New Zealand has the opportunity to be a leader and strengthen its credibility internationally by recognising Palestinian statehood, a representative says.
Canberra-based Izzat Abdulhadi is a representative of the Palestinian Authority (PA) and heads the General Palestinian Delegation to New Zealand. In a wide-ranging Q+A interview, he spoke about the human toll of the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza, the context surrounding October 7, and what a potential Palestinian state could look like.
Abdulhadi said he considered New Zealand to be in a different position to most Western countries with its “relative independence” from the US.
“I think New Zealand, as a respectful and credible country within the international community, could have the lead [in recognising Palestinian statehood].
“Because sometimes leadership means you bear certain risks and do actions which will strengthen your own credibility.”
He said New Zealand taking that step could mean Australia would follow suit.
In April, Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong said in a speech the “only hope to break the endless cycle of violence” in the Middle East is “a Palestinian state alongside the State of Israel” where both sides recognised “each other’s right to exist”.
Later that month, Foreign Minister Winston Peters wrote that the diplomatic recognition of a Palestinian state was a matter of “when not if”. He added that while New Zealand had supported the establishment of the state for decades, now was not the right time.
“Bluntly asserting statehood unilaterally at this point, however well-intentioned, would do nothing to alleviate the current plight of the Palestinian people. Indeed, it might impede progress,” Peters said.
Meanwhile, Labour’s foreign affairs spokesperson David Parker called on the Government to recognise a Palestinian state as a means to progress a two-state solution.
In talks with the Foreign Minister in February, Abdulhadi said he “had a good discussion” with Peters about “the significance of recognition of the state of Palestine”.
“The time is now” for that recognition, he said.
“How many people should die until we have our own self-determination? Until the present, you know, we have lost a lot of humans. I think it’s time now for the international community to provide us with hope.”
According to Gaza’s Health Ministry, at least 34,600 Palestinians have been killed since the Israeli military launched its airstrike campaign and ground invasion. The Hamas-run health authority does not differentiate between combatants and civilians in their count but says at least two-thirds of those killed have been women and children.
Decades of hostilities between the Israeli and Palestinian sides intensified in October, when Hamas gunmen broke out of the blockaded Gaza Strip, killing about 1160 Israelis and kidnapping about 250.
Abdulhadi, who returned from visiting the occupied West Bank this week, told Q+A the violence there – largely against Palestinians by Israeli settlers – was also escalating.
The UN and most of the international community have long considered Israeli settlements in the occupied territories as illegal. Israel disputes this.
“[The] recognition of the state of Palestine [sends] a very strong statement, message to Israel to implement the two-state solution, and to identify the borders,” Abdulhadi said.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is opposed to the establishment of a Palestinian state, saying it would pose “an existential danger to Israel”.
Who would govern a potential Palestinian state?
Abdulhadi said while there was still a process that needed to happen to figure out how any future Palestinian state would be governed, he said it should be left up to Palestinians to decide democratically.
“This is very important because I noticed from Western countries, also the international community, that they want to decide on behalf of the Palestinian people.”
He believed this would help prevent a repeat of the aftermath of the 2006 Palestinian elections, which saw fighting in Gaza between the Hamas and Fatah parties after the former had won. It led to an estimated 600 Palestinian deaths and left de facto governance of Gaza to Hamas, and of the West Bank to the Western-backed, Fatah-led PA.
A poll of Palestinians in December suggested a rise in support for Hamas and widespread unpopularity of PA President and Fatah chair Mahmoud Abbas. The PA is also viewed with suspicion among Palestinians due to its security coordination with Israel, leading many to see it as a subcontractor of Israel’s occupation.
There have not been elections to the Palestinian Parliament since 2006. Abdulhadi believed Hamas would be willing to conduct elections post-war.
“Throughout our [the PA’s] discussions with Hamas for the past 15 years to reach unity between Hamas and the Palestinian Authority, we stressed all the time our own vision of a two-state solution, including a Palestinian state coexisting peacefully with Israel.”
In February, New Zealand designated the entirety of Hamas, rather than just its military wing, a terrorist entity. Hamas has not explicitly indicated whether it would recognise Israel or renounce its “armed resistance” against it.
Abdulhadi said he didn’t know the condition Hamas would find itself in by the end of the war in Gaza and “how they will change their own views”.
“If we have a Palestinian state, self-determination, I don’t think that there will be the same old paradigm with fighting between Hamas and Fatah.”
If Hamas did win the post-war election, he said they should “be a responsible party”.
“I think now it will be different, a little bit. People are really supporting democracy in a different way. But it depends also on the international community, how they deal with this situation.
“We [the PA] set certain principles that Gaza is a part of the Government. What will help or assist this process is the heavy involvement of the international community to find a peaceful horizon for the Palestinian people.”
For the full interview, watch Q+A at 9am on TVNZ+ or TVNZ 1
Q+A with Jack Tame is made with the support of New Zealand On Air