It's a myth that there were no Jews living in Israel for 2000 years. Jews have been living in Israel without interruption for over 3000 years. The modern return to Israel by Jews living outside of the land started in the 1800's when they began to have the freedom to do so.
It depends on the exile in question. Most Jews that wanted to returned to Land of Israel after the exile in Babylonia on account of Cyrus the Great. Many Jews have returned to Israel in the last 150 years from the Roman Exiling of the Jews nearly 2000 years ago. However, not all Jews have returned home after exile in both cases.
After almost 2000 years of wishing and hoping, Jews have at last inherited Israel once again. There is no ongong yearning for expansion. They continue to pray that the inheritance may stabilize, and that such an arrangement will similarly satisfy Israel's neighbors.
2000 years ago, after the death of Jesus, the Romans kicked the Jews out of Israel/Palestine. This period of time is called the Diaspora. In 1948, after WWII, the United Nations said the Jews could return to Palestine/Israel and have their own nation. The problem is in 2000 years, a lot of Palestine people moved into the land formerly occupied by the Jews/Israelis. So, you have a group of people, the Jews, who want to return to the land they taken away from by force 2000 years ago. You also have a group of people, the Palestine, who have lived on the land for the last 2000 years. Considering how much land was taken away from one group or another in the past, it is very difficult to give back all the land on the planet to it's original inhabitants. For example. a great deal of land in the USA was taken away from the Native Americans. It's obvious that the Native Americans are not going to get most of the land that taken away from them by force.
Judaism is popular in Israel because most Israelis are Jewish. The Jews were given the land of Israel by G-d as an inheritance and therefor it only prospers when Jews live there. Whenever Jews are chased out or exiled the land return to be desert-like; compare the land of Israel now to what it was like 100 years ago under foreign rule.
The Jewish Law of Return of 1950. It should be noted that the Law of Return does not provide any mechanism nor describes one for the bringing of foreign Jews into Israel. As such the Law does not cause Jews to come to Israel. Israel has conducted missions to certain countries such as Yemen and Ethiopia to bring those populations to Israel, but these are military missions in no way legally related to the Law of Return. What the Law of Return does do is grant immediate Israeli citizenship to any Jew who arrives in Israel and requests it.
The traditional Jewish liturgy includes numerous prayers for the restoration of Jerusalem, and for the coming of the Messiah who will restore the Davidic kingship and lead the return of Jews to the biblical land of Israel.
The Law of Return is an Israeli law that grants Jews the right to immigrate to Israel and become citizens. It is based on the belief in the ingathering of the Jewish people to their ancestral homeland.
From the Jewish perspective, it's an option, NOT an obligation, for Jews to return to Israel. When the Messiah comes, the Jews will return to Israel because of a desire to be close to the spirituality of the Messiah. For a number of Christian Zionist groups, Jews must return to Israel to bring on Armageddon and the End of Days. They want this outcome so that Jesus Christ can return and create the Kingdom of God on Earth.
Many Jews returned to Israel while a large percentage chose to remain in Persia.
AnswerThe Babylonian Exile began in 586BC, when the Judahite city of Jerusalem was destroyed and its population taken captive. A small community returned to Judah at the end of the century. They did not 'return' to Israel, as Israel no longer existed, having ceased to exist over two hundred years earlier.
Many Jews returned to Israel while a large percentage chose to remain in Persia.
First wave: Zerubavel Second wave: Ezra