Celebrating Lebanese Independence in Downtown Montevideo, Uruguay
The Lebanese are about 2% of the Uruguay’s population, but they have already produced a Vice-President, Alberto Abdala.
Almost all are from Maronite Catholic stock.
Again, as noted, depending on the country, Maronite Catholics are often 45-65% of the Arab ethnic community in Latin American countries. (Chile and Honduras are noteable exceptions)
In Uruguay, Maronites are almost all the Arabs.
Where the Maronites predominate, they are a moderating influence.
When they came to Latin America, because the Maronites are a branch of Roman Catholicism, they fit in well with Catholic Latin America.
When they came to Latin America, some Maronites spoke French, which is a Latin language similar to Spanish and Portuguese making the transition easier.
Historically, Lebanese Maronites have intermarried with the Crusaders, Romans, etc. making them partly European in genetics. They tend to be fairer, and have slightly higher rates of fair eyes than most other Arabs. Outwardly, they could pass for European.
They considered themselves an outpost of Western Civilization in the Mideast. They felt closer to the French than neighboring Arab Muslims.
Maronite Catholics often considered themselves Phoenician not Arab, even though they speak Arabic.
This has caused friction with the Lebanese Muslims who do consider themselves Arabic.
So the Maronite Catholics blended in well with South Americans, and all the other Arabs had to play catch up with them.
They are very moderate concerning Mideast politics. Where they predominate, there will not be much anti-Israel polemics.
In Chile, where Palestinian-Christian predominate among the Arab community, Arab ethnic politics can get ugly.
I have said this to many people, and I usually get stares.
Relocation is the only solution to the Mid-East problem.
The only way left to solve the problem in Judea and Samaria (what the world calls the West Bank) is to re-locate the Palestinians.
From what this site has shown, Latin America assimilates and Christianizes them quite well.
Of course, this should not be done involuntarily. They should be offered cash, and travelling documents. There are many Palestinians who would take the offer, particularly the young ones. These are the ones who are suffering the most, and might jump at such an opportunity.
Of course, no one would take up the offer openly. They might get shot. But if they were to be offered discretely, some would take it.
It would be slow at first, to be sure; but as the numbers picked up and Judea and Samaria emptied out, there would soon be a panic and a rush to leave before the Israelis take over. This may be the last chance we have for peace in the Mid-East.
But who should pay?
Well, since Israel is the one to benefit, the World Jewish Community might be expected to pay the lion’s share. However, there is no reason Christians cannot help.
I know many Jews who get upset when I suggest they pay for this. However, they are going to pay one way or the other. In money or blood, sadly.
What is driving Arab rage is the Palestine issue.
Remove the Arabs from Judea and Samaria (voluntarily) and the Arabs may have the wind taken out of their sails.
This is not as crazy as it sounds. For what it cost us to wage war these past 12 years ($1 Trillion), we could have given every Arab in the West Bank $500,000 each to leave.
Had we given them just a fraction of that in 1995, there might have been no attack on the Twin Towers, no present and continuing war. Think about it.
The West is going to pay one way or the other.
But the Jews/the Arabs are responsible for this.
I am not going to get into an issue of who is right or wrong. You can talk to an Israeli and get one side. The Arab will give you the other side.
If Judea and Samarian Arabs are NOT relocated there will soon be a thermonuclear war. That is what it comes down to. Nothing more, nothing less.
Let’s move beyond who is right and wrong. Let’s just solve the problem.
Some [Jewish] refugees – 879 in number – who reached Chile after the outbreak of World War II were accepted on condition that they settle in the south and not move to the capital.
When one adjusts for population, 879 refugees would have been like the USA accepting 14,000 Jews. They sent them to the south of Chile, to build up the land.
In all, between 10,000 and 12,000 Jews were able to enter Chile in 1933–40. The two last ships, Augusto and Virgilio, arrived in January 1940 with a few hundred Jews who were moved to the south in a special train under military custody. An attempt to bring 50 French Jewish children to Chilean Jewish families who promised to adopt them was made in 1943 but failed.
In certain instances the Chilean government protected Jewish refugees of Chilean origin or Chilean citizens in zones occupied by the Nazis, to prevent their deportation to concentration camps. On a few occasions the foreign minister and the Chilean ambassador to Germany, Tobías Barros Ortíz, threatened to imprison German supporters of the Nazis who resided in Chile if Chilean citizens in Germany were detained.
When adjusted for Chile’s small population [only 18 million today], this is an enormous number. They did this when the rest of the world was refusing Jews.
EL SÁBADO GIGANTE
The most watched TV show in history. It’s hosted by Don Francisco, the Chilean born son of Jewish refugees.
Probably the most famous product of this exodus was Don Franciso (nee Mario Luis Kreutzberger Blumenfeld) of El Sábado Gigante, who was born in 1940 Talca in the South of Chile soon after his Jewish refugee parents arrived. The show is the longest running TV show on the planet, and may have the biggest regular audience as well. It is shown in the United States, Spain, and all of Latin America.
This mixing of Jews and Palestinians has had the oddest effect on Chile. There are about 15-60 Thousand Jews depending on the sources. Yet, Chilean society is overall sympathetic to them. On the other hand, Chile has 500,000 Palestinians, who are middle class to rich. They cannot be ignored either.
This produces a schizophrenia in Chilean society, policy, and government attitudes towards the Mideast.
In 1947, the Palestinians were able to persuade the Zionist friendly president, Gabriel González Videla, to have Chile abstain from voting for a paritition of Palesitine, which would have created Israel.
In 1945 a Pro-Palestine Committee was founded in Santiago, and its prominent member, Senator Gabriel González Videla (later president of Chile), was among those who sponsored the organization of the International Christian Conference for Palestine, which took place in Washington in 1945. In spite of his past record of goodwill toward Jewish aspirations, as president Videla gave in to the internal pressure of the Arab community (100,000 citizens of Arab descent lived in Chile at that time and were known for their financial and political influence) and instructed his delegation to the UN General Assembly to abstain from voting on the resolution to partition Palestine in 1947. Senator Humberto Alvarez, second-ranking member of this delegation, resigned in protest against that decision.
Arabs are now 800,000 in Chile, with Palestinians alone being roughly 500,000 today. Almost all the Palestinians are Christian, but they are radicalized against Israel. But even as far back as 1947, they had enough wealth and clout to throttle Chile’s pro-Zionist sympathies at the UN.
To get a sense of how schizophrenic this is:
In 2006, according to the Israeli newspaper, Yedioth Ahronoth, Chile had the most Jewish government in the world outside Israel, but …
Following the Israeli government, the newly elected Chilean cabinet is the most Jewish government in the world, with three Jewish ministers, one deputy minister serving in government
… what the article does not say is that there were an equal number of Arabs in the government.
This produces some bizarre occurrences coming out of Chile.
Further compounding this schizophrenia is the massive growth of Evangelicals; many of whom who support Israel.
The Evangelicals of Chile
So you have Chile which produces the largest radicalized population of Arabs in South America, but it is also extraordinarily friendly to Jews and Evangelicals.
Chile is now a first world nation. The Switzerland of South America, yet when it comes to the Mideast, the government is torn between two completely opposite groups.
In 2011, Chile recognized Palestine; and what a fight that was.
The government’s resolution also noted that both Jewish and Palestinian communities have been key to Chile’s social, cultural, political and economic development for many years, working in harmony that should serve as a model for their both the Israeli and Palestinian states. It’s a message that Pinera plans to make personally during a visit to the Middle East in March.
What the above article does not mention is the Pinera put a lot of conditions on the recognition. For ex: The Chilean declaration did not mention the ’67 borders as the borders of Palestine, like the other South American countries did.
As time goes by, the demographic weight, and wealth, of the Palestinian community seems to be asserting itself. This will be interesting to watch.
Can you narrate the origins of the Palestinian community in Chile?
There were three important migrations of Palestinians to Chile. The first registered migration occurred in 1880, although it is noted that those who arrived prior to this, in 1850, quickly returned to Palestine. The era was that of the Turkish Ottoman Empire, which exercised its power over Arab nations and imposed higher taxes on the income of non-Turkish subjects of the empire, making life very difficult. With this migration, the doors of South America were open to Palestinians. Their preferred destinations in the region were Chile, Peru and Bolivia – notably because of the similarities in climate, landscape and the perceived opportunities offered by a developing country which had just celebrated its 100 years of independence. The migration intensified during the World Wars for reasons well understood. The Turks sent Arab youths, as young as fifteen, to the battle front. The parents, in an attempt to prevent probable death, sent their sons to ‘conquer the world’ through travels, with the intention of joining their offspring and returning to a normal family life once they became established in another country. These families were mostly Christian families who suffered discrimination at the hands of the Empire. Migrants from Syria and Lebanon also faced the same problems.
The second migration occurred during the British Mandate for Palestine, which was contrary to the agreements between Palestinians and General Allenby who promised Palestinians their independence if they fought against the Turks. My grandfather was part of this migration to Chile in 1925. The mandate caused widespread discontent amongst Palestinians due to the entry of European Zionists; also British laws were harsh in relation to Palestinians.
The third migration happened after the Nakba Catastrophe in 1948. Palestinians were dominated by Jordanians and Israelis, making life extremely difficult especially for those with large families. My father’s family completed their migration in 1951, returning only sporadically to Chile to visit relatives who stayed behind. There was a fourth migration, not as large as the previous, which took place in 1967 upon the total occupation of Palestine
Mauricio Abu-Ghosh was detained in Isael, and refused entry
to the Palestinian Territories in 2012.
The article goes on to describe the speaker as Mauricio Abu-Ghosh, a first generation Palestinian Chilean with ancestral roots in Beit Jala. Mr. Abu Ghosh is also President of the Palestinian Federation of Chile.
He has apparently come to the attention of Israeli authorities who have detained him when he has tried to end the Palestinian territories.
I do not fault him for not being Zionist. I suppose that would be too much to ask of a Palestinian, whether Christian or Muslim. But he should at least acknowledge that the Christians have been persecuted by Muslim as well.
We also do a program on Radio Universidad de Chile, which runs every Sunday at 7pm – an hour of analysis, news and interviews. As can be seen, the Federation is growing and we will continue spreading the just cause of the Palestinians.
What has to be noted is that Mauricio Abu-Ghosh is Christian. Beit Jala was a Christian town. He was careful to downplay the aspect of Christianity, but he should not have avoided the issue.
Make no mistake about it. The Palestinians of Chile are becoming radicalized. Chile is the elite capitalist workhorse of South America. The Palestinians are the elite of Chile. If this is not contested, it will have a disastrous effect for the West.
