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During the long exile, anyone who wished to immigrate to the Land of Israel faced immense difficulties. This prevented the Jewish people from moving en masse and establishing communities. Consequently, it was certainly not relevant to form an army to protect the Jewish residents and free the Land from foreign rule.
In modern times though, God has begun to fulfill His biblical promises. Divine providence, working through historical processes, has inspired a broad spectrum of Jews from all parts of society to act for the Land and redeem the nation. In the late 1800s, with genuine self-sacrifice, Jews began immigrating to the Land and settling it. They established the Zionist movement and began setting up Jewish settlements, communal institutions, and armed forces. Finally on the fifth of Iyar, 5708 (May 14, 1948), the State of Israel was declared. After two thousand years of exile, the Jewish people regained self-rule over parts of the Land of Israel and fulfilled the mitzva of settling the Land. Once there was an independent Jewish State, mass Jewish immigration began, and moves were made to settle all parts of the Land.
Even before the establishment of the State, any Jew living in the Land was fulfilling the mitzva to settle it on the individual level. Nevertheless, such a Jew could not fulfill the primary mitzva, namely for the Land to be under Jewish rule. Even when many Jews lived in the Land, the fundamental collective mitzva could not be fulfilled because it was under foreign rule. (See section 15 below.)
