Europe Asia News

According to a statement by the Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Minister Varsen Aghabekian Shaheen met with Portuguese Parliament Vice President Teresa Morais as part of her official visit to Portugal.

The meeting addressed Palestinian-Portuguese relations as well as political and humanitarian developments in the occupied Palestinian territories. Shaheen drew attention to increasing settlement activity, land seizures and home demolitions in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, and said that the humanitarian situation in Gaza must also be addressed.

Shaheen called for the protection of the Palestinian people and the delivery of humanitarian aid, stressing the need to end the occupation, establish an independent Palestinian state along the 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital, and for the international community to take concrete steps to halt settlement activity.

The statement also noted that preparations for the legislative elections planned to be held in Palestine in November were discussed.