Arms raised high, banners denouncing Israel’s war on Gaza, crowds unite in song and wrapped in keffiyehs, the black-and-white chequered scarves that have become a badge of Palestinian identity.
It could be any pro-Palestinian rally protesting against the Israel-Hamas war if it is not for the fact that the thousands in the crowd are actually on the terraces of a football match in Chile’s capital Santiago.
Although the players darting across the field have names like Jose and Antonio who grew up in the Spanish-speaking South American nation, their fervour for the Palestinian cause and red, white, black and green-coloured jerseys, underscore how a storied Chilean football club serves as an entry point for the world’s largest Palestinian community outside the Middle East to connect with an ancestral home thousands of miles away.
“It’s more than just a club, it takes you into the history of the Palestinians,” says Bryan Carrasco, captain of Club Deportivo Palestino.
As the bloodiest war in the history of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict rages in the Gaza Strip, the club’s electric game atmosphere, viewing parties and pre-match political stunts have increasingly tapped into a sense of collective Palestinian grief in this new era of war and displacement.
