₦airaland Forum

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.

Israel's Foreign Minister Gideon Saar welcomed the State Department's decision

Hamas has been running the Gaza Strip for years, with its rival Fatah in charge in the West Bank. But even in the West Bank the PA led by Abbas has struggled to govern, faced with rival groups and Jewish settlement expansion.

Abbas is also in charge of the PLO - the umbrella organisation which represents Palestinians at international fora. The PLO has had observer status at the UN since 1974. It can participate in meetings but not vote on resolutions

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has constantly rejected the idea of a two-state solution - the long-time international formula to resolve the decades-old Israel-Palestinian conflict. It envisages an independent Palestinian state being created alongside Israel in the West Bank and Gaza Strip with East Jerusalem as its capital

Netanyahu says recognition of a Palestinian state would amount to rewarding "Hamas's monstrous terrorism".

The Israeli military launched a campaign in Gaza in response to the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on 7 October 2023, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 others were taken hostage.

More than 63,000 people have been killed in Gaza since then, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.

In his announcement on Friday, Rubio said: "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 U.S. law and as promised by the PLO."

He said they must also end efforts to bypass negotiations by pursuing legal cases against Israel at international courts.

UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said the UN would discuss with the US State Department and hoped the issue would be resolved.

"It is important that all member states, permanent observers, be able to be represented, especially I think in this case with the, as we know, the upcoming two-state solution meeting that France and Saudi Arabia will host at the beginning of the GA," Mr Dujarric said.

Apart from France, the UK, Canada and Australia have also announced plans to recognise a Palestinian state at the GA meeting next month.

The state of Palestine is currently recognised by 147 of the UN's 193 member states.
But with no recognised borders, Israeli settlers controlling large parts of the West Bank - illegal under international law - and calls to do the same in Gaza, any recognition of a Palestinian state would not change much on the ground

RodgersAkpafu:
United States have fully gone rogue

Violently destroying international institutions because of Israel

WesleyPepper:
See the so called number 1 democracy stifling free speech .
Isn’t it even against the law to prevent a member state from attending such auspicious gathering ?
The BRICS and like minded countries should break away from the spineless UN and form an alternative away from the influence of the US and their Zionist controllers

RodgersAkpafu:
United States have fully gone rogue

Violently destroying international institutions because of Israel

owobokiri:
The United States is enabling a genocide in Palestine..
The Arabs are not any inch better because they will do so to the Jews if they have the oppurtuinity..

But that said, a genocide is a genocide and the United States is actively allowing a very brutal genocide to happen right before our eyes..

runningriot:
This is total and absolute madness. As a matter of fact this is the height of absolute power corrupt absolutely! If Isreal Prime Minister visa is not revoked then their is no justification to this political motivated move. What is good for the goose is good for the gander. After all, Isreal is currently wagging disproportional, unconventional and total war of annihilation on the Gazans and Palestine so the need this so call restrictions more.

zoedew:
I am sure you heard about the murderous deeds of the Palestinians that Oct 7 in Israel . What do you call that? If I hear you have sworn to eliminate me I will wake up early to terminate you first before you get the opportunity to carry out your wicked plan!

BondRiv:
An outrage. The UN is useless to me anyway. Nigeria should leave it. Why should the U.S. as the host politicize attendance? It is a shame. Why is Nigeria still a member of the UN? At least the U.S. has veto power. What do we have? What do we gain?

The U.S. government has a history of treating the UN with disdain. George Bush called it a debating society. John Bolton said, "There is no such thing as the United Nations. The Secretariat Building in New York has 38 stories. If you lost ten stories today, it wouldn't make a bit of difference."