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\nForeign Affairs Minister Winston Peters.
\nPhoto: RNZ \/ Samuel Rillstone\n<\/p>\n
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters will on Saturday set out New Zealand’s position on Palestinian statehood at the United Nations General Assembly.<\/p>\n
While similar countries like Australia, Canada and the UK have already recognised Palestine<\/a> in an effort to build international momentum towards a two-state solution, the coalition has opted to wait until Saturday.<\/p>\n Peters has been intent on listening to the perspectives of all countries while on the ground in New York this week, saying he was there “to hear everybody’s view”.<\/p>\n Cabinet’s final decision on recognition<\/a> will be relayed to government parties back in New Zealand before Peters’ speech to the general assembly on Saturday morning, currently scheduled between 10.30am and 11.30am (NZ time).<\/p>\n RNZ will be streaming the speech and an interview with Peters afterwards.<\/p>\n The State of Palestine is recognised as a sovereign nation by 157 of the 193 UN member states, representing 81 percent of the international community.<\/p>\n While Peters had not indicated what way the coalition will go, the foreign affairs minister had emphasised New Zealand was a long-standing democracy and would make a decision based on “integrity”.<\/p>\n “We are pleased to be hearing all these different views. You’ll see that they’re widely different from different countries in the world. That’s to be expected,” he said earlier this week.<\/p>\n “Our job is to ensure that one of the world’s oldest democracies has a position of integrity, and that’s what we’re going to be.”<\/p>\n The latest RNZ-Reid Research poll<\/a> found 42.5 percent of voters thought New Zealand should recognise Palestine, with a sizeable 35.4 percent saying they did not know and 22.1 percent against recognition.<\/p>\n Cabinet had been considering the question of recognition since the start of the month, on the basis it was a matter of it being a “when, not if” situation.<\/p>\n