Hundreds of people formed a large square in the center of Lisbon this Wednesday in a show of solidarity with Palestine, which included representation, music, speeches and slogans, in the presence of PCP and BE leaders.
In Martim Moniz, as has already happened in other parts of the country, another day of the Week of Solidarity with the Palestinian People was held under the motto “Peace in the Middle East. Independent Palestine.”
Night had already fallen, light rain, a truck on stage, lights and speakers, video, dozens of people accepted the challenge and lay down or sat in a large space covered in plastic, many on white sheets sprinkled with red, in a reference to the “victims of genocide” in the Gaza Strip .
In the large area around, those who stood hung banners, Palestinian flags, and posters. “Put an end to aggression. Peace in the Middle East”: “Recognize the national rights of Palestine” under the brand of the Communist Youth of Portugal, the youth of the Communist Party of Portugal (PCP); “Palestine will win” or the bolder phrase “No to Nazi Zionism, 75 years of genocide. Free Palestine.”
The meeting brought together people of all ages, but mainly over 50 years old, many of whom were wearing Palestinian scarves, who came at the call of supporting organizations: CGTP-Intersindical Nacional, Portuguese Committee for Peace and Cooperation (CPPC), Movement for the Rights of the Palestinian People and for Peace in the Middle East (MPPM) and the Projeto Ruído Youth Association.
To the sound of Palestinian music, the first slogan “Palestine will win!” is heard, shortly before the arrival of Mariana Mortagua and Paulo Raimundo, leaders of the Bloc de Esquerda and the PCP, who decided to join the event.
A Palestinian woman in a traditional wedding dress speaks English and pays tribute to a friend who says she was killed on her wedding day by Israeli bombings in the Gaza Strip that began the day after the October 7 surprise attack by the Islamist Hamas movement and which has been extended until November 24. And all this before the start of the mobilization “artistic action”, as was announced later.
BE leader Mariana Mortagua, in her statements to the media, emphasized the “special symbolism of this day, which also serves as a reminder of the “massacre that the State of Israel carried out against the people of Gaza,” referring to approximately the local authorities controlled by the Islamist movement Hamas, who announced deaths of 15,000 people.
“Gaza is the largest children’s cemetery in the world and today it is experiencing a crisis. This humanitarian pause has come late, it is not enough, we must demand a ceasefire from the State of Israel,” he said.
The BE leader also condemned the “hypocrisy of the international community and many states when thousands of people continue to die” and believed that Portugal “should have supported the position of António Guterres,” the UN secretary general, who condemned the massacres and demanded an immediate ceasefire – “instead to take dubious positions and force Israel into a ceasefire.” “International action is needed,” he said.
From the perspective of the bloc’s leader, and following the unilateral recognition of a Palestinian state by European countries such as Spain and Belgium, the Portuguese government “puts itself in a very comfortable position by declaring that it will only recognize the self-determination of the State of Palestine if the European Union recognizes it. This is unacceptable”.
During his visit to the region last week and during a stop on Friday on the Egyptian side of Rafah, the only open border crossing with the Gaza Strip, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez acknowledged that Spain could unilaterally recognize Palestine if other European partners do not make decisions on agreed recognition.
“The United Nations has already recognized this, the Portuguese parliament has already recognized this, the Portuguese government must recognize the self-determination of the Palestinian people. Portugal must defend international law,” Mortagua emphasized.
The BE leader also stressed that peace in the region will only be possible when the Palestinian people’s right to their own state is recognized.
“The Portuguese government is taking a hypocritical position; we should not depend on the will of the European Union to respect international law. Portugal is obliged to respect international law and do everything necessary for a ceasefire and peace,” he said. .
An identical position was emphasized by Paulo Raimundo, who argued that the current humanitarian pause “becomes what is necessary and urgent, an immediate, real ceasefire that will put an end to the war and the ongoing massacre.”
According to the Secretary General of the PKP, the ongoing humanitarian pause “demonstrates that dialogue is possible, the opening of ways other than the path of war to solve a problem that has existed for many years in this part.” “Take advantage of this space that is open to deliver humanitarian aid, end the massacre, end the war and avoid any maneuvers of hypocrisy or cynicism that return to bombings and slaughter of the Palestinian people,” he said.
Continuing to refer to the Portuguese position, Paulo Raimundo called the countries of the European Union “refugees, based on the idea that either everyone leaves or no one leaves, which translated means that almost no country has recognized Palestine as a state.”
And he stressed: “Now the decisive question, and it would be good if the Portuguese State, the Spanish State, the Belgian State were forced to comply with the United Nations resolutions, the most recent and the previous ones, and so that all of them represent what is decisive, take advantage this humanitarian pause to guarantee humanitarian support (…) and establish a ceasefire and a path to peace in the Middle East, which has consequences for the lives of Palestinians and all of us.”
The International Day of Solidarity with the People of Palestine is celebrated annually on November 29. Its purpose is to raise international awareness of the Palestinian people’s right to self-determination and to reaffirm the commitment and solidarity of the United Nations towards their people. This day was established in 1977 by resolution 32/40 B of the UN General Assembly.
Author: Lusa
Source: CM Jornal
I’m Tifany Hawkins, a professional journalist with years of experience in news reporting. I currently work for a prominent news website and write articles for 24NewsReporters as an author. My primary focus is on economy-related stories, though I am also experienced in several other areas of journalism.