The US on Friday said it would deny visas to members of the Palestinian Authority to attend next month’s UN General Assembly, where France is leading a push to recognize a Palestinian state.
The extraordinary step further aligns US President Donald Trump’s administration with Israel’s government, which is fighting a war against Palestinian militant group Hamas in Gaza.
Israel adamantly rejects a Palestinian state and has sought to lump together the West Bank-based Palestinian Authority with rival Hamas.
Photo: AP
“[US] Secretary of State Marco Rubio is denying and revoking visas from members of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and the Palestinian Authority (PA) ahead of the upcoming United Nations General Assembly,” the US Department of State said in a statement.
“The Trump administration has been clear: 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,” it said.
Using a term favored by Trump to deride his legal troubles while out of office, the state department accused the Palestinians of “lawfare” by turning to the International Criminal Court (ICC) and International Court of Justice to take up grievances with Israel.
It called on the Palestinian Authority to drop “efforts to secure the unilateral recognition of a conjectural Palestinian state.”
Israeli Minister of Foreign Affairs Gideon Saar wrote on social media to thank the Trump administration “for this bold step and for standing by Israel once again.”
The Palestinian Authority called for the US to reverse its decision, which it said “stands in clear contradiction to international law and the UN Headquarters Agreement.”
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, a veteran 89-year-old leader who once had cordial relations with Washington, had planned to attend the UN meeting, according to Palestinian Ambassador to the UN Riyad Mansour.
UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said it was “important” for all states and observers, which includes the Palestinians, to be represented at a summit scheduled for the day before the General Assembly begins.
“We obviously hope that this will be resolved,” Dujarric said.
The US and Israel have accused France and other powers of rewarding Hamas, which launched an unprecedented attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, through their recognition of a Palestinian state.
French President Emmanuel Macron, exasperated by the relentless nearly two-year Israeli offensive on Gaza in response to the attack, has argued that there can be no further delay in pushing forward a peace process.
Since his announcement, Canada and Australia also said they would recognize a Palestinian state and the UK said it would do so unless Israel agrees to a ceasefire in Gaza.
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.
The state department insisted it was complying with the agreement by allowing the Palestinian mission.
Activists each year press the US to deny visas to leaders of countries that they oppose, often over grave human rights violations, but their appeals are almost always rejected.
In a historic step in 1988, the General Assembly convened in Geneva, Switzerland, rather than New York to hear then-PLO leader Yasser Arafat after the US refused to allow him into New York.
In 2013, the US refused a visa to then-Sudanese president Omar al-Bashir, who faces an ICC arrest warrant over allegations of genocide in Darfur.
Trump plans to attend the General Assembly, where he would deliver one of the first speeches in a marathon session of leaders, although his administration has sharply curtailed relations with the UN and other international institutions.
Trump has moved to pull out of the WHO and UN climate pact. He has also moved to slap sanctions on ICC judges over an arrest warrant for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
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