Portugal says it will support Palestine’s full UN membership bid

By Alyssa McMurtry

OVIEDO, Spain (AA) - Portugal will support Palestine’s bid to become a full UN member state at the General Assembly, the country’s new leader Luis Montenegro announced in Madrid on Monday.

However, in a joint press conference with his Spanish counterpart Pedro Sanchez, he said Portugal would not “go as far as Spain” in terms of the imminent bilateral recognition of a Palestinian state.

Portugal’s new conservative leader said that he believes in a two-state solution, but added that recognition of Palestine should be done in a multilateral setting.

Sanchez, who is on a tour to try to convince more EU states to recognize Palestine, said: “For Spain, it is coherent that if we defend Palestine as a full UN member, we should also recognize it bilaterally.”

So far, Sanchez has rallied Norway and Ireland to recognize Palestine in a coordinated manner with Spain. Sanchez hopes that the recognition will come soon.

He will also meet with the leaders of Slovenia and Belgium in the coming days, before pushing his plan to the entire EU at the special European Council meeting in Brussels later this week.

In Monday’s joint press conference, Sanchez said the Iranian attack on Israel only reaffirmed Spain’s commitment to making the political move.

“No one wants a regional escalation because we know that no one will win and we all will lose,” he said. “We have to be careful with our approach because there are two paths: One that takes us to escalation and one of peace, diplomacy and international legality to contain this extremely serious situation.”

The Portuguese leader added that his position was not “so different” from Spain’s, and he called for a cease-fire and Israel to allow enough humanitarian aid into Gaza.