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Elias Larach (84) is from Beit Jala, Palestine.'My parents came in 1920 to Honduras, but went back in 1930 to Palestine where I was born, they build two houses in Jerusalem. In the 20's my father was hiding from the Turkish empire (the Ottoman empire) and my mother sold her jewelry to make sure he didn't have to go in the army. In 1948 the zionist came and closed of our town. I was in school with Jewish children, the next day they were gone. In 1954 I came back with two brothers to Honduras. I have two six brothers and two sisters, two brothers are in the USA and one sister in Ecuador, the others died. In 1956 I bought my hardware store (Ferreteria La Corono( from a Jewish - German.I have five children and I still work every day in the same store. I went back to Palestine for the first time in 1970. It makes me sad, there is no work and its a military zone. I hope for a free Palestine, but it will look like Swiss cheese; they want to remove all Palestinians...It was as early as the late 1800's that the first Palestinians arrived in Honduras. It was the time of the Ottoman empire and many Christian Palestinians felt the pressure that they had to convert to Islam and enlist in the Turkish army. Many took the boat with destination ‘the Americas' and honduras turned out to be the final destination. When the state of Israel was created in 1948 many followed. With many more in 1967 (six day war, occupation of Gaza, Westbank and the Golan heights) and during and after the two Intifadah's..Nowadays its estimated that there are around 200,000 people of Palestinian decent in Honduras, making it probably the biggest Palestinian community in the Western hemisphere. They have been very successful on both an economic and a political level. Almost all are Christians and from the Bethlehem area. (KEYSTONE/NOOR/Kadir van Lohuizen)