My Country Till I Return

Those left behind are also in exile...

Palestine became the member of FIFA in 1998. The Palestinian national football team was only able to play their first official match in their own land in 2012. Yet, far away from the Middle East, Deportivo Palestino, founded in Chile in the 1920s, has been playing with the Palestine jersey and keeping the Palestinian flag waving on the bleachers. While the Palestinians in Chile, who started to migrate to Chile since the end of the 19th century and reached 500,000 today, can protect their identity within a football club and introduce themselves to the world; it is still very difficult to be a football player, referee or even a fan in Palestine. When you look at Palestine and the immigration problem through football, you can ask the following question: Who’s on exile? The ones that stayed or the ones that left?