The visa stop applies to both representatives of PA and the Palestinian umbrella organization PLO, writes the US State Department in the statement:
”The Trump administration has been clear: It is in our national security interest to hold the PLO and PA accountable for failing to meet their commitments and for undermining the prospects for peace."
The State Department demands, among other things, that PA cease its appeals to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) and the International Criminal Court (ICC), as well as its striving for recognition of a Palestinian state.
Can Abbas participate?
The President of the Palestinians on the West Bank, Mahmud Abbas, has planned to participate in the General Assembly in September.
We will see what it (the US visa stop) means and how it will be applied to our delegations, says the Palestinian UN Ambassador Riyad Mansour, according to AFP.
In the ICJ, a legal process has been ongoing since December 2023 in which South Africa accuses Israel of genocide in Gaza. The ICC, in turn, has issued international arrest warrants for war crimes and crimes against humanity against Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the country's former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, and now deceased leaders within the Palestinian Hamas.
”Lawfare”
The US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has accused the ICC of ”lawfare against the US and our close ally Israel".
Washington also accuses Western allies of playing into Hamas' hands through recognition of a Palestinian state.
France's President Emmanuel Macron recently announced that Paris, in connection with the UN meeting in September, will recognize Palestine, as a step towards a two-state solution. Among others, Canada and Australia have followed suit. In total, around 150 countries will then have recognized Palestine, which Sweden did in 2014.
As the host of the UN in New York, the US is expected not to block foreign representatives from visiting the world organization.
The US State Department emphasizes that the visa stop does not apply to the Palestinian Authority's permanent UN representation.
