Reasons for how a football team from Chile and Palestinian roots can make fans cheer for the Gaza war

Nahil Sadaqa loves football – one of his favorite teams can help him connect with his identity as Palestine.

The club's color plays, fans waving the Palestinian flag, whose sponsors include the Palestinian Bank and its jerseys, with images of the Keffiyeh and Al-Aqsa mosques.

But the team is not located in the Gaza Strip, the Israeli-occupied West Bank or even the Middle East. The team – the club Deportivo Palestino – is more than 13,000 km away in Chile.

“Like playing football or [are] Football fans, they know the team, “Sadaka tells Halifax CBC News.” People who don't know football or follow football, [they’re] Get to know this team. ”

Founded by Palestinian Immigration in 1920, Palestine has become one of Chile's top football clubs, and has finished fifth or higher in the country's first division in five of the past six seasons. The team is also a regular participant in the Cup of Freedom and the Sudmerana Cup of the top football matches in South America.

Although Spanish-speaking players named themselves on the court, Chile has built an international fan base for its historic links to the Palestinian Territory.

“It has nothing to do with politicians, not about religion, but about movement. It's about humanity, it's about solidarity, it's about the main word: peace,” José Nabzo, head of communications at Palstino, said in an interview in Santiago, the capital of Chile.

The fan base has been growing since the start of the Israeli attack on southern Israel led by Hamas on October 7, 2023. The World Health Organization said that in Gaza, more than 52,000 Palestinians were killed by Israeli air strikes, and the population also suffered from disease and hunger.

Since October 2023, Palestino fans, players and personnel have worn Keffiyehs and jerseys during the game, showing images of watermelons (a symbol of the Palestinian resistance movement). The club also reached an agreement with the Palestinian organization Aida Youth Centre in Bethlehem to provide sportswear for sportswear and social activities.

“We are watching a genocide. Thousands of deaths, most of them are innocent,” Nabuzo said. “We will not forget them. It will not stop until the peace in Palestine.”

Sadaqa, who has family and in-laws in the West Bank and Gaza, said the club gives “relief” to those who live there and shows that “we, the Palestinian people, can survive wherever we go.”

There are 500,000 Palestinians in Chile

Palestinians have a long history in Chile. An estimated 500,000 call homes in South American countries, the largest Palestinian population outside the Middle East.

Brenda Elsey, author Citizens and Athletes: Fortor and Politics in Chile in the Twentieth CenturyIn the 19th century, the first Palestinians moved to Chile along with Lebanese and Syrians.

“[They] It was a recruitment fleeing Turkey, mainly from the 1890s, and was a mountain at the immigration summit before World War I.

The vast majority of Palestinians are Christians, but are shaped as Christian due to lack of business ethics and are accused of not being able to absorb Chile. So Palestino was founded to make integration easier, she said.

According to Elsey, the football team stopped playing football in just a few years due to the audience's racial abuse.

“They will play basketball, they will play tennis, and support British sports,” she said. “So they continue to exist as social clubs and sports clubs. They are not football clubs after 1923.”

The football team returned in 1949 and became a professional in 1952. Since then, it has won two championships in the country's top soccer leagues and won three cups.

Throughout history, the club remains the cultural center of Chilean Palestinians.

“These sports clubs and these social clubs … allow people to continue to have this sense of community in Chile, and it also makes people feel very smart,” Eri said.

“They carved a place for themselves, they wrote homes, they told people that they were better. Then, you have a real community.”

Palestinian Action

Although Palestine has long established historic ties with the Palestinian territory, Nabuzo said it was initially “symbolic”. But the club's identity in the 21st century is stronger.

For example, in 2016, The club visited the West Coast And played two games there, including against the official Palestinian national team.

“I remember it was crazy when we got there. [were] Cheer for us [Palestino] T-shirts, just like everyone knows who we are very good. “Canadian Diego Gutiérrez said he was a member of Palestino from 2015-19 and now plays for Calgary's Cavalry FC in the Canadian Premier League.

Some Palestinian members even played for the Palestinian national team, including Gutilres' friend Nicolás Zedán.

“I remember he always…dreams [of] Play for the team because he is [of Palestinian descent]he always does his best,” Gutillez said. [for] Palestine. ”

The team also supported a number of foreign Palestinian radical efforts, including University of Toronto Campgrounds last year.

But some actions have put the team in hot water. In 2014, the Chilean Football Federation fined the club after the number “1” on the back of the player's jersey before the creation of Israel.

Nabuzo said the map was removed from the back, it still appeared behind the player's left shirt sleeve and socks – a reminder of Palestinian identity before the creation of the State of Israel in 1948. During the war that led to the establishment of Israel, thousands of Palestinians fled or were forced to go from their homes, which was the time of Nakba.

“For us, the Palestino Club was founded in 1920, 28 years before the founding of the State of Israel, which is very important,” he said. “This breaks the theory…land [didn’t have] No one and the so-called Palestinian or Palestinian identity exist. ”

Nabuzo said he hopes the team will soon be able to represent the Palestinian podium as Palestino is on the top of Primeradivisión and in the knockout playoffs in the Sudamericana Cup.

“main [thing] He said it was very competitive, winning very important games, beating important teams…winning trophy. This is the best way to represent the cause of Palestinian. ”