<\/p>\n
Chile\u2019s Palestinian community, the largest outside the Middle East, is a strong force in the Andean nation, involved in local politics, culture and soccer. Now it\u2019s making Chile one of the loudest regional voices criticising Israel over its military action in Gaza.<\/p>\n
Chile\u2019s President Gabriel Boric, a moderate figure in the Latin American left, recalled the country\u2019s ambassador in Tel Aviv last week and said Israel was not abiding by international law.<\/p>\n
In a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, Boric added that the Israeli military operation \u201cat this stage acts as a collective punishment to the civilian population in Gaza.\u201d<\/p>\n
He brought up the issue with US President Joe Biden during a bilateral meeting last Thursday in Washington.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s no doubt we can say the response has been disproportionate and is violating international humanitarian law,\u201d Boric told reporters<\/a> after the meeting at the White House.<\/p>\n The Israeli embassy in Santiago said it would not comment on its relationship with Boric\u2019s government.<\/p>\n The Palestinian community\u2019s roots run deep in Chile, with immigration starting in the late 19th century when Christians fled the faltering Ottoman Empire.<\/p>\n Chile is now estimated to have more than half a million Palestinians, many third, fourth, or even fifth-generation, a substantial minority in a country of under 20 million people.<\/p>\n The community has been galvanised, holding rallies outside the presidential palace, organising charity concerts, clamouring for a ceasefire, and pushing for boycotts. Members of the community have met with the minister of foreign affairs to lobby the government to push for a ceasefire from Israel.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Palestinian community here is as diverse as any other community, we live in every city and territory in Chile,\u201d said Claudia Yarur, who says her great-grandparents carried passports from the Ottoman Empire when they immigrated to Chile.<\/p>\n Yarur supports a boycott of Israel and wants the Chilean government to sever diplomatic ties with the country.<\/p>\n \u201cWe want the persecution of the Palestinian people to end,\u201d Yarur said.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat we have to do is focus on pressuring Israel to stop these crimes of persecution, and Chile\u2019s government has that responsibility, like all the governments around the world,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n There\u2019s a vibrant Palestinian Social Club in a wealthy sector of Santiago with state-of-the-art facilities, a Chilean-Palestinian group in congress and a century-old first division soccer team, Palestino FC.<\/p>\n \u201cOur community lives peacefully here,\u201d said Georges Abed, the Syrian-born parish priest of San Jorge Cathedral in the Patronato neighbourhood in central Santiago, the original landing zone for Palestinians in Chile.<\/p>\n \u201cThey\u2019re in the right, the left, the government, universities, industry, commerce, banks, the army and the Carabineros (police force).\u201d<\/p>\n In a recent mass, Abed invited members from Chile\u2019s Muslim community and the Palestinian ambassador; keffiyehs, hijabs and Palestinian flags were sprinkled throughout the pews.<\/p>\n \u201cThough we are completely separated geographically, you feel their presence, their connection to the land,\u201d said Vera Baboun, Palestinian ambassador to Chile and former mayor of Bethlehem, who attended Abed\u2019s mass.<\/p>\n On October 7, Hamas fighters in Gaza breached the barrier to Israel, killing 1,400 people and capturing more than 240. Israel responded with a bombardment of Gaza it said was meant to wipe out Hamas.<\/p>\n Palestinian health authorities in Gaza say more than 10,000 people have been killed. Israel has rebuffed mounting international pressure for a ceasefire, saying the hostages should be released first.<\/p>\n While much smaller in size, Chile\u2019s Jewish community numbers about 16,000, the third largest in South America, after Argentina and Brazil. In a press release, the Jewish community said it rejected Boric\u2019s decision to recall the ambassador and said the Chilean government\u2019s actions \u201cend up validating the actions of the terrorist group Hamas.\u201d<\/p>\n Despite widespread support, many Palestinian community members and business owners did not wish to speak to Reuters<\/em> out of fear of reprisal or not being allowed back into the West Bank or Gaza.<\/p>\n Many said they didn\u2019t condone the October Hamas attack that was recorded in gruesome detail on videos posted to social media, but said it was important to see the wider context.<\/p>\n The prominence of the Palestinian community has sparked strong support from other groups in Chile. Rafael Torres, a member of Chile\u2019s indigenous Mapuche community, is an avid Palestino FC fan who was at a recent rally in support of Gaza.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m proud of this jersey and happy that it\u2019s in Chile and not any other country,\u201d said Torres, who said the club\u2019s mere existence has become a political statement.<\/p>\n \u201cThese are strong symbols that even without wanting to, make Palestino a political club at the global level,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Felipe Barria says his grandparents came from Bethlehem and he has several family members there. His aunt, a dentist, travels there often to help children in the West Bank.<\/p>\n \u201cThere are lots of family ties even though a lot of years have gone by,\u201d Barria said at a recent pro-Palestinian rally.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Palestinian community (here) activates whenever there\u2019s aggression,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Since the military offensive began in October, the community has organised protests, a charity concert and fundraising events to raise awareness and funds to send humanitarian supplies to Gaza.<\/p>\n The state of Israel was formed with the backing of major world powers in 1948 after the Nazi Holocaust, but Arab states refused to accept the displacement of some 700,000 Palestinians \u2014 an event Palestinians lament as the Nakba<\/a> or catastrophe.<\/p>\n Parish priest Abed said Gaza has suffered nearly a century of injustice and the October 7 attack needs to be seen in that context.<\/p>\n \u201cIf you want to ask me about Gaza and ask about the (Hamas) massacre, the blood, the killings, it\u2019s like looking at a painting from a few inches away,\u201d Abed said.<\/p>\n \u201cYou need to look at it from further back to see the full picture. We\u2019re talking about an issue that\u2019s more than<\/a> 75 years old,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Countries across Latin America have ramped up condemnations of Israel\u2019s attack on Gaza, with Mexico, Brazil, Peru, Argentina and Colombia lambasting<\/a> the attacks. Bolivia took the most dramatic<\/a> step, severing diplomatic ties with Israel.<\/p>\n Chile is one of at least 138 countries that recognise a Palestinian state.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Chile\u2019s Palestinian community, the largest outside the Middle East, is a strong force in the Andean nation, involved in local politics, culture and soccer. Now it\u2019s making Chile one of the loudest regional voices criticising Israel over its military action in Gaza. Chile\u2019s President Gabriel Boric, a moderate figure in the Latin American left, recalled […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":22222,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/i.dawn.com\/large\/2023\/11\/071521318b279df.jpg?r=154210","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-22221","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-top-news"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22221","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22221"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22221\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22222"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22221"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22221"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22221"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}