Portugal to Recognize Palestine as a State as Netanyahu Remains Defiant

Portugal has become the latest European nation to recognize Palestine as a state, despite Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s continued refusal to acknowledge it.

In a statement dated Friday, September 19, 2025, Portugal’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced that the declaration would officially be made on Sunday, September 21, 2025.

“The Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirms that Portugal will recognize the State of Palestine. The official declaration of recognition will take place on Sunday, September 21, ahead of next week’s High-Level Conference,” read the statement.

Portugal to Recognize Palestine as a State

The decision comes just days before a high-level conference on Palestinian statehood at the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), scheduled for Tuesday, September 23, 2025.

According to Portuguese media, Prime Minister Luís Montenegro decided after consultations with the president and parliament.

While Spain, Ireland, and Norway recognized Palestinian statehood in May 2024 and urged other EU members to follow suit, Portugal had initially taken a more cautious approach, insisting on a common EU position before moving forward.

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Portugal now joins a growing list of European countries that have recognized Palestine in 2025, including Malta, France, Luxembourg, Belgium, Slovenia, and the United Kingdom.

Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has remained defiant. On September 11, 2025, he formally advanced a settlement expansion plan in the occupied West Bank, a move critics say would make the creation of a future Palestinian state nearly impossible.

Netanyahu Insists That Israel Will Not Recognize Palestine as a State

At an event in Maale Adumim, an Israeli settlement east of Jerusalem, Netanyahu signed an agreement to proceed with the project, declaring: “We are going to fulfil our promise that there will be no Palestinian state.

This place belongs to us. We are going to double the city’s population.”

However, Palestinian Authority presidential spokesperson Nabil Abu Rudeineh has insisted that a Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital remains the key to peace in the region.

He described statehood and a two-state solution as “inevitable” despite Netanyahu’s moves.

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For decades, the Palestinian people and their leaders have pushed for international recognition of Palestine as an independent state.

Their efforts have gained immense support, with more than two-thirds of United Nations member states now acknowledging Palestinian statehood. In recent years, several European nations have also joined this wave of recognition.

However, Israel has consistently rejected these moves, maintaining that Palestinian statehood should not be granted unilaterally but only as part of direct negotiations that address security and territorial concerns.

Backed by some of its closest allies, Israel has resisted attempts to formalize Palestine’s status at the United Nations or through international declarations. Many of these allies argue that recognition outside of a negotiated peace deal undermines the two-state solution they claim to support.

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