29 November 2012

New Zealand should vote for Palestine at UN

The New Zealand Government should vote in favour of recognising Palestine as a non-member observer state at the United Nations today says the Green Party.

The National Government abstained on a previous motion, and is not revealing which way it will vote today with John Key saying Cabinet has yet to make a decision.

“New Zealand should support the motion that Palestine's status be upgraded from an entity to a non-member observer state,” said Green Party global affairs spokesperson Kennedy Graham.

“A majority of UN member states, including European countries such as France and Spain, have declared they will be voting in favour of the motion.

“The Cabinet should have made a decision on this vote at their meeting on Monday. There is no excuse for the Government to still not have a firm position on this motion.

“New Zealand needs to take a firm and independent line on this issue.

“A vote in favour of greater recognition of Palestine is a vote in favour of that state’s legitimacy. There is no good reason to abstain on this vote.

“Abstaining is a cop-out position that undermines our global role as an independent honest broker, by unnecessarily aligning ourselves with Israel’s opposition to Palestinian recognition.

“The Government should also indicate greater recognition of Palestine at a local level by upgrading our accreditation of the Palestinian delegation, based in Canberra, to full embassy status.”

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