McCully says it again

March 18, 2016 by J-Wire Staff
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New Zealand’s Foreign Minister Murray McCully has reiterated his concerns about the settlements marring the peace process.

Murray McCully

Murray McCully

Murray McCully has described the most recent Israeli appropriation of land in the occupied Palestinian territories as deeply unhelpful.

“Israel’s settlement activity continues to threaten the viability of a two-state solution,” Mr McCully says.

“New Zealand would like to see both sides return to the negotiating table and this latest announcement will only serve to push the two parties further apart.

“We will be talking with fellow UN Security Council members about an appropriate response,” Mr McCully says.

Speaking on Radio NZ yesterday, the foreign minister said: “What the settlements process has done is continue to erode scope for that sort of negotiation to occur to a fairly alarming point at this stage. I’m simply pointing out the reality that others following this issue have become aware of in saying that the Security Council shouldn’t allow the two state solution to become unviable on its watch and that’s what could happen if we don’t see some action soon.

The interviewer asked him about Israel’s ambassador to New Zealand Yosef Livne’s statement that “it is not fair to pin the blame just on Israel”.

Murray McCully responded: “Well, there’s only one party responsible for the settlements program. I think it is fair to observe that there is a pattern of violence escalating in that part of the world at the moment and we’ve been very clear that we regard all of those involved as having to carry the responsibility but specifically the statesmen about settlements is the one that is directed to the Israelis, they are the one who are responsible maybe to think very acutely about whether they are presiding over  a process which is going to make the two state solution unviable because that takes the international community into quite a different space in terms of finding a resolution.”

McCully added: “I am frustrated that we are seeing thing go backwards while we’re on the Council. The violence has got worse and the settlement process has continued.”

 

Comments

5 Responses to “McCully says it again”
  1. Dorothy Finlay says:

    I am embarrassed by Mr McCully and his intransigence in holding Israel accountable for the PA President’s refusal to negotiate anything but violence. Abbass speaks with a forked tongue, especially to the UNSC and the like. But Mr McCully, it is always an uphill slog when you try to stand against the Almighty who unequivocably gave the whole land to Israel some 3000 years ago; a few years before you were born. No wonder NZ is not succeeding in pressurising Isreal to stop building on their own land.Genesis 12v3 still rings true today- those who bless Israel, will be blessed.

  2. Leon Poddebsky says:

    McCully is simply doing the bidding of his master, Mr Obama.
    They both belong to ANZUS; mates, you know.

    You would think that he would feel some embarrassment, but no, he plods on.

  3. David Samson says:

    “McCully added: “I am frustrated that we are seeing thing go backwards while we’re on the Council. The violence has got worse and the settlement process has continued.”

    This is no more than a full confession that NZ is a useless contributor making no positive contribution to the council. He has of course omitted to state that house building in Judea provides a large amount of employment to arabs. Perhaps he should go back to the ultimate intellectual NZ profession of counting sheep, by counting the number sheep’s legs and dividing by 4.

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