The US refuses visas to Palestinian leaders before the UN General Assembly
The US has started to deny and revoke visas for members of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and the Palestinian Authority (PA) ahead of the UN General Assembly meeting in September, the state department announced on Friday.
Mahmoud Abbas, the president of the Palestinian Authority, is among those affected by the restrictions. Abbas planned to travel to New York to deliver a speech at the UN General Assembly.
Abbas’s office expressed shock at the visa decision, stating that it violated the UN "headquarters agreement".
According to the agreement as host of the UN in New York, the US should not deny visas to officials heading to the global body for the general assembly, but the state department claimed it was adhering to the agreement by permitting the Palestinian mission to attend.
"The Trump administration has been unequivocal: it is in our national security interest to hold the PLO and PA accountable for not meeting their commitments and for obstructing the prospects for peace," the state department declared in a statement.
This new measure further aligns Donald Trump’s administration with Israel’s right-wing government, which strongly opposes a Palestinian state. Israeli officials have frequently equated the largely secular PA, which exercises partial authority in the occupied West Bank, with its fierce Islamist rival Hamas.
Using a term favored by Trump to criticize his legal issues while out of office, the state department accused the Palestinians of "lawfare" by raising complaints against Israel at the international criminal court and international court of justice.
It urged the PA to abandon "efforts to secure the unilateral recognition of a hypothetical Palestinian state".
The Israeli foreign minister, Gideon Sa’ar, expressed gratitude to the Trump administration "for this bold step and for supporting Israel once again" in a post on X.
Stéphane Dujarric, a UN spokesperson, stated it was "important" for all states and observers, including the Palestinians, to be represented at a summit scheduled for the day before the general assembly starts. "We obviously hope that this will be resolved," Dujarric said.
The US statement justifying the new measure echoed claims frequently made by Israeli officials.
"Before the PLO and PA can be considered partners for peace, they must consistently repudiate terrorism – including the October 7 massacre – and cease incitement to terrorism in education," it stated.
The PLO was established in 1964 as a coalition of Palestinian factions and recognized a decade later as the sole political representative of the Palestinian people. The PA was formed nearly 20 years later as a temporary body to provide an institutional framework for a Palestinian state.
Both are expected to be fundamental to any future Palestinian state. Arab powers, the UK, European countries, and others wish for the PA to play a central role in the administration of Gaza if the conflict can be resolved, though they agree reforms are necessary.
Australia, Canada, the UK, and France are to recognize a Palestinian state at the UN general assembly next month if specific conditions are met, a move that has angered Israel.
Israel’s government has rejected any role for the PA in Gaza and asserted that such recognition "rewards Hamas’s monstrous terrorism".
Though Israel’s government faces increasing pressure domestically and internationally to cease its offensive in Gaza, Benjamin Netanyahu, the prime minister, has directed military forces to begin an assault to capture Gaza City. Once a significant commercial and cultural center, it has been devastated and houses hundreds of thousands of impoverished Palestinians after successive rounds of conflict.
The Israeli offensive has thus far resulted in 63,000 deaths, mostly civilians, injured 150,000, and displaced the vast majority of the populace. Last week, the UN declared a famine in and around Gaza City, citing "systematic obstruction" by Israel of humanitarian aid deliveries.
"We have launched preliminary operations and the initial phases of the attack on Gaza City, and we are currently operating with substantial force on the city’s outskirts," Avichay Adraee, an Israeli military spokesperson, said on X.
The war erupted following a surprise attack by Hamas into Israel in October 2023, which resulted in 1,200 deaths, mostly civilians, and 251 abductions. Approximately 50 hostages remain in Gaza, with less than half believed to be still alive.
Activists annually urge the US to deny visas to leaders of nations they oppose, often due to severe human rights violations, but their requests are nearly always rejected.
In a historic move in 1988, the general assembly convened in Geneva instead of New York to hear then PLO leader, Yasser Arafat, after the US refused him entry into New York.
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