Britain's Prime Minister Keir Starmer (R) and New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon (L) speak during their bilateral meeting in April. Photo: AFP / Pool / Frank Augstein
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon says he will speak to his British counterpart about the United Kingdom's new stance on Palestinian statehood, but says New Zealand won't be following its lead "at this stage".
"Not at this point," Luxon told reporters on Wednesday. "Obviously, I will be talking with Sir Keir Starmer around his position, which is a conditional statehood."
Earlier, UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer announced an intention to recognise a Palestinian state at the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in September unless Israel agreed to key conditions, including a ceasefire in Gaza.
In response, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Starmer was rewarding Hamas's monstrous terrorism and punishing its victims.
In response to questions from RNZ, Luxon said New Zealand had long supported the eventual recognition of Palestinian statehood, but that the immediate focus should be on getting aid into Gaza rather than "fragmenting and talking about all sorts of other things that are distractions".
"We need to put the pressure on Israel to get humanitarian assistance unfettered, at scale, at volume, into Gaza," he told RNZ.
"You can talk about a whole bunch of other things, but for right now, the world needs to focus."
New Zealand signed a separate joint statement with 14 other countries overnight expressing a willingness to recognise the state of Palestine as a necessary step towards a two-state solution.
Luxon said while there were "slight differences" between various countries' positions, all were distressed by the lack of humanitarian assistance getting into Gaza.
"We are a long way away," Luxon said. "We have very little influence, and we have very little trading connection with Israel in particular ... we have to send our messages and our concerns out in very unambiguous terms."
During Parliament's Question Time on Wednesday afternoon, Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters said New Zealand steadfastly supported the establishment of a Palestinian state and the right of the Palestinian people to self determination.
But he said the government first needed to see progress from Palestine, including representative governance, commitment to non-violence, and security guarantees for Israel.
"If we are to recognise the state of Palestine, New Zealand wants to know that what we are recognising is a legitimate, representative, viable, political entity," Peters said.
Peters also agreed with a contribution from ACT's Simon Court that recognising the state of Palestine before Hamas had returned hostages or laid down arms could constitute a "reward for acts of terrorism".
"That's most likely how it'd be interpreted," Peters replied.
Opposition parties have called on the government to move with more haste. On Wednesday, Labour leader Chris Hipkins said it was time for New Zealand to act: "We shouldn't wait for other countries to embarrass us into doing it."
And Green co-leader Marama Davidson questioned what the government was waiting for.
"What more do they need to see?" she said. "What more suffering do they need to actually see with their own eyes [before] doing something committed or definite like recognising Palestinian statehood?"
Peters said the opposition parties were being "absolutist" and "naive."
"They've got no idea what they're talking about," Peters said. "We would recognise, if we had a group legitimately to recognise."
Last week, French President Emmanuel Macron said his country would formally recognise a Palestinian state during the next UNGA meeting. Norway, Spain, and Ireland did so last year.
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