Chile Still Loves Palestinians

Chile Still Loves Palestinians


Posted on YouTube: May 15, 2018

Palestinians have been in Chile since 1890. Until recently, the vast majority of Palestinian immigrants to Chile were Christian Palestinians, who hailed from four historically Christian towns: Beit Jala, Beit Sahour, Bethlehem, and Beit Safafa (now in the eastern half of Jerusalem) – though Bethlehem has lost its Christian majority in the meantime.

That Christian pattern of immigration seems to be changing as of late.

Now, a considerable number of the immigrants to Chile are Palestinians of Muslim extraction.

Lest anyone fear that newer Muslim Palestinian immigrants will cause a seismic shift is Chile’s religious demographic, be at ease. Remember that South America is undergoing a massive Evangelical Revival.

There is a very good chance that some of these recent Muslim immigrants to Chile – or some of their children – will become Evangelical Christians.

Islam is still extraordinarily small in Chile: Less than 1/10th of 1%.

Islamic clerics in South America have a tendency to greatly exaggerate their numbers. But reliable sources I have seen put the numbers around 1 out of 4,000 Chileans is Muslim, or possibly less.

For those interested in peace in the Mideast, moving 60,000 Palestinians to Chile from Judea and Samaria (the West Bank) – even if they were Muslim – would be demographically insignificant to Chile, and would still keep the Muslim demographic well under 1%.

Chile has a population of 18,000,000. So 60,000 Muslims would constitute one-third of 1% of Chile’s numbers.

Chile is 14% Evangelical (roughly 2.5 Million and growing). They would quickly proselytize the Muslims.

This is a possible solution for the Mideast. South America assimilates Arabs.

Aljazeera on Palestinians of Chile

SOURCE: ALJAZEERA January 15, 2017

Chile: Palestinians gather to forge unified diaspora
‘Developing international leaders is going to help us to achieve things, but it won’t happen overnight.’

Santiago, Chile – In Santiago’s Patronato neighbourhood, the green, red, white and black of the Palestinian flag can be found on almost every corner. The words “Free Palestine” are etched on restaurants selling falafel and shawarma. The heady aroma of cardamom coffee drifts from corner bakeries serving baklava and the best pitta and rugag bread in town.

Chile is home to the largest – and one of the oldest – Palestinian immigrant communities outside of the Arab world. An estimated 350,000 immigrants and their descendants live here.

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Now, the happy thing is that almost all of Chile’s Palestinians are Christians, are prosperous, and are well assimilated in Chile. This is so common of much of South America’s Arabs. South America should be encouraged – with compensation, of course – to take in some of the Arabs from the contested areas.

Chile’s – Barrio Patronato

This is an upscale commercial in the Metro Santiago area of Chile, famous for its large Arab community.


Walking through Barrio Patronato
Untranslated, but you can catch a lot anyway.

Source: Wikipedia

The neighborhood was turned into a commercial district with the arrival of Middle Eastern (Arab, Palestinian, Syrian, Lebanese) immigrants since late 19th century. In early 20th century there was a massive influx of Christian Palestinians and Lebanse fleeing the Ottoman Empire due to religious prosecution [sic], and later the economic situation and the outbreak of World War I.

The neighborhood is known as a shopping area for affordable, trendy clothes. It is also home to the Vega Central, or main marketplace for fresh fruits and vegetables. It is possible to find Arabic restaurants

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