Chile – the country located in Latin America – is a home of Palestinian culture, and a prominent supporter of its cause, amid the ongoing war in the Gaza Strip.
According to the newspaper “Guardian“Chile has the largest Palestinian diaspora outside the Middle East, numbering up to 500,000 people,” which made support for the cause prominent in the Latin country.
More than 12,000 kilometers from Gaza, bakeries sell baklava, Arabic bread, and falafel, while store shelves are stacked with products imported from the Middle East.
“I would say that this support stems from an innate compassion for human suffering,” said Dalal Marzouqa, 28, a third-generation Palestinian living in Chile.
She continued: “But I think it is likely that everyone here has a friend or colleague of Palestinian origin.”
Earlier this November, Marzouqa was one of thousands of people who marched, raising Palestinian flags, towards La Moneda, the presidential palace in Santiago, where the diaspora gave its loud voice to demand a ceasefire in Gaza.
The demonstrators carried banners demanding an end to the Israeli bombing of Gaza City, and chanted slogans urging Chile to “sever all relations” with Israel, according to the newspaper.
“connection to the roots”
Last October, the Chilean Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement that Chile had summoned its ambassador to Israel due to “unacceptable violations of international humanitarian law committed by Israel in the Gaza Strip.”
Reuters reported that Chilean President Gabriel Buric described Israel’s actions as “violating international humanitarian law,” while condemning the Hamas attacks on Israel on October 7, in which 1,200 people were killed, most of them civilians, including women and children.
The president also described the Israeli response, which has so far led to the killing of 15,000 Palestinians, most of them civilians and including women and children, as “disproportionate.”
“It is a humanitarian issue, not a national issue,” said Crystal Kassis, a 39-year-old Chilean-born protester whose grandparents immigrated from Bethlehem.
Speaking to the Guardian newspaper, she said: “Many people who have no connection to Palestine have joined us to demand justice.”
It is noteworthy that at least 6 million Palestinians live as refugees or immigrants outside their lands. The most prominent diaspora outside the Middle East is in Chile, but there are large groups of them in Central America, especially in Honduras and El Salvador.
The three countries abstained from voting in the United Nations General Assembly in 1947 on the partition of Palestine, and Chile has recognized Palestine as a state since 2011.
In their packed stadium in La Cisterna, a southern suburb of Santiago, Club Deportivo Palestino, a soccer team founded by Palestinian immigrants more than a century ago, plays in Chile’s top division in the colors of the Palestinian flag.
“It is the place where Palestinians and Chileans meet,” Marzouqa said, referring to the football club.
“It is important for people to stay connected to these roots, because we are so far from the land that our families had to leave behind,” she added.
2023-11-29 11:11:06
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