Palestinians in Chile

and Palestine. The first wave of Palestinian migrants to Chile came in the 1850s during the Crimean War between the Ottoman Empire and the Russian Empire. They worked mainly in agriculture and as businessmen. Successive waves of migrants arrived during World War I and the 1948 Palestine war (Nakba) when Palestine was partitioned. Most of these early migrants were Christians and they typically landed at Argentine ports, and crossed the Andes by mule into Chile. Chilean Palestinians are often erroneously but also intentionally called turcos (Spanish for Turks) after the Ottoman nationality that early Arab immigrants had on their passports. Contrary to the immigration of Germans and other western European nationalities, the immigration of Palestinians was not considered beneficial by Chilean intellectuals, and was even, alongside Eastern European, Chinese, and Japanese immigration, questioned. The arrival of the Palestinian immigrants to Chile in the early 20th century happened at the same time the Chilean state stopped sponsoring immigration to Chile and the country suffered a severe social and economic crisis coupled with a wave of nationalism with xenophobic and racist undertones. All of those refugees were Sunni Muslims. ==Religion==

The vast majority of the Palestinian community in Chile follow Christianity. The largest denomination is Orthodox Christian followed by Roman Catholic, and the number of Palestinian Christians in the diaspora in Chile alone exceeds the number of those who have remained in their homeland. One early Palestinian church in Santiago, the Iglesia Ortodoxa San Jorge, was founded in 1917. The rest are Sunni Muslims. ==Community organizations==

has won twice the Chilean football league and reached the semi-finals of the Copa Libertadores. The Club Palestino is one of the most prestigious social clubs in Santiago; it offers swimming, tennis, and dining facilities to its members. There is also a soccer team, C.D. Palestino, whose uniform is in the traditional Palestinian colours red, green, and white. The team has been champion of the Chilean Primera División twice. Also, some Chilean-Palestinian footballers like Roberto Bishara and Alexis Norambuena have played for the Palestine national football team. Other Chileans of Palestinian origin, such as Luis Antonio Jiménez, played international football for Chile and several foreign clubs. A number of Palestinians in Chile have shown significant concern with the situation of Palestine, for example, the president of the Cámara de Comercio (chamber of commerce) of the Barrio Patronato, himself a Palestinian, in 2006 organised a protest regarding the 2006 Lebanon War; Lebanese and Palestinian flags were widely seen in the neighbourhood's streets at that time. On another occasion, outside the Club Palestino and again in front of the Colegio Árabe, someone wrote on the sidewalk "Árabe=terrorismo" ("Arabs=terrorism") and "Palestina no existe" ("Palestine does not exist"). In August 2025, the Palestine Football Association relocated its base of operations to the country due to the large diaspora in the country as well as its distance from the Gaza war. ==In literature==

A number of Chilean novels have featured Palestinian characters and discussed the experience of Palestinian immigrants in the country, such as El viajero de la alfombra mágica by Walter Garib, Los turcos by Roberto Sarah, and Peregrino de ojos brillantes, by Jaime Hales. ==Notable people==