How Chile became a voice for Palestine

The Andean nation has the largest Palestinian diaspora outside the Middle East andthe ongoing hostilities in Gaza are being felt deeply

- John Bartlett

Above canvas awnings along the narrow streets in Patronato, a busy commercial district in Chile's capital, Palestinian flags hang from lampposts and frame warehouse doors.

Bakeries sell baklava, pitta, and falafel; and shelves are stacked with products imported from the Middle East, their ingredients hastily covered over with Spanish approximations.

Here in Santiago, 13,000km from Gaza, Palestine's cause and culture burn brightly: Chile is home to the largest Palestinian diaspora outside the Middle East, numbering as many as 500,000 people.

"I would love to say that the support is born from an innate sympathy for human suffering," said Dalal Marzuca, 28, a third-generation Chilean Palestinian. "But I think it's more likely that everyone here just has a friend, colleague, or classmate with Palestinian heritage." Marzuca works at a Palestinian coffee shop in the city centre where between brewing thick dark coffee and serving up sticky, sweet knafeh - she follows the latest news from Gaza via WhatsApp and Instagram.

"Being Chilean Palestinian is unique," said Marzuca. "I'm not entirely one nor the other, but I know how much what happens in Gaza is affecting me." Last month, Marzuca was one of thousands of people who marched beneath a sea of Palestinian flags towards La Moneda, the presidential palace in Santiago, as the diaspora lent its considerable voice to the global clamour for a ceasefire.

"It's a human cause, not a national one," said Kristal Kassis, a 39-yearold Chilean-born demonstrator whose grandparents emigrated from Bethlehem. "Look around us: lots of people who have no connection to Palestine have joined us to call