Chile: The President of Chile Mr. Gabriel Boric, whose country has the largest Palestinian population outside of the Middle East, has announced that the country is planning to open an embassy in Palestine.
The Palestinian foreign ministry welcomed Chile’s plans to open an embassy in the occupied territories, a move that the Chilean President stated “will signal a demand that international law be respected.”
One of the decisions we have taken as a government, I think we have not yet made it public is that we will raise the level of our official representation in Palestine. We will open an embassy under our government.
Mr. Boric remarked.
Mr. Boric added that “the proposed embassy in the occupied Palestinian territories was meant to give Palestinians the representation they deserve.”
Chile’s foreign minister, Ms. Antonia Urrejola, confirmed the plan and shared that there was no timeline in place yet and that Chile continues to recognize both Palestine and Israel as legitimate states.
Palestinians began immigrating to Chile in large numbers during the 20th century, when the area was under the control of the Ottoman Empire.
In 1998, Chile opened a representative office for the Palestinian Authority in Ramallah, and in 2011, Chile recognised Palestine as a state and supported its admission to UNESCO. At present, Palestine has an embassy in Chile, located in Santiago.
The Palestinian population in Chile is estimated to include more than 300,000 people, many of whom come from families originally from the Bethlehem area of the West Bank, including the villages of Beit Jala and Beit Sahour.