Thousands of miles from the Middle East, in a stadium in Santiago, Chile, the nation of Palestine exists for a soccer match, AFP reports.
Chileans and Palestinians created that alternate reality again on Thursday when Club Deportivo Palestino, which traces its origins to Palestinian immigrants who came to the South American nation in the early 1900s, held a tribute for the Gazan victims of the fight between Israel and Hamas.
“We decided to have a space in our grandstand and leave it empty… as a gesture of support for the Palestinian people and what is happening in Gaza,” club president Jorge Uauy told AFP.
Chile is home to the largest Palestinian community outside the Arab world, with the first immigrants arriving from Bethlehem, Beit Jala and Beit Sahour. As the community — now estimated to number 500,000 — grew, the soccer club was founded in 1920.
The players took to the field in green, white and red striped jerseys, adorned with a map of the territory before the establishment of Israel, and observed a minute of silence.
