NZ declare an Islamic State of Palestine?

Green politicians in NZ declare an Islamic State of Palestine should be created via a motion of the NZ Parliament due to be debated today. The Hamas PA covenant they are fighting for can be found here. This follows a series of nationwide protests on the weekend calling for Israel to be eliminated. The Green party are trying to push this as something ordinary Kiwi’s want. This is not true. The Greens are hoping that should NZ declare an Islamic State of Palestine, other western nations will follow Jacinda Ardern’s lead.

The Green Party has put forward a motion asking MPs to recognise Palestinian statehood, as the death toll mounts in a worsening conflict between Israel and Hamas.

New Zealand does not recognise Palestine as a state, but supports a two-state solution to the conflict, which would mean the creation of a Palestinian state.

The members’ motion, submitted to Parliament by Green MP Golriz Ghahraman, will ask MPs to recognise “the state of Palestine among our community of nations”.

It could be debated by the House on Wednesday, but already it appears the effort may fail as the ACT Party promised to vote it down over a Green MP’s pro-Palestine tweet.

The move comes two weeks after the ACT Party put forward a motion that asked MPs to declare that genocide was occurring against the Uyghur Muslim minority in Xinjiang, China, a motion that was successful after the word “genocide” was replaced with “severe human rights abuses”.

“New Zealand as a country hasn’t recognised Palestine as a state, which means that we are not in fact part of a two state solution, which is what my motion calls for,” Ghahraman said.

“The Government’s position is wholly lacklustre and disappointing, so I’m not expecting necessarily that they’ll suddenly be bold, but I am very hopeful I think we can be part of an ongoing peace solution.”

The motion will ask MPs to agree that: “That this House recognises and supports the right of Palestine to self-determination and statehood; and recognises the state of Palestine among our community of nations”.

Under Parliamentary rules, a member of Parliament can lodge a motion and seek leave for the motion to be considered. If a single MP objects to the motion being considered, the proposed motion will be defeated.

If the House agrees to it being debated and a majority of MPs vote in favour of the motion, it becomes the position of the Parliament.

ACT Party deputy leader Brooke van Velden, who ushered through the motion on the abuse of Uyghur earlier this month, sent Ghahraman a letter on Tuesday saying that ACT supported a two-state solutaion to the conflict.

“However, we will not be supporting your motion,” the letter read.

Van Velden took issue with a tweet posted by Green MP Ricardo Menéndez March while at a pro-Palestine protest at the weekend, which read: “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free!”

“This phrase is used by Hamas, a terrorist organisation that calls for the elimination of Israel,” van Velden said.

“We don’t believe supporting the motion proposed by the Green Party is a helpful contribution to this discourse given the recent actions of Green MPs.”

Ghahraman said it would be disappointing if ACT voted down the motion, after her party engaged in good faith with ACT over the Uyghur motion – “that issue was much bigger than us as individual politicians”.

She said Menéndez March’s message was chanted at the protest by about 2000 people, including “Jews, Muslims, Kiwis from all cultural backgrounds”.

—Stuff.co.nz