New Zealand’s Foreign Minister Winston Peters says his country is not ready to recognise Palestinian statehood

New Zealand’s Foreign Minister Winston Peters has said that his country is not ready to recognise Palestinian statehood. In his address to the United Nations General Assembly in New York, Mr Peters outlined New Zealand’s position, saying aid must flow and violence must cease before New Zealand will be willing to recognise Palestinian statehood, something he acknowledged was inevitable. The decision aligns New Zealand with other countries which have taken a more cautious approach, such as Singapore and Japan, but is at odds with the position of its formal ally, Australia, as well as its partners, the United Kingdom and Canada, which have all formally recognised a state of Palestine. Opposition Labour and the Green Party have both strongly condemned the Government’s decision, calling it cowardly and warning that it places New Zealand on the wrong side of history.