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.

(Read More)

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

Arabic Roots – Chile

Arabic Roots – Chile


Arab Roots

The show Arab Roots has a neat website, http://www.raicesarabes.cl/

Arab Roots (from 2012)

The host of the show, Kiko Saide, Raíces Árabes (Arab Roots) has been doing a variation of the show since 1999, first starting on radio, then moving to TV. It looks to be sort of a blend between a variety show and an infomercial for the Nur Academy of Dance. However, it also has community news as well.

It has different guests each week; and it is broadcast to over half of Chile.

coopmanFor this episode, the young cohost/dancer’s real name is Taryn Palavicino Coopman, is a director/reporter for NUR News media, and an accomplished dancer who operates a dance academy out of a high income suburb of Santiago, Chile. With a name like Taryn Palavicino Coopman, and given her fair complexion, she is a certainly NOT pure Arabic in ancestry. (My Spanish is not good enough to make out the whole conversation).

Arabic culture is not only mainstream. It is upscale in Chile.

The TV show is not just broadcast in Santiago but throughout Chile.

Source for Schedule: http://www.raicesarabes.cl/raices-arabes-programacion.html
Todos los domingos a las 13:30 hrs Pueden ver el programa desde todo chile Every Sunday at 1:30 PM, the program can be seen over all of Chile
Canal 22 Señal abierta Santiago
Canal 99 Señal Cable VTR
Canal 27 Señal Cable Gtd Manquehue Santiago
Canal 57 Señal Cable Cmet SantiagoRegiones
Canal 19 Señal Cable Telefónica del Sur
(Regiones que llega a las ciudades de Concepción, Temuco, Valdivia, Osorno, Puerto Montt, Chiloé y Coyhaique)
Canal 57 Señal abierta en Viña del Mar.
Canal 35 Señal abierta en Concepción.
Canal 21 Señal abierta en Temuco.
Channel 22 Broadcast in Santiago
Channel 99 Cable VTR
Channel 27 Cable Gtd Manquehue Santiago
Channel 57 Cable Cmet SantiagoRegions
Channel 19 Cable South Telephone
(Concepción, Temuco, Valdivia, Osorno, Puerto Montt, Chiloé y Coyhaique)
Channel 57 Broadcast in Viña del Mar.
Channel 35 Broadcast in Concepción.
Channel 21 Broadcast in Temuco.

This is not a minor broadcast. More than half of Chile could get this show.

Finally, for those of you who speak Spanish better than me – and that is probaby most of you – this is one of their programs where they interviewed the Mayor of Recoleta, a very upscale community in Chile with a large Arab population in the Barrio Patronato


Arab Roots with the Mayor of Recoleta

Arab Roots TV on YouTube

If you Google Raíces Árabes Chile, a lot of the programs will come up.


Edited: July 15, 2020 – replaced a dead video.
Edited: July 15, 2020 – corrected text on link to the YouTube Channel.
Edited: July 15, 2020 – added note about Googling.

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