Em Barcelos, district of Braga, during a campaign action for the upcoming municipal elections, Mariana Mortágua expressed distrust in U.S. President Donald Trump’s ability to mediate a peace agreement.
“We’re talking about a man who said he wanted to turn Gaza into a real estate project, a Riviera, a destroyed city under rubble,” she stated.
The U.S. President announced plans to travel “soon” to Egypt to officially sign the ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas, without providing a specific date.
“It’s obviously a reason to celebrate that, apart from additional reports of bombings and casualties, the people of Gaza could experience a night of peace and rest without fearing the next bomb or drone. I believe it’s always worth celebrating such peace, even if temporary, and thus my initial note is one of relief and celebration,” said the leader of the Left Bloc.
Mortágua further remarked that the “genocide” began two years ago, “but the violence of Israel against the Palestinians did not start two years ago.”
“Therefore, a lasting agreement must include the recognition of the Palestinian people’s right to the borders they are acknowledged to have and the punishment of Israel for the illegal occupation of Palestinian lands,” she advocated.
The coordinator of the Left Bloc emphasized, “No peace agreement can be lasting if it essentially crystallizes, institutionalizes the occupation of territories.”
“This agreement does not address the areas of Palestine that were illegally occupied by Israel and remain occupied, just as it says nothing about the occupied parts of the West Bank that Israel has stated it will continue to occupy,” she pointed out.
Additionally, she considered that a peace agreement must entail the prosecution of war criminals.
“Israel committed crimes against humanity, and Israeli leaders need to be prosecuted for it. Arrest warrants have already been issued by international courts, and it is crucial that those responsible for the genocides, those responsible for these crimes against humanity, be brought to justice,” Mariana Mortágua added.
For the leader of the Left Bloc, this agreement “was achieved on the basis of extortion.”
“There is no peace where the bargaining chip is genocide, where the bargaining chip is the massacre of thousands of children, the starvation of a people. For peace to be lasting, it requires respecting the Palestinian people’s right to independence, sovereignty, and the internationally recognized borders that Israel does not respect,” she reiterated.
