The US on Friday said it will deny and revoke visas from members of the Palestine Liberation Organisation and the Palestinian Authority seeking to attend next month’s UN General Assembly in New York, where France is leading an effort to recognise a Palestinian state.
A State Department official confirmed on Saturday that Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas is among the officials who will be denied a visa. "Abbas is affected by this action along with approximately 80 other PA officials," a State Department official said.
The State Department said waivers would be granted for the Palestine mission at the UN.
The move will serve to undermine an international push at the General Assembly in September, when several nations including Canada and Australia, have said they will recognise Palestinian statehood. France and Saudi Arabia will host a meeting at the start of the assembly to focus on the two-state solution.
Washington, firmly aligned with Israel, says statehood amounts to a reward for the Hamas-led attacks of October 7, 2023.
“Before the PLO and PA can be considered partners for peace, they must consistently repudiate terrorism including the October 7 massacre and end incitement to terrorism in education, as required by US law and as promised by the PLO,” a State Department statement read on Friday.
Under an agreement as host of the UN in New York, the US is not supposed to refuse visas for officials heading to the world body.
But the US has targeted Palestinian officials by visa denials, including when former leader Yasser Arafat tried to go to the UN in 1988 and 1990.
Other figures seen as hostile to the US including former Cuban leader Fidel Castro, Libya's Muammar Qaddafi and former Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez all had visas to visit the UN.
“We call upon the American administration to reverse its decision," said Palestinian presidential spokesperson Nabil Abu Rudeineh on Saturday. "This decision will only increase tension and escalation.
“We have been in contact since yesterday with Arab and foreign countries, especially those directly concerned with this issue. This effort will continue around the clock."
French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said on Saturday he “deplores” the US decision.
"The UN headquarters is a sanctuary in the service of peace. It should not be subject to any access restrictions,'' he said after meeting with his counterparts from around the EU.
The EU's foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas issued a statement about the revoked visas. ‘’In light of the existing headquarters agreements between the UN and its host state, we urge for this decision to be reconsidered,'' she said.
Friday's move is the latest in a series of steps the Trump administration has taken to target Palestinians with visa restrictions and comes as the Israeli military declared Gaza's largest city a combat zone.
Richard Gowan, UN director at the International Crisis Group, told The National it was “one more sign of how the UN is a symbolic battlefield in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict”.
Mr Gowan said the move would also “provide ammunition for other UN members whose officials have run into visa restrictions on visiting New York, like the Russians, to argue that the UN should quit Manhattan or at least conduct more business in other centres like Geneva”.
The State Department also suspended a programme that had allowed injured Palestinian children from Gaza to travel to the US for medical treatment after a social media outcry by conservatives.
The Palestinian presidency called Friday's move unlawful and called on the Trump administration to reconsider and reverse its decision.
“The presidency stressed that this decision contravenes international law and the Headquarters Agreement, especially since the state of Palestine is an observer member of the United Nations,” Wafa news agency reported.
Israel's Foreign Minister Gideon Saar hailed the US move as a “bold step”.
“We thank [President Donald Trump] and the administration for this bold step and for standing by Israel once again,” Mr Saar posted on his official X account.
The State Department said the PA must end its attempts to bypass negotiations through “international lawfare campaigns”, including appeals to the International Criminal Court and the International Court of Justice, and “efforts to secure the unilateral recognition of a conjectural Palestinian state.”
“Both steps materially contributed to Hamas’s refusal to release its hostages, and to the breakdown of the Gaza ceasefire talks.”
Democratic Senator Jeff Merkley said blocking international diplomats from participating in UN debates “damages American leadership in the world and undermines the ability of the UN to serve as a forum for debating and addressing challenging world issues.”
The US said it remains open to re-engagement “that is consistent with our laws, should the PA/PLO meet their obligations and demonstrably take concrete steps to return to a constructive path of compromise and peaceful coexistence with the state of Israel.”
UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric told reporters at the UN that he hopes the matter will be resolved.
“It is important that all member states and permanent observers be able to be represented, especially, in this case with, as we know, the upcoming two-state solution meeting that that France and Saudi Arabia will host at the beginning of the General Assembly,” he said.
