22 Dec 2022; MEMO: Chilean President Gabriel Boric has announced that during his presidency his country will raise the level of its representation in the Palestinian territories to an embassy. Boric made the announcement in a speech on Wednesday evening at a Christmas celebration with the Palestinian community in Santiago, during which he also stressed that Palestinians are "a people who exist, who resist, who have a history."
Chile recognised Palestine as a state in 2011 and then supported its membership to UNESCO. It currently has a representative office with the Palestinian Authority in Ramallah in the occupied West Bank, which was opened in April 1998. Palestine has an embassy in Santiago.
The Palestinians in Chile have repeatedly organised huge demonstrations to protest against the military operations of the Israeli occupation army in the occupied Palestinian territories.
The Chilean and Palestinian peoples have had close relations since the Palestinians began migrating to the South American country in the twentieth century. With 300,000 Palestinians in Chile they form the largest Arab community outside the Middle East. They coexist with an influential Jewish community of about 30,000 people.
Palestinians in Chile are mainly concentrated in the trade and textile industries and Chileans of Palestinian descent have also been involved successfully in politics. Club Deportivo Palestino is a professional football club based in Santiago. It was founded by Arab immigrants in the 1920s, and thousands of fans in the Palestinian territories watch their matches on television.
