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Portugal will officially recognise the State of Palestine on Sunday, joining countries like France and the UK, after consulting PM Luis Montenegro, amid the ongoing Gaza conflict.
A boy holds a Palestinian flag during a demonstration against what Palestinians say is Israel’s confiscation of their land, as Isareli security forces stand guard, in Raba, near Jenin, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank July 18, 2025. (Reuters)
The Portuguese Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced on Friday that Portugal will officially recognise the State of Palestine on Sunday. With this move, Portugal aligns itself with countries such as Australia, Canada, France, and the United Kingdom.
It added that the Official Declaration of Recognition will take place even before next week’s High-Level Conference, Reuters reported.
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During his visit to the UK earlier this week, Foreign Minister Paulo Rangel stated that the country was considering recognising a Palestinian state.
Unlike neighbouring Spain, whose leftist government recognised Palestinian statehood in May 2024 alongside Ireland and Norway and called on other EU countries to do the same, Portugal has taken a more cautious approach, saying it wanted to work out a common position with other EU countries first.
Only a few of the 27 European Union member states recognise Palestine as a state, primarily former Communist nations along with Sweden and Cyprus.
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.
Portugal’s announcement comes just days after a landmark UN inquiry concluded that Israel’s war in Gaza amounts to 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.
The Portuguese government initially declared its intention to recognise Palestine as a state in July, citing the “extremely worrying evolution of the conflict,” the worsening humanitarian crisis, and Israel’s repeated threats to annexe Palestinian territory.
Earlier on Friday, an adviser to French President Emmanuel Macron said that Andorra, Australia, Belgium, Luxembourg, Malta and San Marino plan to recognise the State of Palestine alongside France at the high-level meeting it is co-organising with Saudi Arabia in New York on Monday.
In November 2012, the U.N. General Assembly effectively recognised the sovereign state of Palestine by upgrading its status at the world body from “entity” to “non-member state.”
Portugal
September 20, 2025, 15:54 IST
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