Ministerial Statements

Rt Hon HELEN CLARK (Prime Minister) Link to this

Under Standing Order 348 I propose to make a ministerial statement. The New Zealand Government deplores the Israeli bombing of the United Nations post in Khiam, southern Lebanon, that killed four United Nations peacekeeping personnel earlier today. Other United Nations personnel have been wounded in earlier attacks by both sides. The Government is deeply shocked that neutral United Nations posts have been caught up in the violence in southern Lebanon. We are instructing the New Zealand Permanent Representative to the United Nations in New York, Rosemary Banks, to discuss urgently with the United Nations the ongoing status and safety of its missions in Lebanon.

The United Nations Truce Supervisory Organization (UNTSO) has staff in Lebanon, and the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL), is based there. New Zealand has New Zealand Defence Force personnel serving with the United Nations Truce Supervisory Organisation, including two who are in Lebanon as military observers. In addition, a third New Zealander is a UN contractor working on de-mining operations in Lebanon. New Zealander Major General Clive Lilley heads the United Nations Truce Supervisory Organization and is based in Jerusalem.

In respect of today’s bombing of the UNIFIL post in Khiam, New Zealand joins the Secretary-General of the United Nations in calling on the Government of Israel to conduct a full investigation into this very disturbing incident, and demands that any further attack on UN positions and personnel must stop. New Zealand will be conveying its concerns at this attack to Israel. New Zealand has consistently and strongly urged all sides to pull back from violence, observe international law, and allow international facilitators and mediators a chance to put a peace process together. We reiterate that call today. Just as Hezbollah is urged to stop its attacks, so must Israel cease the disproportionate violence that is striking civilians, infrastructure, and United Nations personnel and posts.

There should be an immediate ceasefire, but in the absence of that we call on both sides to cease attacks in the vicinity of civilians and UN posts and personnel. A ceasefire in Lebanon and resolution of the immediate causes of the conflict must be followed by negotiations for a comprehensive peace in the region, if such crises are to be avoided in the future.

Dr DON BRASH (Leader of the Opposition) Link to this

The National Party also deeply regrets the loss of four United Nations peacekeepers in the strike in Lebanon. More generally we deeply regret the loss of innocent lives on both sides of the Israeli-Lebanese border. Tragically, there appears little prospect of lasting peace in the Middle East until all parties recognise the right of Israel to exist. In the meantime we certainly share the Government’s desire that there be a ceasefire as soon as possible, so that diplomacy can take over where warfare clearly is having such frequently disastrous results.

KEITH LOCKE (Green) Link to this

The Green Party also endorses the Prime Minister’s condemnation of the bombing by Israeli planes of the UN post in Lebanon. I am sure there will be international condemnation of that action.

But it is unfortunate that it takes an attack on a UN post really to wake up the world to what is going on in Israel and Lebanon. Almost 400 Lebanese and almost 40 Israelis have been killed, and much of Lebanon, particularly south Lebanon, has been levelled by Israeli attacks. It is quite clear that both Israel and Hezbollah are committing war crimes as defined in our own legislation passed in setting up the International Criminal Court and New Zealand’s participation in it. Both sides are targeting civilian areas, with Israel’s attacks clearly being the most destructive and, in fact, seeming to be collectively punishing the Lebanese nation for the actions of Hezbollah.

The Green Party endorses the Prime Minister’s call for an immediate ceasefire. I think it is important to be even-handed and I am a little concerned that the Prime Minister says Hezbollah should stop its attacks, yet she asks Israel only to cease its “disproportionate” violence. We should be calling on Israel to stop all its attacks and stating that any ceasefire must be unconditional on both sides, if we are to work to a long-term resolution of the problems of the region, which includes a just solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict that recognises the rights of the Palestinian people to their own State.

PETER BROWN (Deputy Leader—NZ First) Link to this

New Zealand First endorses 100 percent the comments of the Prime Minister. This war has gone on long enough. It is time it stopped and diplomacy, or discussion, took its place. It is time for those countries that have influence to use their influence to good effect. Innocent people are getting killed. Infrastructure is being destroyed for no sound reason. People are losing their livelihoods for no sound reason. Now is the time for talking.

This war must end. We must use every bit of influence we have to bring it to a conclusion before it destroys everything, including the reputations of those who should know better.

HONE HARAWIRA (Māori Party—Te Tai Tokerau) Link to this

Tēnā koe e te Kaikōrero, tēnā tātou e te Whare. E tautoko ana te Pāti Māori i ngā kōrero a te Pirimia, kia takatakahia e ngā mahi kōhuru a ngā Hūrae. Me mutu ngā mahi kōhuru i ngā tāngata o Lebanon. He tuku aroha tēnei mai i te Pāti Māori ki ngā whānau ō rātou kua mate. Ehara tēnei mahi te kōhuru tangata i te mahi kia mahia ki a wai rānei, hakoa ko wai, hakoa nō hea. E mea ana mātou, kia ū ki te āio ki ngā whenua kei te mura o te ahi. Ko tēnei mahi whakapahūpahū pū kōhuru tangata, he mahi kino. E mōhio tūturu ana mātou ki aua momo mahi. Kia ora tātou.

Hon PETER DUNNE (Leader—United Future) Link to this

United Future endorses the Prime Minister’s statement of concern at the escalating violence in the Middle East that has culminated in the senseless killing of four UN peacekeepers in Khiam in southern Lebanon.

This horrific escalation that has exploded in recent weeks is a further reminder that there can be no lasting peace, or no lasting road map towards peace, in the Middle East until the provisions of the United Nations Security Council Resolutions 242 and 338 are given credence, and the right of Israel and the Palestinians to live within secure and 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) Link to this

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 , 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) Link to this

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 1940s 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.

Rt Hon HELEN CLARK (Prime Minister) Link to this

I would like to thank the Leader of the Opposition and all those party spokespersons who have supported the statement made on behalf of the Government in the House today. I want to say that New Zealand, under many Governments over a long period of time, has taken an even-handed position on the Middle East crisis. The position is that which the Hon Peter Dunne referred to: we are looking for an outcome in the Middle East based on two States, each recognising the other, with secure boundaries. That is the only basis on which a durable peace settlement can be founded.

I say to the spokesperson from the Green Party that the Government’s statements have been very carefully balanced to condemn violence on both sides. Two wrongs do not ever make a right, and we would like a ceasefire now. I am sure all members would want the thoughts of this Parliament to be conveyed to the Parliaments of those countries from which the four deceased peacekeepers come. Those names and countries have not been revealed at this point by the United Nations, while they contact the families and countries concerned, but in due course they will be made public.