Portugal becomes latest Western nation to recognise Palestinian state • FRANCE 24 English

He’s announcing that Portugal will recognize um a Palestinian state and uh um basically saying that that’s the only viable way to keep a two-state solution alive. Now, you may remember that Portugal was one of the more cautious countries. it did not join Spain back in um May of last year um in recognizing the Palestinian state um but basically um waited um for more countries to be rallied to the cause and um we know that the the foreign minister uh was in the UK recently uh talking um with the his British counterpart IT Cooper and the two talked about the legal um difficulties if there were any of of recognizing um um the Palestinian state based on um um the exactly what Spain Ireland uh recognized um last year and uh yes came to the conclusion that they should push ahead given the intensification of what is going on in in Gaza uh which has been um really causing people um to to to use the word genocide, particularly the Portuguese government under um extreme pressure from the left wing of the parliament and uh the Portuguese um government has had uh demonstrations um outside the Portuguese parliament in in uh recent months saying that the Portuguese government is complicit in what’s going on in Gaza and that they should move to put pressure on the Israeli government. Uh Sarah, just a quick followup on that. I’m sure you’ve been speaking to people in Lisbon today and uh around Portugal and Spain, of course. What is their reaction to this? Are they saying that this should have happened a long time ago or are they saying uh that this should not have happened at all? Um there are people who fear for the uh reaction of the Israeli government because uh you may remember the reaction um that the Israeli government had to the Spanish government uh which was to withdraw its ambassador and to actually do social media posts uh with um flamco dancers um saying um saying that Hamas was celebrating um the the decision that Spain had taken. And so there is um fear from some quarters uh about the reaction of the Israeli government, but many people saying to me that they feel that the Portuguese government should have moved sooner. And Pedro Sanchez, the prime minister of Spain, actually greeting this news on his Twitter account, saying uh that Spain was the first. Of course, uh there were other EU countries that did recognize a Palestinian state, including Sweden, but most of them um had recognized that prior to joining the EU. Um so the Pedro Sanchez on his Twitter account basically saying Spain was the first and that they will not be the last and hoping that this will bring um a two-state solution, a ceasefire, and peace in the Middle East. Sarah, thank you so much. We’re going to actually dip in right now to what the foreign minister of Portugal has to say. He is speaking in English. Let’s hear from him now. And finally also quite important number of Arab states that are I say they have the disposal uh to recognize Israel. This is a substantial a practical a very pragmatic and feasible effect of the recognition. So it was this uh I’d say uh uh uh kind of conditions where three parties uh countries from the Arab region from the Gulf, countries from the the European Union and from the west and also the Palestinian Authority, the three having giving steps that some of them have not given in the past. So with this very very practical effect uh we think that it was time to recognize. What about conditions? Have you apply are there any conditions for them to maintain their statethood? Any behavioral stuff? Can you talk to the conditions that you have given? As you know the conditions are established in this uh resolution that endorsed the declaration of New York that came from the high level conference from the session that took place on the 28th, 29th and 30 of July. So we have subscribed and we have vote in favor of this resolution and so there you can have all the context all the framework that was behind this recognition decision. So, we just heard there from the Portuguese foreign minister. We will get the full quotes in just a few minutes and translated for you. But Portugal announcing the recognition of the Palestinian state. Sarah, uh, the, uh, foreign minister there talking about conditions, uh, and it was quite vague what he was touching on the conditions to maintain security in Palestine once the state has been established. Uh, it seems to be a common theme amongst the announcements today that uh, that particular area of concern has been quite vague. Indeed, I the conditions uh seem to allude to the the sort of government uh that could be running that Palestinian state which has been the criticism uh from many about why recognition what kind of real effects it will it have and um of course answering Israel’s um constant reply to people recognizing to countries recognizing um the state of Palestine um they Israel has has constantly said that that is a victory for Hamas and for terrorists. And there we heard the foreign minister Paulo Reangal. um he seems to be again um coming down on the side of of the UK government that says that this is not a victory for Hamas and that the conditions will mean that there will be um no Hamas running the government that there will not be um even we’ve we heard from Macron talking about um some kind of demilitarized zone. this um for these new countries. This is a this is a big issue. Um, Portugal is not handing a a state over into the hands of of Heramas and

Portugal has officially recognised the state of Palestine, becaming the latest Western nation to do so. The move marks a significant policy shift for a country that was “one of the more cautious” on the subject, says FRANCE 24’s regional correspondent Sarah Morris, speaking from Lisbon. “It did not join Spain back in May of last year in recognising a Palestinian state. It basically waited for more countries to rally to the cause,” she explains.
#Portugal #Palestine #Lisbon

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27 comments

  4. A betrayal of the highest proportions… are we Europeans rewarding terrorism and recognizing Hamas as a country now? PALESTINIANS have voted Hamas, THEY are Hamas, their men are its’ soldiers, THIS IS INSANITY EUROPE!

  5. Un can not even uphold their own Resolution 1373, which obligates all Member States to prevent and suppress t3rrorist acts by, among other things, not providing support or safe haven to individuals or groups involved in t3rrorism. This foundational resolution established the Counter-T3rrorism Committee (CTC) and requires states to take all necessary measures to prosecute or extradite t3rrorists.

  8. At 0:09 she is in Lisbon and at 5:50 she is already in Madrid all while talking live to the presenter and staying in the exact same place.

  10. French people need to read more history books about the independence of Algeria to understand that isrealis will go back to Europe

  18. Portuguese people starving a miserable whit low salarys and no houses. Its stupid our goverment to focus on this. PSD = PS.

  19. Western governments are just trying to stop the protests by pretending to get tough. But they aren't willing to jeopardize corporate profits by stopping weapons sales.

  27. I am portuguese and I am very ashamed of my country's coward government for waiting so long to do this.They act like the small boy behind the bully, who only hits when it's safe. Praise Spain and Ireland for facing the world in advance, standing up to their convictions. Portugal's goverment has no balls.

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