It comes as fighting continues between Israel and Hamas, the group that governs the Gaza Strip, a territory considered to be occupied by Israel, however the extent of self-rule has led some to describe it as a de facto independent state.
New Zealand does not officially recognise Palestine as a state and has Hamas listed as a terrorist group. However, New Zealand does believe in the two-state solution , which envisions an independent State of Palestine alongside the State of Israel.
Green Party foreign affairs spokesperson Golriz Ghahraman said granting statehood is part of a two-state solution that would uphold and celebrate the inherent rights and dignity of Palestinians.
Israel-Palestine conflict: Green Party s motion to recognise statehood through two-state solution blocked in Parliament
19 May, 2021 02:35 AM
6 minutes to read
Greens foreign affairs spokesperson Golriz Ghahraman has tabled the motion.
A Green Party bid for Parliament to debate recognising Palestine as a state has been blocked, a move the party says questions stated support for a two-state solution.
Greens foreign affairs spokeswoman Golriz Ghahraman tabled the motion in the House, asking MPs to recognise and support the right of Palestine to self-determination and statehood, and recognise the State of Palestine among our community of nations .
It comes amid escalating conflict between Israel and Hamas, which governs the Palestinian territory of Gaza.
National Party foreign affairs spokesman Gerry Brownlee told
Stuff on Wednesday morning that, while the party supported a two-state solution, it would not support the motion. “We have followed that two-state concept since it was first proposed in 1993 and there have been many attempts to get it together but it has not yet been achieved, and I think to leap ahead of the negotiations by recognising Palestine as a state is pretty much an act of bad faith,” Brownlee said. He said the parties in the conflict, Israel and Hamas, needed to come together, and New Zealand needed to stick to its position and support the peace process.
AP
Following an Israeli airstrike on Gaza City on May 15, Palestinians inspect the damage and salvage documents and copies of the Koran from the rubble of the Qlebo mosque at the Jabalia refugee camp.
OPINION: When governments want to commit heinous crimes with impunity, they brand their enemies terrorists. In China, Israel, Myanmar, Yemen and Ethiopia, this is the case, as wars continue between powerful regimes and populations often unable to defend themselves. But the victims of government attack are often not the terrorists that propagandists would have us believe. Everyday people die. Their killers are excused.
Khalil Hamra/AP
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