The mission of the Zionist project in the salvation of the African people, as well as the solidarity between the two groups, had already been recognized in Theodor Herzl's 1902 utopian novel Alteneuland (Old-New-Land). In this novel, Herzl, the founder of political Zionism, uses the character of Professor Steineck to pinpoint the problem of black slavery and the consequences of displacement. His solution, in the spirit of national Zionism, is opening the way for blacks to return to Africa:
"Now that I have lived to see the return of the Jews, I wish I could help to prepare the way for the return of Negroes[…] All men should have a homeland. Then they will be kinder towards each other. They will understand each other better and love their brethren better" (Herzl, 1999: 133).

From: Haim Yaacobi, Israel and Africa- A genealogy of moral geography, Routledge Studies in Middle Eastern Geography, 2015.