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Ana Paula Zacarias, Portugal’s permanent representative to the United Nations, considered it “very important” that Palestine be recognized by the international community at the United Nations and admitted that she believed the “dossier will evolve” even in the face of North American opposition.
“It is vital to continue supporting the two-state solution. Only such a solution, only a peaceful resolution of this conflict that has been going on for so many years, can bring peace to the Middle East. In order to achieve a two-state solution, we actually have to have two states,” the diplomat stressed in an interview with Lusa in New York.
“Therefore, the recognition of Palestine by the international community at the United Nations is very important. The vote in the General Assembly was quite broad: 143 countries were in favor of recognizing Palestinian rights and insisted that the Security Council reanalyze this document as soon as possible,” added the ambassador, who will leave office this month.
Speaking to Lusa before Spain, Ireland and Norway announced their joint recognition of the State of Palestine, Ana Paula Zacharias referred to the resolution adopted by the UN General Assembly on 10 May – overwhelmingly supported by 143 countries, including Portugal – granting Palestine “additional rights and privileges” and calling on the Security Council to reconsider its request for full membership of the organization while it retains “observer state” status.
Promotion to membership status is not in the hands of the General Assembly, but in the hands of the Security Council, which on April 18 rejected Palestine’s promotion due to the exclusive veto of the United States, promising to once again block Palestinian advancement if the topic is voted on again.
However, given the efforts made by some countries on the ground, the Portuguese diplomat said she was “confident” that the “dossier will evolve safely,” hoping that this evolution actually involves the creation of two States: Israel and Palestine.
Inappropriate time
Zacharias stressed that Portugal has consistently denied Hamas attacks on Israel, continues to demand the unconditional release of hostages and accepts Israel’s right to self-defense.
“But Portugal also has a very clear position that the Palestinian people as a whole cannot be punished for this situation” and that “it is necessary to take into account international law and the rights of these people,” he said, stressing that “Israel must comply with international humanitarian law.”
“So let us hope that soon a peaceful solution will be found in the Middle East (…) which obviously involves a two-state solution, one of which will certainly be Palestine”, the ambassador insisted.
However, on the same day that three European countries, Spain, Ireland and Norway, announced that they would recognize the State of Palestine on May 28, Portuguese President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa believed that it was “not yet the time” to demand the recognition of Palestine despite his clear defense of the two-state solution.
The foreign ministry source also told Lusa that Portugal still wants to recognize Palestine as a state but is working to gain the greatest possible consensus among EU member states.
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