See Mishna Berura 561:2 (written when the Turks were in control) that even when the cities of Yehuda are populated by Jews they are considered desolate so long as there is not Jewish rule. See also (if you have a version not censored by the anti-Zionists) Chiddushei Chatam Sofer Sukka 36a that any work one does in Eretz Yisrael is a kiyum of the mitzva of building the Land. Thus, the zionists were and are filled with mitzvot like a pomegranate.
HaKatan, if not for the Zionists the Arabs would have slaughtered whatever few Tora learners there were in Eretz Yisrael (as they did in Tarpat). Rav Soloveichik said that if not for the State almost all the surviviors of the Holocaust would have assimilated out of fear and depression.