The United States will extend visa sanctions against Palestinian Authority officials and members of the Palestine Liberation Organization, preventing Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas from travelling to New York for his planned address to the UN General Assembly next week.
It is the second consecutive year that Abbas has been barred from attending the gathering in person, according to the State Department announcement.
Why Washington says the sanctions are continuing
The State Department accused the Palestinian Authority of violating US law by pursuing international recognition of Palestinian statehood outside direct negotiations, taking its dispute with Israel to international courts and making payments to people the United States and Israel label as convicted attackers and their families.
The department said the Palestinian leadership had failed to meet commitments to the United States and had not carried out reforms.
Key points
- The restrictions apply to PA officials and PLO members.
- The PA mission to the UN retains a waiver allowing regular staff to continue working in New York.
- The State Department linked the sanctions to alleged failures to reform and activities it says undermine peace prospects.
What the restriction means at the UN
The Palestinian mission to the United Nations will keep a waiver under the UN Headquarters Agreement. The waiver allows its regular staff to continue working even while individual Palestinian officials are denied entry to the United States.
Abbas’s planned speech was expected to seek further international recognition of Palestinian statehood, support for a two-state solution and attention to the humanitarian crisis in Gaza and conditions in the occupied West Bank. The announcement comes after the United Kingdom, France, Canada and other Western governments recognised a Palestinian state this month. Read the context: Human Rights Watch says settler violence is forcing Palestinians from West Bank communities.
Palestinian officials and UN human rights experts criticised last year’s ban, arguing that it conflicts with the US obligation to allow people invited by the UN to travel to its New York headquarters. They also said applying restrictions to Palestinian representatives while Israeli leaders face no equivalent US travel restrictions undermines Washington’s stated commitment to a negotiated peace.
What happens next
The UN General Assembly is expected to take place next week, with Abbas unable to attend in New York under the extended restrictions.
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