Nine other countries, including France and the UK, also plan to recognise Palestinian statehood next week.Portugal has joined Australia, Canada, France and the United Kingdom in announcing plans to recognise a Palestinian state.In a statement on Friday, the Portuguese Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the recognition will take place on Sunday, a day before a high-level conference on Palestinian statehood at the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA).Recommended Stories list of 4 itemsend of list“The Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirms that Portugal will recognise the State of Palestine,” the ministry wrote in a statement on its website.“The Official Declaration of Recognition will take place on Sunday, September 21st, before next week’s High-Level Conference,” the statement added.According to Portugal’s Correio da Manha newspaper, the country’s centre-right Prime Minister Luis Montenegro consulted with the president and parliament before finalising the decision.It marked the end of nearly 15 years of debate in the Western European country’s parliament, Correio da Manha reported, after the proposal was first put forward by the country’s Left Bloc political party in 2011. People carry a banner with the words ‘Free Palestine’ during a demonstration demanding a ceasefire in Gaza and in support of Palestinians, in Lisbon, Portugal, on April 7, 2024 [Armando Franca/AP Photo]Global outcryPortugal’s announcement comes days after a landmark UN inquiry found that Israel’s war on Gaza amounts to a genocide.At least 65,141 people have been killed and 165,925 wounded since Israel’s onslaught began in October 2023. Many thousands more are believed to be buried under the rubble. Advertisement The Portuguese government first announced its intentions on recognising Palestine as a state in July, citing “extremely worrying evolution of the conflict”, as well as …
