Against the annexation of the West Bank. For the recognition of the State of Palestine

Faced with the threat announced by the Government of Israel to advance towards the annexation of Palestinian territories on the West Bank of the Jordan River, MPPM took the initiative of promoting an open letter addressed to the Portuguese Government and signed by personalities from public, cultural and academic life, demanding the recognition by Portugal of the State of Palestine and a firm position towards the threat of annexation by Israel.

This is the text of the letter and the list of first signatories:

At a time of pandemic, a so-called government of “unity and urgency” was formed in Israel with a central purpose: to promote the de jure annexation of around 30% of the Palestinian territories occupied in 1967, including the entire Jordan River valley and the settlements established against international law in the West Bank. With the backing of the Trump Administration, such a decision – which the Israeli government intends to implement on 1 July  – violates and affronts decades of United Nations resolutions and the most basic norms of international law and legality, including the principle of inadmissibility of the acquisition of territory by force established in the Charter of the United Nations (Art. 2) and reiterated in resolution 242 of the UN Security Council. The world cannot accept the implementation of this project, nor can it stand by and watch the continued ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian people.

The international community has a historic debt to the Palestinian people. It is imperative that Portugal assume its responsibilities and commit to defending the fundamental human rights enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations and in the Constitution of the Portuguese Republic. There is no room for silence or ambiguity, which would make us complicit in the consequences of this annexation. It is time to act.

Out of an imperative of conscience and in the name of peace and justice, the signatories demand of the Portuguese Government:

1) That it immediately recognizes the State of Palestine in the territories occupied by Israel in 1967, with East Jerusalem as its capital, in accordance with the relevant United Nations resolutions;

2) That it reassesses the entire framework of relations with the State of Israel if the government of that country, in violation of international law, persists in carrying out the announced project of de jure annexation of Palestinian territory;

3) That it uses all the political and diplomatic instruments at its disposal, particularly within the United Nations system and the European Union, in order to resolutely defend the rights of the Palestinian people.

First signatories:

Maria do Céu Guerra
Alice Vieira
Álvaro Siza Vieira
António Antunes
António Vitorino de Almeida
Boaventura de Sousa Santos
Chullage
Cláudio Torres
Fernando Rosas
Ilda Figueiredo
Isabel Allegro Magalhães
Isabel Camarinha
D. Januário Torgal Ferreira
José Barata-Moura
José Luís Borges Coelho
José Neves
Manuel Carvalho da Silva
Manuel Gusmão
Miguel Vale de Almeida
Pedro Pezarat Correia
Pilar Del Rio
Ricardo Paes Mamede
Rui Namorado Rosa
Tiago Rodrigues
Vasco Lourenço