There was a short segment on the 6pm TVNZ news programme (6 November), in which a BBC journalist, heavily overseen by the IDF, showed the level of destruction wrought in Gaza. It reminded me of “before and after” pictures of French villages in the First World War. In places like Verdun or the Somme, villages simply disappeared, lost in a sea of mud and debris. Such was the devastation shown in Gaza. A wasteland of rubble, unrecognisable as homes and businesses, schools and hospitals, stretching far into the distance until it met the sea.
A picture is worth a thousand words. The news segment revealed in uncompromising terms the ruthless determination of the Israeli state, not simply to destroy them as a people, but also to make uninhabitable the remnants of what territory has been left to Palestinians by Israeli state expansion.
UN estimates have reached US70 billion as the reconstruction cost, a figure that must rise massively as the full extent of damage is understood. The financial cost pales against the human cost, broadly accepted to be over 68000 Gazans killed since 7 October 2023.
This is a manufactured catastrophe. One cannot condone the attacks that killed 1200 Israelis, even as the history since the Nakba and Deir Yassin resonates internationally. But Israel, because of the particular circumstances of its current state, its creation and support, is allowed to act as it does, garnering support, tacit and explicit, from countries and voices that simply should, and do, know better.
I well remember the UK Labour Party in 1967, imbued with the “plucky little Israel” belief, and probably, if truth be told, still smarting from Suez (duplicitous, ungrateful Arabs), supporting Israel as an effect of the Holocaust and Israel’s founding elements of Social Democracy. Many of these voices have remained trapped in a post-war memory, long since destroyed by changing demographics and politics.
What is New Zealand’s position on current events? It continues to support a “two-state” solution, has given over NZ$50 million in aid to alleviate consequences of the assault, and, most controversially, will not recognise the Palestinian state for now.
“With a war raging, Hamas remaining the de facto government of Gaza, and no clarity on next steps, too many questions remain about the future State of Palestine for it to be prudent for New Zealand to announce recognition at this time,” Mr Peters says.
“We are also concerned that a focus on recognition, in the current circumstances, could complicate efforts to secure a ceasefire by pushing Israel and Hamas into even more intransigent positions.” (MFAT 27 September 2025).
Limited and at best measured. The current government’s sympathy for the US position, on Gaza as on other issues, is evident, and must cloud the vision.
Labour has been more forceful from Opposition. It supports recognition of Palestine as an essential feature of a two-state solution. Moreover, sanctions should be imposed on Israel. Properly, Labour sees the Government’s approach as too little, too late.
Labour can provide further leadership on this issue. One thing is obvious. The Trump Peace Plan is inchoate, fragile and, if garnering grudging support, remains particularly at the mercy of Israeli government commitment and actions. Extremist Israeli elements have no time for the Plan. Israeli decisions in other areas, for example, the West Bank, are not supportive.
NZ’s influence on these matters is marginal. Where we might contribute is in the development and implementation of the rebuild process. A focus on the rebuild has numerous benefits. It is a positive intervention. It permits a distance from many of the difficult regional power plays. It allows cooperation across a wide range of countries in a similar position to NZ. It speaks to NZ’s sense of the practical. It is possible within our budgets. Of course, such a focus would have to be under an appropriate international umbrella, that is, the UN.
Labour’s position on Gaza, plus a strong commitment to practical support for the rebuild of Gaza, is a sensible NZ package.
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