Portugal Travel

Portugal this week repeated its condemnation of the fighting in and around the Gaza Strip and called on Israeli and Palestinian Hamas forces to agree an immediate cease-fire.

Lisbon reaffirmed its support for diplomatic initiatives underway to end the cycle of violence”, limit the risks of “the crisis widening” and “safeguard the well being of affected civilian populations”.

On December 29, the Portuguese Government condemned “the launching of rockets” against Israel from Gaza and Israel’s retaliatory “large scale military operations” against the Hamas-controlled Palestinian territory.

Meanwhile, diplomatic efforts to keep the conflict in Gaza from escalating were more important than “pointing fingers” of blame at Israel or the Palestinian Hamas party, Portuguese Foreign Minister Luís Amado said earlier this week. “The disproportion of forces is evident, but we have also never rejected Israel’s right to defend itself from Hamas”, Minister Amado told journalists on the sidelines of a diplomatic seminar in Lisbon.

“More than pointing fingers, what is important is to find a solution that re-empts an escalation that could degenerate into a conflict of greater proportions”, he added, reiterating Portugal’s call for an immediate cease-fire followed by humanitarian aid for Gaza’s civilian population and the re-launching of the Israeli-Palestinian peace process.

Luís Amado said the international community should continue to “put all pressure” on the antagonists in order to achieve a “rapid cease-fire” and revive the “framework for an accord” between “moderate” Palestinian forces, Arab states and Israel.