Cheers and jeers as New Zealand holds back on Palestinian state recognition: Video
New Zealand has declined to recognise a Palestinian state for now, even as key allies moved to do so before world leaders at the UN General Assembly, a move that drew both praise and condemnation at home and abroad.
Foreign Minister Winston Peters told the gathering in New York on Friday that New Zealand was not ready to follow suit.
“With a war raging, Hamas remaining the de facto government of Gaza, and no clarity on next steps, too many questions remain about the future state of Palestine for it to be prudent for New Zealand to announce recognition at this time,” he said.
Peters added that recognition in the current climate “could complicate efforts to secure a ceasefire by pushing Israel and Hamas into even more intransigent positions.”
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon echoed that stance in Auckland the following day, stressing that recognition was “a question of when, not if.” He said New Zealanders could be “proud” of the government’s independent decision.
“We are not pro-Palestine, nor Israel, and we are friends to both. What we are is pro-peace,” Luxon said.
The decision leaves New Zealand among a minority of countries, including the United States, Japan and South Korea, that have withheld recognition. It stood apart from partners such as Australia, Canada and Britain, which on Sunday joined more than 140 nations that formally backed Palestinian aspirations for statehood.
Officials in Wellington argued that the timing was key.
A government handout released on Friday said New Zealand “hoped to recognise a Palestinian state at a time when the situation on the ground offers greater prospects for peace and negotiation than at present.”
Luxon said his government would continue to support the Palestinian Authority in building governance and institutions to prepare for eventual statehood.
Critics, however, accused the government of moral failure.
Former prime minister Helen Clark called it a “day of shame” for New Zealand, noting the decision had been taken 11 days earlier but disclosed late in the UN debate.
Labour’s foreign affairs spokesperson, Peeni Henare, said the government had placed New Zealand “on the wrong side of history,” adding: “There is no two-state solution or enduring peace in the Middle East without recognition of Palestine as a state.”
This story is written and edited by the Global South World team, you can contact us here.
