Foreign Minister Winston Peters has told the United Nations New Zealand is “not ready” to recognise Palestinian statehood.
Peters outlined New Zealand’s position in a national address to the United Nations General Assembly in New York.
He said “aid must flow and violence must cease” before New Zealand will be willing to recognise Palestinian statehood, something he acknowledged was inevitable.
The decision aligns New Zealand with other countries which have taken a more cautious approach such as Sinapore and Japan, but is at odds with the position of our one formal ally Australia as well as Five Eyes partners the United Kingdom and Canada, which have all formally recognised a state of Palestine.
Labour and the Green Party have both strongly condemned the Government’s decision, calling it “cowardly” and warned it places New Zealand on the “wrong side of history”.
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Cabinet made an in-principle decision on Palestinian recognition about two weeks ago but decided it wouldn’t be made public until Peters spoke at the UN meeting.
Peters, who has spent the past week in New York meeting with other foreign leaders, didn’t let any details slip even as other nations such as Australia and the United Kingdom announce formal recognition of Palestine.
Confronted with the question of recognition prior to UNGA, Peters often referenced the more immediate need for a ceasefire in the bloody conflict between Israel and Hamas.
He has also called for the return of hostages still held by Hamas after its attack of Israel on October 7, 2023, which triggered an ongoing assault from Israel in Gaza that has reportedly killed more than 60,000 people.
New Zealand supports the idea of a two-state solution as a means to achieve peace.
Some of the debate about statehood recognition concerns whether such a decision would be seen as rewarding Hamas, which was officially deemed a terrorist organisation by Prime Minister Christopher Luxon.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made similar claims as he condemned Australia, the UK and Canada for recognising Palestine.
“I have a clear message to those leaders who recognise a Palestinian state after the horrific massacre of October 7: You are giving a huge reward to terrorism.”
Speaking this morning in New York, Netanyahu vowed to block a Palestinian state, accusing European leaders of pushing his country into “national suicide” and rewarding Hamas.
Netanyahu, who said his speech was being partially broadcast on Israeli military loudspeakers in Gaza, vowed to “finish the job” against Hamas even as US President Donald Trump said he thought he had sealed a deal on a ceasefire.
Palestinian foreign ministry official Adel Atieh called Netanyahu’s address “the speech of a defeated man”.
“This speech showed neither vision nor perspective: it only reflected growing isolation, a headlong rush forward and the anxiety of a power that knows it stands on the wrong side of history.”
Netanyahu did not touch on the issue of annexing the West Bank, which some members of his Cabinet have threatened as a way to kill any prospect of a real Palestinian state.
Additional reporting: AFP
Adam Pearse is the Deputy Political Editor and part of the NZ Herald’s Press Gallery team based at Parliament in Wellington. He has worked for NZME since 2018, reporting for the Northern Advocate in Whangārei and the Herald in Auckland.