora Jews in the Law of Return, a policy which was justified by the need to provide a safe haven to Jews who suffered persecution and anti-semitism in the Diaspora. Today, any Jew can perform Aliyah and become a citizen of the State of Israel. See also Law of Return. See Kumaraswamy, P.R. “Aliya.” Historical Dictionary of the Arab-Israeli Conflict. Oxford: The Scarecrow Press, 2006. http://www.justvision.org/glossary/aliyah