WASHINGTON\/RAMALLAH, West Bank
\nThe United States said on Friday 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 U.S. allies are set to recognize Palestine as a state.
\nA 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 Organization and the West Bank-based Palestinian Authority.
\nAbbas had planned to attend the annual high-level U.N. General Assembly in Manhattan. He was also set to attend a summit there, where Britain, France, Australia and Canada have pledged to formally recognize a Palestinian state.
\nAbbas\u2019 office said it was astonished by the visa decision and said it violated the U.N. \u201cheadquarters agreement\u201d.
\nUnder a 1947 U.N. \u201cheadquarters agreement\u201d, the U.S. is generally required to allow access for foreign diplomats to the U.N. in New York. However, Washington has said it can deny visas for security, extremism and foreign policy reasons.
\nNabil Abu Rudeineh, a spokesperson for Abbas, called on Saturday for Washington to reconsider its decision.
\n\u201cWe call on the U.S. administration to reverse this decision, which contradicts international law, specifically the Headquarters Agreement between the United Nations and the United States, which prohibits preventing any delegation from access,\u201d he told Reuters.
\nSeveral European foreign ministers arriving at a European Union meeting in Copenhagen on Saturday criticised the U.S. decision.
\nA UN General Assembly \u201ccannot be subject to any restrictions on access,\u201d French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot told reporters. Irish Foreign Minister Simon Harris said the EU should protest the decision \u201cin the strongest possible terms\u201d.
\nSpain\u2019s Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said in a statement on Saturday that he had spoken with Abbas to express Madrid\u2019s support and he called the visa decision \u201cunjust\u201d.
\n\u201cPalestine has the right to make its voice heard at the United Nations and in all international forums,\u201d he said on X.
\nThe State Department justified its decision by reiterating longstanding U.S. and Israeli allegations that the PA and PLO had failed to repudiate extremism while pushing for \u201cunilateral recognition\u201d of a Palestinian state.
\nPalestinian officials reject such allegations and say decades of U.S.-mediated talks have failed to end Israeli occupation and secure an independent state of Palestine.
\n\u201c(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,\u201d the department said.
\nThe State Department said the Palestinian Authority\u2019s mission to the U.N., comprising officials who are permanently based there, would not be included in the restrictions.
\nRECOGNITION
\nU.N. spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said the U.N. would discuss the visa issue with the State Department.
\nIn 1988, the U.S. refused to issue a visa to PLO leader Yasser Arafat. The U.N. General Assembly held a meeting that year in Geneva instead of New York so he could address it.
\nThe State Department said it demands that the PA and PLO \u201cconsistently repudiate terrorism,\u201d including the deadly October 2023 Hamas attack on Israel that sparked the Gaza war.
\nIn June, Abbas wrote a letter to France\u2019s president in which he condemned the Hamas attack and called on hostages taken by the militant group to be released.
\nIsrael\u2019s Foreign Minister Gideon Saar welcomed the State Department\u2019s decision.
\nIsrael and the U.S. are upset with several Western allies who have pledged to recognise a Palestinian state at the U.N. next month.
\nThose pledges reflect frustration with Israel\u2019s assault in Gaza, which has killed tens of thousands of people and set off a starvation crisis. It also reflects anger with Israeli settlement building in the West Bank, viewed as the heartland of a potential Palestinian state.
\nAt least 147 of the 193 U.N. member states already recognize a Palestinian state. The Palestinians have observer status at the U.N., the same as the Holy See (Vatican).
\nThe Palestinians have long sought a state in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and Gaza, with East Jerusalem as its capital. The U.S. says a Palestinian state can only be established through direct negotiations between the Israelis and Palestinians.
\nReporting by Kanishka Singh in Washington, Ryan Patrick Jones in Toronto, Michelle Nichols at the United Nations, Ali Sawafta in Ramallah, Andrew Gray in Copenhagen and Inti Landauro in Madrid; writing by Rami Ayyub and Michelle Nichols; Editing by Nia Williams, Diane Craft, Bernadette Baum and Gareth Jones<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
WASHINGTON\/RAMALLAH, West Bank The United States said on Friday 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 U.S. allies are set to recognize Palestine as a state. A State Department official said Abbas and about 80 other […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":500150,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-500128","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n