After having said that Some Palestinians “should not have started” this war. with Israel, advising them to be moderate and peaceful, the President of the Republic, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, clarified that, “in this specific case,” the terrorist attack “served as a pretext” which does not facilitate the objective of having a Palestinian State and an Israeli State.
“I gave a pretext to those who oppose this. Then I even added that fortunately the Palestinians, as a whole, cannot be confused with the terrorist attack of a very specific group. The word is always the same, Portugal always has the same position. Portugal believes that there should be two states: the Palestinian state and the Israeli state, which should coexist peacefully. Portugal has always supported this and supports everything that contributes to it in terms of peace,” Marcelo explained.
Asked by journalists if the request for moderation that he mentioned is also valid for Israel, the head of state recalled that humanitarian law applies to everyone.
“Whether they are those that actually trigger terrorist acts like the first one in this most recent phase, or those actions that sacrifice innocent victims, they have one thing in common that is reprehensible: the idea of collective guilt is intolerable. This is unacceptable because it falls on the victims, whoever they are. Francisco Louçã said this in relation to the Hamas attack, but it obviously applies to all those who end up carrying out actions that sacrifice innocent victims in honor of the idea of collective responsibility,” added the President of the Republic.
At the end of Marcelo’s conversation with the head of the Palestinian diplomatic mission in Portugal, Nabil Abuznaid expressed his disappointment at the Portuguese president’s words.
Source: TSF
