SAO PAULO, Brazil, 25 May 2005 — Every day, crowds line up at Habib’s for its famous kibbehs, sfihas and other Middle Eastern snacks. At home, Brazilians tune in for Arnaldo Jabor’s ironic op-ed pieces on the TV nightly news, and read about the latest corruption charges against Paulo Maluf, a former mayor of Sao Paulo. Along with the Arab foods, these two leading Brazilians of Lebanese descent blend into an Arab culture that runs deep in this South American country.

Yet because this influence has become so ingrained, many don’t realize how pervasive it is. It just seems, well, Brazilian.

“Assimilation and integration have been so strong that sometimes it is difficult, if not impossible, to know who in this country is of Arab descent and who is not,” Sao Paulo State Gov. Geraldo Alckmin said at a recent meeting of Brazilian and Arab businessmen.

A South American-Arab summit earlier this month brought Brazil’s Arab heritage into focus. President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said the continent was reuniting with “a civilization that has become an indissoluble part of our identity.”

Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa responded that there were “deep roots” for more trade and cooperation.

“We in the Arab League are proud of the ties that link us to you,” Moussa told the gathering of leaders from 12 South American and 22 Arab and North African nations.

The large Arab communities in Brazil and across South America, he said, had “active mechanisms like chambers of commerce, schools, clubs and other institutions that will be of tremendous help” in doubling bilateral trade that reached $8.1 billion in 2004.

Brazil sells mainly beef, chicken, iron ore and sugar to the Arab world and buys mostly oil.

The country’s Arab community stands at about 10 million, making it the largest outside the Arab world, according to Antonio Sarkis, president of the Arab-Brazilian Chamber of Commerce.

About 7 million Arab descendants live elsewhere in South America.

The original settlers were mostly Christians from Lebanon and Syria who began arriving in the late 19th century, fleeing the Turkish-Ottoman Empire that ruled much of the Middle East.

“Many of these immigrants came to Brazil without really wanting to,” said Helmi Nasr, head of the Arabic Studies Center at the University of Sao Paulo.

“They had purchased steamship tickets to America, thinking they were heading for North America. After quickly recovering from the initial shock of discovering they had arrived in South America, they started to make the best of it.”

Accomplished merchants, many settled in Sao Paulo — Brazil’s biggest city — and earned a living as traveling salesman, roaming the vast country, selling textiles and clothes and opening new markets.

As they prospered, relatives immigrated to Brazil, too, and “with their help they eventually opened their own textile and clothing shops and factories,” Nasr said.

Today, many of their descendants are prominent in the arts, politics, business, communications and medicine.

Perhaps the best known Brazilian politician of Arab descent is Paulo Maluf, a perpetual presidential hopeful who twice served as mayor of Sao Paulo and once as governor of Sao Paulo state.

Maluf, the son of a Lebanese immigrant, faces charges of embezzlement and is accused of over-billing highway and tunnel construction projects while serving as mayor between 1993 and 1996.

Under Brazil’s former military regime, Ibrahim Abi-Ackel, the son of Lebanese immigrants, served as justice minister for President Joao Figueiredo. A leading adversary was liberal Sen. Pedro Simon, who is also of Lebanese descent.

The Globo TV network capitalized on the strong Arab influence in the popular soap opera The Clone, a love story that highlights differences between Islam and the Western world.

Globo sold it to nearly every South American country, Portugal and even to the United States.

Rival network Bandeirantes, Brazil’s fourth-largest, is owned by the Saad family, which traces its origin to Syria.

Sao Paulo is Brazil’s business capital, and one of its leading businessman is Paulo Antonio Skaf, the president of the powerful Sao Paulo State Federation of Industries and the son of Lebanese immigrants.

Among Brazil’s brightest literary prospects is Milton Hatoum, the Lebanese-descended author of the acclaimed novel “The Tree of Seventh Heaven.”

Also a descendent of Lebanese immigrants, film director and commentator Arnaldo Jabor offers his strong opinions on just about everything daily on the Globo radio and TV network.

Rio de Janeiro also boasts its Arab heritage. For years, the hottest carnival balls were at the popular Monte Libano and Sirio-Libanes social clubs.

Arab cuisine is so popular that Brazilians have adopted it as their own. Along with sfihas (meat and cheese pastries) and kibbehs (ground meat patties), dishes such as hummus, tahina and tabbouleh are available all over Sao Paulo and other major cities.

Recently, Lebanese Muslims have settled in the southwestern city of Foz de Iguacu, in the so-called “Triple Border” region where Paraguay, Argentina, and Brazil converge.

Other Arab immigrants, mostly Lebanese and Syrian, sank roots elsewhere in South America.

Argentina’s 3.5 million citizens of Arab descent include former President Carlos Saul Menem, whose ancestors came from Syria.

In neighboring Chile, an estimated 350,000 Palestinian immigrants and their descendants comprise what is believed to be the largest Palestinian community outside the Middle East. Chile even has a first-division soccer team named Palestino.

Venezuela has an Arab population of about 1 million, mostly of Syrian and Lebanese descent and in recent years a growing number of Palestinians. Ecuador’s Lebanese community has produced two former presidents: Abdala Bucram and Jamil Mahuad.

Julio Cesar Turbay, one of Colombia’s former presidents, hails from the country’s 200,000-strong Arab community, which has also produced several congressmen and one of the country’s hottest cultural exports — pop star Shakira.