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The industrial laundry service of Atala Jaar Mudenat (55) is from Betlehem and has two sons Abraham Atala Jaar (22) and Tarik Atala (19), he last his wife in a car accident..'I came in 1967 to Honduras, three months after the six day war where Israel occupied the Westbank, Gaza and the Golan heights. I came with my parents, my two sisters and my brother. It was difficult in the beginning I thought we were going to New York, but we arrived in Honduras: I didn't speak the language and there was no electricity. We arrived with very little and we started to produce and sell hammocks. I went back for the first time to Palestine in 2007. It was very sad, all our land was gone and where the land was the Israeli's build a highway. I have one sister who is still in Betlehem. If a free Palestine comes into existence I would consider to go back..In 2006 I opened an industrial laundry service, we were working for the largest US jeans factory here in Honduras. We stonewashed 150,000 a week, but the American factory decided recently to one the industrial laundry to Nicaragua, because its cheaper. So we had to close the company.'...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)