The Government of Portugal will recognize Palestine as a State this Sunday

The Portugal Foreign Ministry announced in a statement on Friday that the Portuguese government will recognize a Palestinian state this Sunday, September 21, joining other European governments that have taken the same step in recent weeks. The Portuguese Government added that the Official Declaration of Recognition of a Palestinian State will take place before the High-Level Conference to be held at the United Nations Organization.

Far from being a surprise, the truth is that the decision by the government of conservative Prime Minister Luís Montenegro was a foregone conclusion after Foreign Minister Paulo Rangel commented during a visit to the United Kingdom earlier in the week that Portugal was seriously considering recognizing a Palestinian state. During his visit to London, Rangel held a meeting with his British counterpart, Yvette Cooper, in which he declared that so far "there has been no fact that was going to interfere in that path towards recognition."

An "ongoing" process

Likewise, Rangel commented that the process for recognition was "underway" and that the Portuguese government would show concrete "progress" next week. Likewise, the Portuguese Foreign Minister detailed that the Government of Montenegro will present before the UN a formal condemnation against the attacks carried out by Israel in Qatar against the delegation of the Hamas terrorist group, which took place last week and left at least six people dead. 

The Portuguese government initiated last July 31 the process of consultations with both the different parliamentary groups and the country's president, Marcelo de Sousa. This action took place after several European countries requested the global recognition of the Palestinian State and condemned the warlike actions carried out by the Israeli Armed Forces against the Palestinian population.