The Basel Program was the first manifesto of the Zionist movement, drafted between 27 and 30 August 1897 and adopted unanimously at the First Zionist Congress in Basel, Switzerland on 30 August 1897.
In 1951, it was replaced by the Jerusalem Program.
The Basel Program was drafted by a committee elected on Sunday 29 August 1897 comprising Max Nordau (heading the committee), Nathan Birnbaum, Alexander Mintz, Siegmund Rosenberg, Saul Rafael Landau, together with Hermann Schapira and Max Bodenheimer who were added to the committee on the basis of them having both drafted previous similar programs (including the "Kölner Thesen").
The seven-man committee prepared the Program over three drafting meetings.
The program set out the goals of the Zionist movement as follows:[1]