100 personalities demand recognition of Palestinian State
President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa had an unconfortable exchange this week at the Lisbon Book Fair with a protester holding a sign that read “There is genocide in Palestine.”
Dozens of prominent Portuguese figures from the worlds of academia, arts, and politics have launched a petition calling on the Portuguese Parliament to urgently recognize the State of Palestine.
The initiative, made public on Tuesday, seeks to align Portugal with the 149 countries, including Spain, Norway, Brazil, Sweden, and Angola, that have already granted recognition.
Signatories include former presidential candidates António Sampaio da Nóvoa and Ana Gomes, ex-President of the Parliament Ferro Rodrigues, former Secretary of State for European Affairs Bruno Maçães, and well-known cultural figures such as musicians Ana Bacalhau, Capicua, Sérgio Godinho, and Rui Reininho, as well as writers José Luís Peixoto, Valter Hugo Mãe, and José Eduardo Agualusa.
The petition urges the Assembly of the Republic not only to recognize Palestine but also to support the International Criminal Court’s arrest warrants against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant.
It calls on Portugal to block the transit of military equipment bound for Israel through Portuguese territory or waters and to advocate these positions within international organizations, especially the European Union.
In the petition text, the authors voice “growing concern” over escalating human rights violations and war crimes in Gaza and the West Bank.
“We refuse to be silent or passive witnesses to these crimes,” the petition states, highlighting decades of violence and humiliation suffered by the Palestinian people.
It argues that international recognition of Palestine is now a powerful diplomatic tool to show solidarity and pressure Israel to end the violence.
The petition is available below.
President Marcelo’s controversial move
The urgency of the matter was underscored again on Wednesday, when President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa was confronted at the Lisbon Book Fair by a protester holding a sign that read “There is genocide in Palestine.”
The woman, who was working at the Book Fair when she saw the President and decided to make an impromptu protest, accused the President and the government of doing nothing to stop the humanitarian disaster and called on the public to attend a protest later that day in Lisbon’s Camões Square.
The President attempted to engage in conversation with the woman, but she refused, prompting him to try to pull her closer by placing his hand on her shoulder or neck in an effort to make her stay.
She then asked him not to touch her neck while stating her reasons for not wanting to listen to him.
The woman eventually walked away, and Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa addressed the journalists who witnessed the moment, immediately viral on social networks.
He emphasized that Portugal has changed its vote at the UN regarding the recognition of Palestine as a full member state.
He added that Portugal is currently coordinating with other European countries to explore a common diplomatic approach on the issue.
Here's the position on Gaza adopted by all EU leaders (European Council) on March 20, 2025:
"The European Council deplores the breakdown of the ceasefire in Gaza, which has caused a large number of civilian casualties in recent air strikes. It deplores the refusal of Hamas to hand over the remaining hostages.
The European Council calls for an immediate return to the full implementation of the ceasefire-hostage release agreement. It stresses the need for progress towards its second phase, with a view to its full implementation leading to the release of all hostages and a permanent end to hostilities.
The European Council recalls the importance of unimpeded access and sustained distribution of humanitarian assistance at scale into and throughout Gaza. This access and distribution, as well as the supply of electricity to Gaza, including for the water desalination plants, must be resumed immediately.
The European Council welcomes the Arab Recovery and Reconstruction Plan endorsed at the Cairo Summit on 4 March 2025. The European Union stands ready to engage with its Arab partners, as well as with other international partners, on that basis.
The European Union remains firmly committed to a lasting and sustainable peace based on the two-state solution. The European Union is ready to contribute to all efforts towards this solution and calls on all parties to refrain from actions that undermine its viability. It will continue to work with regional and international partners to that end. The European Union will continue supporting the Palestinian Authority and its reform agenda." Souce: https://www.consilium.europa.eu/en/policies/eu-position-situation-middle-east/
Until today I have been an appreciative admirer of Diogo’s work in creating “Portugal Decoded”, which he describes as “a weekly, English-language briefing on the main news and events in Portugal written in the most simple, objective and quick way as possible.” Diogo promises that “You’ll get in-depth information and perspective on the things that really matter.”
Despite this, in the current piece about calls to recognise a Palestinian state, Diogo provides us with “Context” about one of the most covered conflicts in human history. If you haven’t heard about the Hamas invasion of Israel and the atrocities committed by Hamas and the Arabs of Gaza on October 7th. 2023, and Israel’s response, you are dead, just as dead as the Bibas children were when murdered by terrorists who abducted them to Gaza with their mother and killed all three shortly thereafter.
So having decided, gratuitously, to tell us the “Context”, Diogo omits something I find significant, but perhaps he does not. Perhaps he does not regard it as one of “the things that really matter” or perhaps in writing “as quick way as possible” he just forgot? Whatever, there are fifty six people, most now corpses, but some twenty still alive, being held hostage by the Arabs of Gaza. Taking and holding hostages is a war crime and there are millions of people in Israel and around the world who want them freed. Israel maintains that it is prosecuting the war to achieve that goal, but the fact that this group of people have been held hostage and tortured in Gaza seems to have slipped Diogo’s mind. Shame.
I have enjoyed reading and supporting “Portugal Decoded”, until today.