New Zealand will not recognise a Palestinian state “at this time”, foreign minister Winston Peters said on Friday, as Israel continues its offensive in Gaza.
In his address in New York, Mr Peters stressed that although New Zealand continued to support a two-state solution and the right of Palestinians to self-determination, recognition at this time could risk complicating ceasefire negotiations.
“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,” Peters said in a speech at the United Nations General Assembly in New York.
“We are also concerned that a focus on recognition, in the current circumstances, could complicate efforts to secure a ceasefire by pushing Israel and Hamas into even more intransigent positions.”
On Saturday, prime minister Christopher Luxon, speaking in Auckland, 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.”
New Zealand has diverged from several of its traditional partners: Australia, Canada, and the United Kingdom, which all formally recognised a Palestinian state on Sunday, joining more than 140 UN member states that already recognise Palestine.
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 creation of a Palestinian state alongside Israel in the West Bank, Gaza and east Jerusalem – territories seized by Israel in the 1967 six-day war – is widely seen internationally as the only way to resolve the conflict, which began 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 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.
New Zealand’s decision drew fierce criticism from the country’s opposition, according to RNZ. Labour leader Chris Hipkins described it 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 is no two-state solution or enduring peace in the Middle East, without recognition of Palestine as a state.”
In contrast, the governing coalition’s deputy prime minister, David Seymour, defended the stance as evidence of New Zealand’s independent judgment in foreign affairs.
The New Zealand Jewish Council stated it accepted recognition should follow “real progress” toward peace rather than serve as symbolic rhetoric, and that recognition now could be claimed prematurely as a victory by Hamas.
