The US said it would not allow Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas to travel to New York next month for a United Nations gathering of world leaders, where several US allies are set to recognise Palestine as a state.
A State Department official said Abbas and about 80 other Palestinians would be affected by the decision to deny and revoke visas from members of the umbrella Palestine Liberation Organisation and the West Bank-based Palestinian Authority.
Abbas had planned to attend the annual high-level UN General Assembly in Manhattan.
He was also set to attend a summit there, where Britain, France, Australia and Canada have pledged to formally recognise a Palestinian state.
Abbas’ office said it was astonished by the visa decision and said it violated the UN ‘headquarters agreement’.
Under a 1947 UN ‘headquarters agreement’, the US is generally required to allow access for foreign diplomats to the UN in New York.
However, Washington has said it can deny visas for security, extremism and foreign policy reasons.
Nabil Abu Rudeineh, a spokesperson for Abbas, called yesterday for Washington to reconsider its decision.
“We call on the US administration to reverse this decision, which contradicts international law, specifically the Headquarters Agreement between the UN and the US, which prohibits preventing any delegation from access,” he told Reuters.
Support
Several European foreign ministers arriving at a European Union meeting in Copenhagen yesterday criticised the US decision.
A UN General Assembly ‘cannot be subject to any restrictions on access’, French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot told reporters.
Irish Foreign Minister Simon Harris said the EU should protest the decision ‘in the strongest possible terms’.
Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said in a statement yesterday that he had spoken with Abbas to express Madrid’s support and he called the visa decision ‘unjust’.
“Palestine has the right to make its voice heard at the UN and in all international forums,” he said on X.
The State Department justified its decision by reiterating longstanding US and Israeli allegations that the PA and PLO had failed to repudiate extremism while pushing for ‘unilateral recognition’ of a Palestinian state.
Palestinian officials reject such allegations and say decades of US-mediated talks have failed to end Israeli occupation and secure an independent state of Palestine.
“(It) is in our national security interests to hold the PLO and PA accountable for not complying with their commitments, and for undermining the prospects for peace,” the department said.
The State Department said the Palestinian Authority’s mission to the UN, comprising officials who are permanently based there, would not be included in the restrictions.
UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said the UN would discuss the visa issue with the State Department.
At least 71 people were killed in heavy bombardment in Gaza yesterday as Israel pressed ahead with its planned seizure of the besieged Palestinian territory’s largest area.
Seven Israeli soldiers were wounded in an explosion targeting an armoured vehicle on Friday night, the Israel Defence Forces said.
The soldiers were wounded while operating in the Zeitoun neighbourhood, which has been the site of intense Israeli military activity in recent weeks.
Intense clashes in the area on Friday night were reported by media, which said that Hamas had attempted to kidnap some of the Israeli soldiers at the time of the explosion – reports the Israeli military said were false.
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