Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters in New York for the UN General Assembly. Photo: RNZ / Anneke Smith
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters says New Zealand has taken a moral stance in not recognising a Palestinian state after considering all aspects of the issue.
In a speech at the United Nations General Assembly, Peters outlined why the government had decided against recognising Palestinian statehood at this time.
The decision leaves New Zealand with a handful of countries including Singapore, Japan, South Korea and the United States, who have not made the move.
Speaking to media after the announcement, Peters said now was not the right time.
"We'll only have one chance to do it, and it's got to happen and be something that works in the long term."
Peters said he laid the reasoning for the decision very carefully during his speech.
There were a number of factors that needed to be in place before New Zealand would recognise a Palestinian state, he said.
"For all the same criteria that were laid out decades ago in Montevideo - boundaries, elected government, accepted authority, just three fundamental principles of recognition that have been going on for decades - were not here."
Recognising a Palestinian state at this time could prove counterproductive, he said. Hamas had "taken enormous propaganda value" from other countries' decisions to recognise a Palestinian state, while Israel had "snapped to worsen the situation to intolerable levels", he said.
The question after recognising a Palestinian state always had to be "yes but so what happens the day after?" Peters said.
"We've seen others make their statements and what happened the day after got worse, our job is to ensure that what happens the day after is better long term and the situation of conflict is over."
Peters said New Zealand had taken a moral stance on the issue.
"We've announced our independent foreign policy for the umpteenth time, we've considered all the aspects very carefully all week, talked to all sorts of people here ... and we came to the conclusion that this wasn't the right time."
Hamas had still not even returned the Israeli hostages, he said.
"We have said that we are going to go on working with the Palestinian Authority for a better time when they're free of this and when they can, we we make the recognition to go on and be a successful state - that's our purpose."
In the meantime, the government has committed a further $10m to international humanitarian partners to deliver emergency supplies into Gaza, bringing New Zealand's total contribution to $47.5m.
Peters said New Zealand had not come under any pressure from the US to make this decision.
"We would not be pressured and they realised that."
In a recent poll, 60 percent of New Zealanders did not voice support for recognition of the Palestinian state, he said.
"We respect everybody's views and we've tried to make sure that we consider all aspects of it."
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