This Monday, the BE coordinator recalled the role of Portugal in the independence process of Timor-Leste, once again accusing the government of hypocrisy and cowardice for still not recognizing the State of Palestine.
“The position that Portugal cannot take a stand, cannot take an autonomous and decisive voice in the international community because it has to wait for others, is a cowardly position. What did Portugal do to Timor? It was not Portugal that led the international community. for the independence of the Timorese people, and weren’t we as a country and as a people proud to lead this movement for Timorese independence?” asked Mariana Mortagua.
The bloc coordinator spoke to reporters after a meeting with the head of the Palestinian diplomatic mission in Lisbon, Nabil Abuznaid, whose mandate ends in September, and expressed hope that the Portuguese government will soon recognize the state of Palestine.
Asked about the position of the leader of the minority party PSD/SDS-PP, which prioritizes the role of mediation in the face of conflict rather than recognition, Mariana Mortagua replied that “to be honest, Portugal moderates absolutely nothing.”
“Portugal’s position is nothing more than a cowardly and hypocritical position, since it does not have the courage to recognize in the international community what many countries already recognize, namely that Palestine has the right to self-determination,” he accused.
Accompanied by BE parliamentary leader Fabian Figueiredo, Mariana Mortagua said Portugal’s position on the issue was “intolerable.”
“The position of the Portuguese government in the international community in the face of genocide, in the face of massacres, in the face of the occupation of Palestinian lands, in the face of the position of the UN Secretary General, the Portuguese Antonio Guterres. It is intolerable that Portugal cowardly hides in the international community and does not even follow the initiative. The Spanish state and other countries smaller than Portugal that have the courage to take this step forward,” he said.
To reporters, the head of the Palestinian diplomatic mission in Lisbon, Nabil Abuznaid, expressed hope that the Portuguese government would move forward with recognition before its mandate expires in September, saying Portugal “has all the conditions” for it to happen today.
Nabil Abouznaid said he believes the Portuguese population is in favor of recognition of the state of Palestine and said that recently at the airport a policeman looked at his passport and said: “I hope my country recognizes Palestine soon.”
“This is the support of the Portuguese people that we need. And I am confident and hope that the government will take seriously these feelings of the people towards Palestine,” he said.
The ongoing conflict in the Gaza Strip was sparked by an attack on Israeli soil by the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas on October 7, 2023, which killed approximately 1,200 people and captured two hundred hostages, according to Israeli authorities.
Tel Aviv has since launched an offensive in the Gaza Strip that has so far killed more than 37,000 people and injured more than 85,000, according to authorities in the Palestinian enclave, controlled by Hamas since 2007.