Today, millions of Christians of Middle Eastern descent reside in Latin America—a primary destination for Arab immigrants since the late nineteenth century. Arab Orthodox, Catholics, and Protestants now call Latin America home. While Lebanese Maronite Catholic churches are prominent across the region, more Palestinians live in Chile than in any other country outside of the Middle East. The majority of these 500,000 Chilean-Palestinians are Eastern Orthodox, a population that far outnumbers the small Palestinian Christian community remaining in the West Bank, Gaza, and Israel. The few English language studies on Palestinian immigrants in Chile and a larger body of Spanish publications tend to emphasize their migration histories and contributions to Chilean society without delving into questions of religiosity. Calling for more scholarship on the flourishing Middle Eastern Christian communities of Latin America and their lived religion, this paper focuses on the unique role of Chile as a place of refuge and spiritual development for Christian Palestinians. It seeks to understand the rise in Chilean-Palestinian activism on behalf of Palestine since October 7, 2023.
Based on ethnographic site observations in Palestinian churches, charities, and cultural organizations in Santiago, Chile; oral history interviews conducted with Orthodox, Catholic, and Protestant Chileans of Palestinian descent; and archival research on migration from Palestine to Chile since the late 19th century, this paper aims to understand the lived religious practices of Chilean-Palestinians. In particular, it asks: What does it mean to be Palestinian Christian in the Chilean diaspora in light of the genocide in Gaza? How do Chilean Christians of Palestinian descent speak about and enact ideas of freedom and Palestinian nationhood in religious and secular spaces?
Answers to these questions emerge from my research in four Palestinian Orthodox churches in Santiago and through interviews with Palestinian Catholics and Protestants who have joined existing Chilean churches (rather than forming Palestinian congregations) but who nevertheless participate in Palestinian charities, cultural organizations, and activist groups (see “Research Sites” below). The first of the paper’s three sections focuses on Chilean-Palestinian expressions of Palestinian identity in oral and written stories of migration, in Orthodox church services, and in items of material religion like icons, statues, altars, and shrines. Especially telling here is the blending of Christian and Palestinian symbols, like el Niño Dios wrapped in a keffiyeh. The second section addresses the ways Chilean Christians of Palestinian descent conceive of their own national identities in the diaspora and support Palestinian nationalism from abroad. In particular, I compare and contrast secular expressions of Palestinian nationhood with religious justifications drawn from Palestinian liberation theology. Such nationalist ideologies stand in stark contrast to the aims of Christian nationalists in the US who often show affinity for Christian Zionism. The third section focuses on the connections between Christian faith and activism for members of la Comunidad Palestina de Chile in the struggle for Palestine (la lucha por Palestina). I analyze the way that Christian activists in this organization envision Palestinian freedom and performatively embody this vision through demonstrations and political organizing.
This study shows that Palestinian Christianity is alive and well in Chile, in part because the unrealized aspirations of Palestinian statehood and ongoing Israeli occupation of and violence against the Palestinian people keeps the Palestinian diaspora attuned to their homeland. Concepts of freedom and nationalist aspiration are so tightly woven into Palestinian identity that they have become a regular part of Chilean-Palestinians’ lived religious practices. In shedding light on this reality, this paper will contribute new insight on Christian immigrants in Latin America and bring attention to a little studied diaspora community within World Christianity.
Research Sites in Santiago, Chile
- Saint George Orthodox Cathedral
Orthodox Church of Saint Nicolas - Blessed Virgin Mary Orthodox Church
- Orthodox Church of Saint Helena
- Damas Palestinas (Palestinian women’s charity organization)
- Fundación Belén (charitable organization)
- Unión Árabe de Beneficencia (charitable organization)
- Communidad Palestina de Chile (cultural/activist organization)
- Palestinian Federation of Chile (cultural/activis organization)
- Club Palestino (social club)
- Centre for Arab Studies, University of Chile
- Biblioteca Nacional de Chile (National Library of Chile)
Bibliography
Beaume, Victor. 2019. “Politics Resettled: The Case of the Palestinian Diaspora in Chile.” Refugee Studies Centre Working Paper Series.
Bawalsa, Nadim. 2022. Transnational Palestine: Migration and the Right of Return before 1948. Stanford: Stanford University Press.
Cánovas, Rodrigo. 2011. Literatura de Inmigrantes árabes y judíos en Chile y México. Madrid: Iberoamericana Editorial Vervuert.
Clavel, Patricia Arancibia, Roberto Arancibia Clavel, and Isabel Jara Hinojosa. 2010. Tras la huella de los árabes en Chile: Una historia de esfuerzo e integración. Santiago: Instituto Democracia y Mercado.
Isaac, Munther. 2025. Christ in the Rubble: Faith, the Bible, and the Genocide in Gaza. Grand Rapids, Eerdmans.
Mattar, Ahmad Hassan. 1941. Guia Social de la Colonia Arabe en Chile (Siria – Palestina – Libanesa). Santiago de Chile: Ahues Hermanos.
Olivia, Alberto Benjamin López. 2023. Memoria e identidad: La diáspora árabe en Chile a través de su prensa. Granada: Editorial Universidad de Granada.
Schwabe, Siri. 2023. Moving Memory: Remembering Palestine in Postdictatorship Chile. Ithaca: Cornell University Press.
Ustan, Mustafa. 2012. La Inmigración árabe en América: Los árabes otomanos en Chile; identidad y adaptación (1839–1922). Clifton, NJ: Editorial La Fuente.
Today, millions of Christians of Middle Eastern descent reside in Latin America—a primary destination for Arab immigrants since the late nineteenth century. Notably, more Palestinians now live in Chile than in any other country outside of the Middle East. The majority of these 500,000 Chilean-Palestinians are Eastern Orthodox, a population that far outnumbers the small Palestinian Christian community remaining in the West Bank, Gaza, and Israel. Calling for more scholarship on the flourishing Middle Eastern Christian communities of Latin America and their lived religion, this paper focuses on the unique role of Chile as a place of refuge and spiritual development for Christian Palestinians. Based on ethnographic interviews it seeks to answer the following questions: What does it mean to be Palestinian Christian in the Chilean diaspora? How do Chilean Christians of Palestinian descent speak about and enact ideas of freedom and Palestinian nationhood in religious and secular spaces?