Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has been blocked from attending the UN General Assembly session in New York next month after he and 80 other Palestinian officials had their visas revoked, the US State Department has confirmed.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio blamed them for undermining peace efforts and for seeking “the unilateral recognition of a conjectural Palestinian state”
The decision, which has been welcomed by Israel, is unusual as the US is expected to facilitate travel for officials of all countries wishing to visit the UN headquarters.
The ban comes as France leads international efforts to recognise a state of Palestine at the session – a move Donald Trump’s administration has opposed.
The Palestinian ambassador to the UN, Riyad Mansour, had earlier said that as head of its delegation, Abbas would be attending the meeting of heads of state and government in New York.
But a State Department official later said Abbas and about 80 other Palestinians would be affected by the decision to deny and revoke visas from members of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and the Palestinian Authority (PA).
Rubio said Palestinian representatives at the UN mission in New York could attend the meetings in accordance with the UN Headquarters Agreement – the document that regulates issues regarding the operations of the UN in the US.
It is unclear, however, if the US move to deny or revoke visas complies with that document, which outlines that foreign officials’ attendance in New York shall not be impeded by the US, “irrespective of the relations” between their respective governments and the US.
Abbas’ office said it was astonished by the visa decision, which “stands in clear contradiction to international law and the UN Headquarters Agreement, particularly since the State of Palestine is an observer member of the United Nations”. It urged the US to reverse the move.
