Before the UN General Assembly (UNGA), President Donald Trump’s administration announced it would be denying and revoking visas for Palestinian Authority (PA) and PLO members.
The US Department of State made the announcement in a statement released on Friday.
The Trump administration stated in a statement that “it is in our national security interests to hold the PLO and PA accountable for breaking their commitments and for lowering the chances for peace.”
The members “must consistently reject terrorism,” according to the statement, citing Hamas’ attack on southern Israel on October 7, 2023.
UN experts have referred to Israel’s actions as “attempts to bypass negotiations” by referring to Israeli actions taken during and after Israel’s war in Gaza.
Both the Palestinian Authority and the internationally acclaimed Palestinian umbrella organization, the PLO, represent the Palestinian people and advocate for the establishment of a Palestinian state on the international stage.
Prior to now, the Trump administration had previously criticized PA and PLO members for “ignoring peace” and glorifying them.
Since UN members and non-member observers like Palestine typically send large delegations to the UNGA, it was not immediately clear which officials the denials would concern.
The US Department of State stated in a statement on Friday that it would grant waivers to Ambassador Riyad Mansour’s current leadership of the Palestinian Authority Mission to the UN.
According to Mansour, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas was scheduled to attend the UN summit on September 22 that will include a segment on Palestinian rights, according to Mansour.
He claimed that it was not clear whether Abbas’s planned visit would be impacted by the US’s decision.
We will examine the implications and how they might apply to any member of our delegation, he said, and we will respond accordingly.
According to Al Jazeera’s Alan Fisher, who was reporting from Washington, DC, the US is supposed to grant visas to UN member-state representatives for a visit to the organization’s headquarters.
Fisher predicted that this would be contentious. It was agreed that, in effect, US immigration policies would not have an impact on people who wanted to travel there on official business when the UN was established in 1947 and had its headquarters in New York.
Fisher did point out that the US has previously denied visas to some officials, including Yasser Arafat, the head of PLO, who was subsequently denied entry to the UN.
Omar al-Bashir, the then head of state of Sudan, was denied a visa by the US in 2013 for a trip there.
According to Fisher, “the reason for that is that the International Criminal Court wanted him.”
Source: Aljazeera
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