New Zealand’s decision to not recognise Palestinian statehood placed the country on the wrong side of history, opposition parties and senior leaders said.
Foreign minister Winston Peters said at the UN General Assembly on Saturday that while his country was committed to a two-state solution, it did not yet recognise the state of Palestine.
“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,” Mr Peters said. A recognition of statehood could complicate efforts to secure a ceasefire, the minister claimed.
New Zealand’s position was contrary to that of its main traditional allies like the UK, Canada and Australia, which all formally recognised a Palestinian state, joining over 140 UN member states that had already done so.
France also formally recognised a Palestinian state on Monday.
The expanded recognition of Palestinian statehood is expected to have little if any actual impact on the ground, where Israel is waging another major offensive in the Gaza Strip and expanding settlements in the occupied West Bank.
The decision sparked a major disagreement in the country with New Zealand’s opposition leaders and a former prime minister calling out Christopher Luxon’s administration.
New Zealand had placed itself “very much on the wrong side of history”, former prime minister Helen Clark told RNZ, adding the government’s rationale about the future of Gaza did not make sense.
“As more and more countries move to see that the recognition of Palestine is part of a process of moving towards a solution, New Zealand is lagging behind for reasons that make very little sense at all,” she said. "If you recognise the State of Palestine now, you are empowering the Palestinian Authority, which Hamas is not a member of, it is not even representative of the Palestine Liberation Organisation.”
New Zealand is among half a dozen Pacific island nations that have not recognised Palestine at a time Israel’s war starving and killing millions in Gaza grinds on. South Korea, Singapore and the US are among other nations that have not yet recognised Palestinian statehood.
Labour leader Chris Hipkins described the decision as “morally reprehensible” and a failure of leadership.
“New Zealanders will feel let down by Christopher Luxon and his government today,” Labour foreign affairs spokesperson Peeni Henare said.
“Luxon had a chance to stand up for what is right but he failed. There’s no two-state solution or enduring peace in the Middle East, without recognition of Palestine as a state.”
In further backlash back home, the Green party said the government’s decision was “a stain” on New Zealand’s reputation as a voice for peace and justice.
On Saturday, the prime minister said New Zealand’s position was not one of taking sides in the conflict.
“New Zealand is neither pro-Palestine nor pro-Israel,” Mr Luxon said. “We want to see two states, Israel and Palestine, living in peace and security, and that will only happen through negotiation, dialogue, diplomacy, and leadership.”
The creation of a Palestinian state alongside Israel in the West Bank, Gaza and eastern Jerusalem – territories seized by Israel in 1967 – is widely seen as the only way to resolve the conflict, which started more than a century before Hamas’s 7 October attack ignited the war in Gaza nearly two years ago.
Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in his own UN speech, denounced the recognition by Western states as sending a message that “murdering Jews pays off”.
He strongly rejected a Palestinian state, dismissing the two-state idea as “madness” and warning that the recognition trend would embolden Hamas.
Wellington’s decision at the UN General Assembly was also condemned by human rights organisation Justice for Palestine. It said that New Zealand had shown a profound lack of leadership on the issue, appearing on the world stage “as a country confused about its position in the world”.
