The US has again denied Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas a visa to attend the UN General Assembly in New York, preventing him from joining the annual gathering of world leaders later this month.
The State Department said it had extended visa restrictions on Palestinian Authority and Palestine Liberation Organisation officials ahead of the 80th session of the General Assembly, which begins on Tuesday next week.
The restrictions mean Mr Abbas, 90, will again be unable to travel to New York for the gathering, after Washington also denied him a visa ahead of last year's General Assembly.
“The Palestine Liberation Organisation and Palestinian Authority have, once again, failed to live up to their commitments,” the US State Department said in a statement released overnight.
The State Department said the restrictions were imposed over actions by the PA and PLO “to internationalise the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, including through the International Criminal Court and International Court of Justice” and to pursue the “unilateral recognition” of a Palestinian state.
Washington also accused the groups of “backing terrorists” as it defended the continued visa restrictions on Palestinian officials.
The State Department said it “has maintained the standing waiver for personnel notified to the PLO Observer Mission to the United Nations”, allowing accredited Palestinian representatives to continue operating at the UN despite the broader restrictions.
The 193-member General Assembly is due to vote on Thursday on whether Mr Abbas can deliver a video statement to the annual high-level gathering next week. Mr Abbas addressed the General Assembly by video last September after the US denied him a visa to attend.
The move comes as several US allies have recognised Palestine as a state, further intensifying tensions between Washington and the Palestinian leadership.
Palestinian officials have argued that decades of US-mediated negotiations have failed to end the Israeli occupation or establish an independent Palestinian state.
Under the 1947 UN headquarters agreement, the US is generally required to facilitate access to the UN in New York, although Washington says it can deny visas on security, extremism and foreign-policy grounds.
The Palestinian Authority represents Palestinians at the UN, where the delegation is officially designated as the State of Palestine. Palestine has observer-state status at the UN rather than full membership and therefore does not have a vote in the General Assembly.
The renewed restrictions come amid broader tensions between the Trump administration and Palestinian officials, as well as Washington's opposition to international legal proceedings involving Israel.
The administration has also sanctioned officials of the International Criminal Court, including prosecutors and judges, after the court issued an arrest warrant for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in 2024 over alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity during Israel's military campaign in Gaza.
