Officials from three organisations were received in São Bento where they delivered a letter. They ask the Government to “urgently” recognise the State of Palestine in the face of Israel’s “genocidal policy”.
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Representatives of dozens of organisations and associations delivered an Open Letter to the Prime Minister on Friday, calling for Portugal to recognise the State of Palestine, approved last May.
In the absence of the head of Government, a delegation of three people including the former communist MEP Ilda Figueiredo, of the Portuguese Council for Peace and Cooperation (CPPC), Carlos Almeida, of the Movement for the Rights of the Palestinian People and for the Middle East Peace (MPPM), and Dinis Lourenço representing the CGTP, was received in São Bento by Jorge Monteiro, diplomatic advisor to the Prime Minister, to whom they delivered the Open Letter.
“The Charter is signed by 79 organizations and associations of Portuguese societydefending the urgency, necessity and justice of the recognition of the State of Palestine by Portugal,” Carlos Almeida, from the MPPM association, told Lusa after the “exchange of impressions” they had with the diplomatic advisor.
“The conversation was interesting, we felt that there was an understanding of justice and the need for social mobilization around this cause. We were referred to the declaration of the last European Council, last night, which has a paragraph on Palestine,” said Carlos Almeida.
The text, approved during a meeting in Lisbon on May 28, recalls several UN resolutions and decisions, stating that “from October 2023 Israel carries out a genocidal policy of collective punishment against the Palestinian people, particularly in the Gaza Strip, but also in the West Bankof violence that only has parallels during the Nakba period”, considering that “the seriousness of the situation in the Gaza Strip has led the International Court of Justice, on two occasions, to decree the application of preventive measures that Israel shamefully refuses to comply. “
Israel is fighting in the Gaza Strip against the Islamist movement Hamas, which on October 7 attacked Israeli territory, killing around 1,200 people and kidnapping more than two hundred.
Considering that the Portuguese Government only recognises the State of Israel even though it claims to “support the two-state solution”, it stresses that “in addition to being legally and politically unacceptable, such a position objectively guarantees the attitude of systematic confrontation with the international policy of law that Israel has always adopted.
He argued that the Portuguese government must “as a constitutional imperative, pursue a policy favourable to respect for the self-determination and independence of the people.”
In this regard, the document maintains that the recognition of the State of Palestine “is a sovereign decision of Portugal that should not, and cannot, be conditioned by the politics and interests of third countries or entities.”
It also calls on the Portuguese Government, “in accordance with the provisions of Article 7 of the Constitution of the Republic and the principles enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations” Recognize Palestine as a State “on its pre-1967 borders and with its capital in East Jerusalem”“.
It calls on Portugal to support “in all international forums, and in particular in the UN Security Council and General Assembly, this same position” and to “direct its action at the international level towards the objective of achieving a State of Palestine (…) and the “recognition of the right of return of Palestinian refugees or of fair compensation in accordance with the terms of UN General Assembly resolution No. 194”.
Slovenia officially recognised the State of Palestine on 4 June after its parliament voted in favour of the move, following in the footsteps of three other European countries, Spain, Norway and Ireland.
Slovenia is the latest country to recognise the State of Palestine
On June 18, the head of Portuguese diplomacy, Paulo Rangel, assured that Portugal seeks a consensus in the European Union (EU) to reinforce support for the Palestinian Authority and regretted that Israel does not take advantage of the ceasefire proposals presented by the international community. .
Earlier on May 9, the UN General Assembly overwhelmingly approved a resolution granting Palestine new “rights and privileges” and calling on the Security Council to reconsider its application for full membership, which would make Palestine the UN’s 194th state.
The resolution was approved with 143 votes in favor, including Portugal, nine against and 25 abstentions. The United States was one of the countries that opposed this resolution.
UN General Assembly grants new rights to Palestine and supports its full membership
Currently, the State of Palestine is officially recognized by 145 countries out of a total of 193 Member States of the United Nations.
Source: Observadora
