New Zealand Urges Israel-Palestine Negotiations For Lasting Peace

New Zealand’s Foreign Minister Murray McCully has arrived in the Middle East to push for lasting peace between Israel and Palestine. New Zealand is expected to have a significant role when begins serving as the head of the United Nations Security Council in July.

However, McCully knows there are challenges in chairing the Security Council as well as getting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian head Mahmoud Abbas to the negotiating table. Peace talks had collapsed in April 201 when Israel had refused to release the third batch of Palestinian prisoners and allowed 14,000 settler homes to occupy the West Bank.

McCully began his visit in the Middle East in a meeting with Egyptian leaders including President Abdel-Fattah Al Sisi. The New Zealand foreign minister had previously met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, national security adviser Yossi Cohen and vice prime minister Silven Shalom, reports New Zealand Herald.

Mr Netanyahu had expressed his concerns over Iran’s nuclear deal in the meeting. McCully said the Israeli leader has given him “significant amount of time” to explore the peace process in the Middle East and acquire an overview of Israel’s worries.

Earlier in 2015, Mr Netanyahu said in a pre-election bid that he no longer supports a two-state solution on the negotiating table. However, after winning the election, the Israeli leader said he is willing to re-enter negotiations.

New Zealand is expected to make a major push to get Palestinian and Israeli leadership to resume peace talks within the year as it has its own resolution to the conflict. The French had previously proposed for a two-state solution based on the borders enforced in 1967. A timeline of 18 months must also be observed.

McCully said he would let the French resolution take its course but New Zealand’s own resolution would also be ready. “We will give the French proposal a couple of months. There will be a point when the Israeli government is properly formed and the Iranian discussions have concluded,” said McCully in Jerusalem.

He explained that it was not a competition between France and New Zealand since the Security Council is simply motivated for peace talks to push through, reports Radio NZ. McCully said conditions must be created for Israel and Palestine to resume negotiations.

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