It’s been 12+ hours since I reported on Winston Peters’ decision on Palestine, and yet I still feel the same levels of emotion, so this article may not be easy to write.
Peters’ announcement was met by the government leaders with a combination of postured confidence (Winston Peters), pride (David Seymour), and defensiveness (Luxon).
After his United Nations speech, Peters told waiting media:
“We tried to find out from as many people as we could what would possibly happen the next day that would justify our decision now and we didn’t get the satisfactory answer we would’ve have liked to have had.”
What the actual ****?
Our Foreign Minister is telling us that the years and months of detailed briefings from MFAT1, that would have outlined all the potential and likely scenarios/options, amounted to little for him?
And he had to go around and casually ask the 157 UN members who recognise Palestine, and the 37 who have not, for their opinions during tea breaks?
Does he really believe Kiwis are as unintelligent as to believe he went on a genuine fact finding mission for Palestine? Or that was when he decided?
Or that Peters’ lamentation about missing the chance to chat to Donald Trump wasn’t about his covert plan to see if he could come out as a ‘national hero’ with lower tariffs, by whispering the Coalition’s preset position to the US leader first?
(Spoiler: Peters couldn’t get close to Trump two days ago because the traffic was bad)
Does the Foreign Minister want us to believe that NZ is no longer part of 5 Eyes, and Canada, Australia and the UK wouldn’t have shared the detailed roadmap, assumptions, and rationale of their considered decision to recognise Palestine?
No.
We are not that stupid, Foreign Minister.
Paving the way
I mentioned the other day that Stuff’s The Post had published an article from Dr David Cumin - a director of the Israel Institute of New Zealand: “NZ must hold to its principles in not supporting a Palestinian state”
It was published the day before a decision was due; a standard move of this government in laying the groundwork for their pre-defined decisions.
Cumin is also a Council member of the Free Speech Union, a group formed by Atlas Network aligned / Taxpayers Union Director Jordan Williams
Thomas Manch, a Stuff political reporter, also wrote an article about a week ago which sounded like advocacy for non-recognition too.
Is recognition important?
Recognising Palestine as a state is symbolic and meaningful, but it’s not ineffectual, as some would suggest. Our closest Commonwealth allies see it as the pre-requisite to keeping alive the possibility of a two state solution. And it’s a baseline for the subsequent steps that are needed.
Former PM Helen Clark who has been tirelessly advocating for Gaza over the last years, identified some of these key steps in a short video:
“[Next]….addressing arms sales, componentry relevant to that..must be stopped. The war cabinet must be sanctioned. Preferential trade agreements suspended” etc.
Importantly, it is a strong signifier for where the world stands - and us within that.
New Zealand is not a powerful country internationally, but it has traditionally held its head high - from the first self-governing country to grant women the right to vote, to holding out sending combat troops to a US, but not United Nations sanctioned, war in Iraq.
Both decisions have stood the test of time.
That ended yesterday.
What did the PM say?
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon, who has surely by now won the top prize for the most cowardly and ineffective leader this side of any Pacific, said during his press conference:
“We’re friends with [Palestine and Israel], and we are pro-peace, and true peace starts with a ceasefire, and that’s the only way to end all of this suffering.”
He said there are two conditions before New Zealand would recognise Palestine: Disband and remove Hamas, and Palestine needing to have the right “governance, institutions, capacity building of a Palestinian future state” in place first.
Significantly, Australia, UK and Canada put the conditions Luxon outlined within their recognition template, but our NZ government posits it as the barriers to entry.
When asked how Palestine can do this while under assault and annexation, Luxon describes it as a “challenge” while pivoting to distractionary gobble.
Re-building Gaza could take 350 years
Winston Peters also threw out conditions
Yesterday, Winston Peters leaned on the 1933 Montevideo Convention on the Rights and Duties of States to declare:
“There is no fully legitimate and viable state of Palestine to recognise. Palestine does not fully meet the accepted criteria for a state, as it does not fully control its own territory or population.”
But international experts, including Catherine Frost, a political science professor at McMaster University in Canada say it is misleading to suggest a country could not.
And the Palestinian state does meet the criteria of a permanent population. And while disputed, the borders of a Palestinian state are largely seen as those that would include the West Bank, the Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem.2
Countries/states like Sweden, France, Canada, UK, South Africa, Norway, Australia, Vatican, Belgium, Luxembourg, Malta, Portugal and so on have already done so in solidarity.
New Zealand is choosing not to.
Luxon’s genuinely impassioned pleas for Israel
Luxon trot out other lines of meaningless gobbledygook during his press conference, but what was interesting is how he avoided referencing “genocide”, “starvation” and casualty numbers when it came to speaking of the afflictions in Gaza.
He lamented robotically of Israel:
“You’ve got to protect civilians. You’ve got to have unimpeded humanitarian aid in there.” etc.
Israel has been accused of genocide / war crimes by international experts, and former Israeli PMs. Former IDF chiefs have admitted killing 10% of Palestine’s population ~200,000 people. Israeli media have also documented “starvation everywhere” including of children.
But Luxon came alive when he spoke of Hamas’ atrocities. Looking impassioned, Luxon broke from his corporate spiel and rattled numbers off easily on when Israel suffered a brutal attack on October 7, 2023.
Luxon:
“…251 people were taken hostages. 48 people are still there today, maybe 20 alive.
There is fault at both ends here, and we’ve had a very balanced approach through it. I appreciate there’s strong views either side. But we as a government have to have a balanced approach.”
None of the Israeli or Palestinian civilians and innocents deserved death or capture - including the hostages that Israeli families say are being stopped from release by Netanyahu’s own actions.
Or the thousands of Palestinian prisoners held by Israel without adequate food and nutrition for months and years on end.
Earlier this month, Israeli hostages’ families spokespeople said: “Every time a deal approaches, Netanyahu sabotages it”.
“There is fault at both ends,” says Luxon.
Tell that to the 15 civilians of every 16 killed in Gaza.
Tell that to the high civilian death toll in this “war.”
Tell that to the children.
All of them.
What our Commonwealth allies said this month
Australia’s Prime Minister and Foreign Minister:
“Australia was the first country to raise its hand at the United Nations in support of Resolution 181, to create the State of Israel – and a Palestinian state.
More than 77 years later, the world can no longer wait for the implementation of that Resolution to be negotiated between the parties….”
“Today’s act of recognition reflects Australia’s longstanding commitment to a two-state solution, which has always been the only path to enduring peace and security for the Israeli and the Palestinian peoples.
The international community has set out clear requirements for the Palestinian Authority…
Australia will continue to work with our international partners to help build on today’s act of recognition and to bring the Middle East closer to the lasting peace and security that is the hope, and the right, of all humanity.”
Canada’s PM, Mark Carney:
“Canada recognises the State of Palestine and offers our partnership in building the promise of a peaceful future for both the State of Palestine and the State of Israel”
“[It is] imperative that Hamas release all hostages, fully disarm, and play no role in the future governance of Palestine”.
British PM, Keir Starmer:
“In the face of the growing horrors in the Middle East we are acting to keep alive the possibility of peace and a two-state solution.
That means a safe and secure Israel, alongside a viable Palestinian state. At the moment we have neither.”
New Zealand Opposition Party Statements
Pictures
Ministry of Foreign Affairs & Trade
Source: CBC Canada
