Latin Americans with Palestinian Roots Quotes

“Just like in Honduras, early Palestinian immigrants in El Salvador filled the socioeconomic gap created by the outdated attitudes toward commercial activities among the Salvadoran elite.”
― Lorenzo Agar Corbinos, Latin Americans with Palestinian Roots

“In the late 1910s in San Pedro Sula, for example, Arab merchants, 95% of them Palestinians, “controlled major sectors of the city’s elite structure, especially large commerce.”
― Lorenzo Agar Corbinos, Latin Americans with Palestinian Roots

“In Central America, the second, the third, and in certain cases even the fourth generation of Palestinian descendants have lost the Arabic language. Still, they have a clear desire to defend the Palestinian people and to rescue the Arab cultural values and traditions”
― Lorenzo Agar Corbinos, Latin Americans with Palestinian Roots

“The Committee led the campaign against the oppressive British policy that allowed the incoming alien Jewish immigrants to obtain citizenship under the easiest conditions, while placing numerous obstacles in the face of native-born Palestinians who wanted to return to their country.”
― Lorenzo Agar Corbinos, Latin Americans with Palestinian Roots

“Even today, although Palestinian descendants born in Central America identify themselves as citizens of these countries, most of them refer to Palestine as their roots.”4”
― Lorenzo Agar Corbinos, Latin Americans with Palestinian Roots

“some scholars estimate the number at around half a million; the highest number of Palestinian immigrants being in Chile, while the highest percentage is considered to be in Honduras, where Palestinians make up almost 3% of the population.”
― Lorenzo Agar Corbinos, Latin Americans with Palestinian Roots

“However, with the declaration of the State of Israel in 1948 and the subsequent forced migration of Palestinians from their land, there was a small wave of immigration to Chile, although the vast majority remained as refugees in neighboring countries like Jordan, Syria, and Lebanon. A similar phenomenon occurred in 1967 because of the Six Day War.”
― Lorenzo Agar Corbinos, Latin Americans with Palestinian Roots

“Their work style contrasted with that of the average Chilean. They would open their doors early and close late at night. Hard work, a sense of responsibility and perseverance, are values that remain important in the Palestinian families to date.”
― Lorenzo Agar Corbinos, Latin Americans with Palestinian Roots

“They carried with them civilization and progress, indirectly helping raise the social status of the inhabitants of those remote regions. They were the link between progress and ignorance.”
― Lorenzo Agar Corbinos, Latin Americans with Palestinian Roots

“when leaving their homes to a place where they knew nor the language or customs, and could hardly even pronounce its name, they faced a huge challenge.”
― Lorenzo Agar Corbinos, Latin Americans with Palestinian Roots

“Interviews with Palestinian descendants in Central American countries repeatedly pointed to a growing feeling of pride in the Palestinian heritage among the younger generation and a deep sense of sadness and anger about the events in Palestine.”
― Lorenzo Agar Corbinos, Latin Americans with Palestinian Roots

“The process of social, political, and cultural assimilation for the Central American Palestinian communities was slow and often painful.”
― Lorenzo Agar Corbinos, Latin Americans with Palestinian Roots

“Anumber of young Palestinian-Nicaraguans joined the Frente Sandinista de Liberación Nacional (Sandinista National Liberation Front), or FSLN, in the 1970s, and some died fighting for the cause, including Selim Shible, Omar Hassan, Amín Halum, Mauricio Abdalah, and Soraya Hassan”
― Lorenzo Agar Corbinos, Latin Americans with Palestinian Roots

“The price for Palestinians of full integration, however, has been the loss of their culture, especially the language and knowledge of their past.”
― Lorenzo Agar Corbinos, Latin Americans with Palestinian Roots

“With the growing economic power of the Palestinian communities in the 1920s and 1930s, it was probably inevitable that the local elites would come to see them as economic rivals and try to isolate them socially and politically.”
― Lorenzo Agar Corbinos, Latin Americans with Palestinian Roots

“Palestinians in this country, as in others, are clearly conscious of the sufferings of their Palestinian ancestors and relatives who have faced persecutions, discrimination, expulsions, and property and goods confiscation133”
― Lorenzo Agar Corbinos, Latin Americans with Palestinian Roots

“In the Department of Cortés during the period 1900 to 1950, forty per cent of the investments came from Palestinian immigrants”
― Lorenzo Agar Corbinos, Latin Americans with Palestinian Roots

“In the beginning, emigration was slow and temporary as the fundamental aim was making a fortune and returning home.”
― Lorenzo Agar Corbinos, Latin Americans with Palestinian Roots

“to engage more fully in Palestinian society at large, thereby strengthening the social fabric of Palestinian society as a whole, actively maintaining the Christian witness in Palestine, and stemming the outward flow of Palestinians from their ancestral lands.”
― Lorenzo Agar Corbinos, Latin Americans with Palestinian Roots