Sentence:  Tolek Alterman had returned from the <WSD>colonies</WSD> in Palestine and , before the national leadership , exalted the miracles of drying up swamps and irrigating the desert . 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  a body of people who settle far from home but maintain ties with their homeland; inhabitants remain nationals of their home state but are not literally under the home state's system of government