New Zealand Parliamentary Debate

Ministerial Statements [4403]

recognised boundaries is adopted as an international commitment. Although the immediate pressure must be on both Israel and Hezbollah to cease the violence at this time, I strongly believe that the pressure must go on those nations that support those countries to work towards achieving the peaceful outcome that Security Council Resolutions 242 and 338 envisaged. Until there can be an accepted set of ground rules about what constitutes both the Jewish State and a legitimate, self-determining Palestinian State, these types of fracas that explode into mini-wars are inevitable and will continue.

We want to see an end to the violence now through a ceasefire brokered through the United States, the United Nations, and other agencies with an interest, but we want to see the same vigour brought to bear to ensure that the road map can be implemented and the rights of both nations to live in freedom and security can be established.

RODNEY HIDE( Leader-ACT):

The ACT party rises to join with the Prime Minister in deploring the loss of life in the Middle East, and especially the four UN peacekeepers. But we do not endorse the Prime Minister's statement. In particular, we take issue with the Prime Minister's repetition of the statement of disproportionate violence. I can do no better than to refer to page B3 of today's New Zealand Herald, where Dominic Lawson, writing for the Independent, states: What is the proportionate response to a terrorist organisation which repeatedly sends rockets packed with ball bearings to cause maximum civilian casualties in your main domestic tourist resort? And what do you do if that organisation, backed by Iran and Syria, also has two ministers in the Government of the country from which they are sending those rockets?.

I ask New Zealanders and this Parliament to consider what New Zealand's response would be if we had to confront a neighbour right on our borders who would commit such atrocities, and whether we would stand idly by and talk about a proportionate response. I say to this House and to New Zealand that until Hezbollah stops the violence and recognises the State of Israel's right to exist, then we cannot expect peace, and that our focus should be on achieving that peace, not on repeating propaganda. Thank you.

Hon JIM ANDERTON( Leader-Progressive):

The Progressive party fully endorses the concerns expressed by the Prime Minister to the House today. Protecting innocent civilians or peacekeepers from harm should be the first priority of international diplomatic efforts in Lebanon, Israel, and the Palestinian Authority. Once a ceasefire is in place to protect civilians, then attention will need to be paid to strengthening the foundations for a solution that offers justice and dignity to all sides of this conflict.

New Zealand has a long history of involvement in this region, which stretches back to the role New Zealand soldiers played in pushing the imperial Turkish army out of Palestine in World War I. The first Labour Government played a significant role in the 1940 s in campaigning for international support for the establishment of a Jewish State in Palestine. It is therefore with a deep sense of disappointment and regret that many New Zealanders of my generation see and read news reports of the Israeli defence force, one of the strongest armies in the world, inflicting the scale of damage to civilians and civilian infrastructure that we have seen over the past few months, in both the occupied Palestine territories and, in the past 2 weeks, Lebanon.

New Zealanders will continue to contribute, of course, to the peaceful development of the region, but we must surely know by now that a durable and sustainable peace will come only when there is justice and dignity for all sides of this conflict.

New Zealand will, of course, have to give serious consideration to whether keeping our own observers in place in Lebanon is justified under the circumstances surrounding the untimely deaths of four United Nations peacekeepers there.