Gaza war: In gesture of solidarity, artists present exhibition in Chile

Thousands of kilometers away from Gaza, artists from some 20 countries dream of a free and peaceful Palestine.

The National Archives of Chile opened Wednesday (Jun. 19) a new exhibition titled "From all the rivers to all the seas of the world". It echoes a famous Palestinian rallying cry.

"This exhibition, we hope for it to be a gesture of deep solidarity, of deep tenderness and beauty. Because there is nothing more beautiful than this resistance, this creativity and this united effort to say from here, from Chile, no more genocide, no more to this policy of extermination," exhibition curator Javiera Manzi said.

The watermelon which shares the colours of the Palestinian flag is another popular symbol.

The exhibition features 130 works of art, including photographs, traditional embroidery, murals, album covers and posters.

The exibit was inspired by the internation exibition for Palestinian which has held in Beirut (Lebanon) in 1978. At the time, artists from variosu countries donated their work.

Exhibitor curator Pablo Abufom says this spirit of international solidarity is alive and needs to translate into "concrete measures".

"Chile has a prominent role in Latin America, Chile is recognized as a democracy, it is part of the OECD, that is to say, it has an international image that can have an international impact."

"This exhibition reflects the history of struggle of the Palestinian people, of international solidarity, is also a political signal to the world. From Chile we are saying 'enough of genocide'. Let's recover the tradition of international solidarity with Palestine and convert it into concrete measures," Abufom concludes.

Chile is home to the largest Palestinian community outside the Middle East.

Palestinian-Chilean artist Elyana is among many personnalities who've called for peace since the latest war in the decades old Israeli-Palestinian conflict started.

Over 37,000 Palestinians have been killed.

"It is not an exhibition that comes after something, it is an exhibition that is taking place while this genocide is happening every day. So we don't want it to be a place where you go to see the pieces from a distance, rather they should be viewed as tools for the coming mobilization."

On the judiciary level, Chile joined South Africa's compaint against Israel at the ICJ in June.

The free exhibit which explores the history of the Palestinian territories runs until July 19th in Chile's capital