Kiwis 'can be proud' NZ isn't recognising Palestine yet - PM Christopher Luxon

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Prime Minister Christopher Luxon says New Zealanders can be "proud" of the government's decision not to recognise Palestinian statehood.

New Zealand was among only a handful of countries - including the US, Japan and South Korea - which had not formally recognised it.

The long-awaited decision was announced by the UN General Assembly at the weekend by Foreign Minister Winston Peters.

Afterwards, ACT leader David Seymour said it was a "proud day" for New Zealand because it had shown "moral clarity" on the issue.

Luxon - who opted to go to the All Blacks' match against Australia on Saturday instead of New York - was asked if he was proud of the decision on Morning Report on Monday. He said many Kiwis would have strong views on the situation, but the government's decision was consistent with its independent foreign policy.

He said New Zealand was not pro-Palestine, nor Israel, and was a friend to both. But he said the government could not recognise Palestinian statehood while terrorist group Hamas was in control in Gaza.

"It's a matter of when, not if, but it's just not now," he said.

"Well, I think we can be proud of [that decision] because we've made our own independent decision and assessment of it."

He said a more pressing issue was to stop the conflict.

"Irrespective of whether you've recognised Palestine or not, we still advocate very strongly for a two-state solution.

"That's why you've seen us sign up to statements by France and Saudi Arabia in the last couple of weekends, continuing to advocate for that.

"But, irrespective of whether you do or don't recognise Palestine, I can tell you - having spoken to all the leaders on both sides of that debate - the reality is that we're all very united on actually stopping the conflict, because the bloodshed, the humanitarian suffering is catastrophic, and that region will not come back to peace."

Luxon said there were "extremists" on both sides.

"That's the reason why we don't have peace in the region, right? I mean, that is as simple as it gets. And that's why I keep saying, we're not pro-Palestine, we're not pro-Israel, we're friends to both, but we are pro-peace. And that's what New Zealand's continued to advocate for with 80-plus ministerial statements. We'll continue to work with our global partners on all of that.

"But what we're looking for is we want to see Hamas releasing hostages unconditionally. We want to see them disbanding, disarming. We want to see the renouncement of violence and terrorism from all Palestinian leaders.

"Equally, we also need to see some real actions towards a legitimate state, and we're going to continue to work with the Palestinian Authority. We actually support them building capacity, building governance, strengthening their institutions. and we want to continue to support all of that as well."

Luxon said New Zealand would continue to call on Israel to halt its actions and policies that were undermining the two-state solution.

"We are definitely supporting a two-state solution, have since 1947, will continue to do so, but our focus is actually on resolving this conflict, and we want to continue to build up Palestinian capacity building so that they can actually have legitimacy of a state and have some of the apparatus that's needed to actually run a state."

Not surprising - advocate

Heba Mortaja, who had family in Gaza and was spokesperson for Aotearoa for Palestine, said she was not surprised by the government's decision.

"For the past two years, Kiwis all over New Zealand, we have been protesting for Palestine and the New Zealand government hasn't really done much. So to be honest, it wasn't like a complete shock to see Winston Peters' statement at the UN General Assembly the other day."

Asked if recognising Palestine as its own state could be seen as rewarding Hamas' atrocities, Mortaja said there was "always this focus on what Hamas has done on October 7".

"However, you know, like, what about what Israel is doing? Recognising Palestine doesn't mean that, you know, New Zealand is like, supporting Hamas. It's supporting Palestinian self-determination, which is something very different from Hamas.

"And Palestine isn't just Gaza as well. Palestine is also the West Bank. And, you know, Hamas isn't in the West Bank. So I feel like that's a that's a weak argument."

She said other countries' recognition of Palestine - New Zealand is one of just a handful that has not - "has made a difference in terms of the Israeli aggression".

"I think if they did recognise Palestine, it would just show that New Zealand stands up for human rights and stands up for Palestinian self-determination. And they did also, recognise Israel - so it's like they're only recognising the side that's currently committing genocide."

Mortaja said there would "definitely" be more protest action as a result of the government's decision.

Israel's ambassador to New Zealand Alon Roth said New Zealand's decisions "sends a very clear message to Hamas… that violence and terror will not be rewarded and that the 48 Israeli hostages that are still in the tunnels of death of Hamas should be freed immediately.

"So we believe that such a decision will help [defeat] terror and not rewarding it."

Asked if there would ever be a right time to recognise Palestine as its own state, Roth said first Hamas had to be defeated.

"For the time being - and this of course will be debated by politicians in the future - but for the time being, we don't see any reason to reward a terror organisation and reward an entity that is just inciting time and again against Israel.

"I didn't say that there is no right time. It's not up for me to make a decision. As I said, for the time being, the most important thing is not what you refer to as two-state solution. The time right now is the time to stop the war by defeating Hamas, by disarming Hamas, by releasing the Israeli hostages that are still kept there for two years already. This is the thing we should do now and not just go into discussions of the future."

Roth expressed doubt that the death toll in Gaza was being reported accurately, but would not provide any counter figures.

Several analyses by local and international agencies have put the likely death toll at above confirmed figures from the Gaza Health Ministry - approximately 68,000 - and more than half of them are widely believed to be women and children.

Nearly 1200 people were killed in Hamas' attack on Israel in October 2023, most of them civilians.

'The time will never be right'

International relations expert Robert Patman is surprised New Zealand didn't align with the United Kingdom, Australia and Canada on recognition, given New Zealand was the first of its Five Eyes partners to call for an immediate humanitarian truce or ceasefire in Gaza three weeks after the crisis broke out in 2023.

"Many people in this country expected a more robust response than simply saying the time is not right. The time will never be right for Israel."

"It's incumbent on the government now to explain why they think the prospects for a Palestinian state would improve by delaying this decision.

"We've been a country that's often seen as fair-minded, scrupulous about upholding the international law. I'm wondering whether we are now perceived as aligning ourselves with the US and Israelis over this issue, in which the majority of countries, 157, disagree."

Deputy Prime Minister David Seymour said it was a sensible decision and it was not incumbent on the government to explain its position of delaying recognition.

"It's incumbent on the people in the Middle East to improve the situation so that New Zealand can recognise in such a way that doesn't risk being seen as rewarding bad behaviour."

Peters says New Zealand remains committed to doing its part to alleviate the suffering in Gaza. For now, as the situation worsens in Gaza, that won't be in the form of recognition as a state.

Luxon said the decision was not about winning votes.

"It's about making the right decision. There's a number of New Zealanders who are pro-recognition. There are a number of New Zealanders that are against it, and there's a number of New Zealanders that don't have a view on it.

"So, we've made our own independent decision, our own assessment, to continue with our current position, continue to call for both sides to de-escalate, get into diplomacy, negotiation, and ultimately see a two-state solution emerge."

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