As war continues to rage in Gaza and more Western countries move towards recognising a Palestinian state, Re: News’ Te Ahipourewa Forbes spoke to a 91-year-old Palestinian and a 63-year-old Israeli living in NZ about hopes for peace in their homeland.
Should NZ recognise Palestine? - Watch on TVNZ+
At 91-years-old, Ghazi Shehadeh El Desouki still remembers the smell of the soil in Jerusalem.
“Home is the dirt I rolled in, the rocks I trampled, the air I breathed. My blood grew from the soil of Palestine,” he says.
Born in 1933, Ghazi lived through the Second World War and the Nakba, or “catastrophe”, as the mass displacement of Palestinians from what became Israel in 1948 is known in Arabic.
He remembers a time when Muslims, Christians and Jews lived peacefully, side by side.
“We lived together. We never had ambitions to conquer or overpower each other,” he says.
But decades of war and occupation have changed that.
Ghazi, who has lived in Aotearoa for more than 50 years, now watches from afar as his homeland remains unrecognised by New Zealand.
More than 140 countries recognise Palestine as a state. Aotearoa isn’t one of them.
It’s an issue dividing Parliament.
Last week, Green MP Chlöe Swarbrick raised the issue in the House, sparking debate across the political spectrum.
And last weekend thousands marched down Queen Street in Auckland chanting “grow a spine for Palestine”. It was one of more than 20 rallies across the motu, calling on the Government to formally recognise Palestine, sanction Israel and condemn the violence in Gaza.
Recognising Palestine, which New Zealand’s Government has said it could consider next month, would mean formally acknowledging its sovereignty and rights under international law.
But not everyone agrees.
The New Zealand Jewish Council recently released a statement urging caution. And while some Jewish voices support recognition, others worry it could deepen divisions.
'I was a pacifist'
Yael Shochat, a 63-year-old Jewish woman originally from Haifa, grew up in Israel as a Zionist. But her views have changed.
“I refused to go to the army. I was a pacifist,” she says. “Eventually, I realised I’m not a Zionist.”
She believes Judaism is rooted in values like the sanctity of life and healing the world, values she says are being violated by the current violence.
“Jews from the Middle East and Arabs from the Middle East can live together very well,” she says. “We’re very similar people. Originally, we were the same people.”
Recently, members of the Jewish and Muslim communities signed a government-led Harmony and Peace Accord, aiming to combat hate and extremism in Aotearoa.
But for Ghazi, the pain of displacement remains.
“Peace will prevail,” he says. “Things will come back to normality, like what it was some time ago.”
The question now is - will he live to see it?
Should NZ recognise Palestine? - Watch on TVNZ+
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