Early Zionism, The Biblical Landscape, And Ecology

Did the early religious Zionist settlements in Israel concern themselves with recreating the biblical landscape and shaping an environmentally friendly policy of land use, or were they solely concerned with resettling the land, tilling, and building a modern state? (L.F., Los Angeles, CA) The creation of a Jewish state was seen as settling Jews in the Land of Israel as farmers. The obstacles were immense and included draining malarial swamps, reclaiming long neglected farmlands, rebuilding irrigation systems and adding new ones, and reforestation, not to speak of the issues surrounding land ownership and the nomadic and peasant population that lived