Kanishka Singh & Ali Sawafta
Reuters / August 30, 2025
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 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.
Abbas 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.
Abbas’ office said it was astonished by the visa decision and said it violated the U.N. “headquarters agreement”.
Under a 1947 U.N. “headquarters agreement”, 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.
Nabil Abu Rudeineh, a spokesperson for Abbas, called on Saturday for Washington to reconsider its decision.
“We 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,” he told Reuters.
Several European foreign ministers arriving at a European Union meeting in Copenhagen on Saturday criticised the U.S. decision.
A UN General Assembly “cannot be subject to any restrictions on access,” French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot told reporters. Irish Foreign Minister Simon Harris said the EU should protest the decision “in the strongest possible terms”.
Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said in a statement on Saturday that he had spoken with Abbas to express Madrid’s support and he called the visa decision “unjust”.
“Palestine has the right to make its voice heard at the United Nations and in all international forums,” he said on X.
The 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 “unilateral recognition” of a Palestinian state.
Palestinian 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.
“(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,” the department said.
The State Department said the Palestinian Authority’s mission to the U.N., comprising officials who are permanently based there, would not be included in the restrictions.
RECOGNITION
U.N. spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said the U.N. would discuss the visa issue with the State Department.
In 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.
The State Department said it demands that the PA and PLO “consistently repudiate terrorism,” including the deadly October 2023 Hamas attack on Israel that sparked the Gaza war.
In June, Abbas wrote a letter to France’s president in which he condemned the Hamas attack and called on hostages taken by the militant group to be released.
Israel’s Foreign Minister Gideon Saar welcomed the State Department’s decision.
Israel and the U.S. are upset with several Western allies who have pledged to recognise a Palestinian state at the U.N. next month.
Those pledges reflect frustration with Israel’s 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.
At 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).
The 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.
Reporting 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
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Palestinian president’s office urges US to reinstate his visa ahead of key UN meetings
Imad Isseid
AP / August 30, 2025
RAMALLAH, West Bank – Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’ office on Saturday urged the U.S. government to reverse its unusual decision to revoke his visa, weeks before he was meant to appear at the U.N.’s main annual meeting and an international conference about creating a Palestinian state.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio rescinded the visas of Abbas and 80 other officials ahead of next month’s annual high-level meeting of the U.N. General Assembly, the State Department disclosed Friday. Abbas has addressed the General Assembly for many years, and generally leads the Palestinian delegation.
“We call upon the American administration to reverse its decision. This decision will only increase tension and escalation,” Palestinian presidential spokesperson Nabil Abu Rudeineh told The Associated Press in Ramallah on Saturday.
“We have been in contact since yesterday with Arab and foreign countries, especially those directly concerned with this issue. This effort will continue around the clock,” he said.
He urged other countries to put pressure on the Trump administration to reverse the decision, notably the countries that have organized a high-level conference on Sept. 22 about reviving efforts for a two-state solution for the Middle East. It is co-hosted by France and Saudi Arabia.
French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot protested restrictions on access to the U.N. General Assembly, and said he would discuss the issue with EU counterparts.
“The United Nations headquarters is a place of neutrality, a sanctuary dedicated to peace, where conflicts are resolved,” he said Saturday. “The UN General Assembly … cannot suffer any restrictions on access.”
Abu Rudeineh also urged an end to Israel’s offensive in Gaza and “escalation in the West Bank, because none of this will lead to any solution.”
The move came as the Israeli military declared Gaza’s largest city a combat zone. Israel says Gaza City remains a stronghold of Hamas.
The Trump administration has taken several steps to target Palestinians with visa restrictions.
“It is in our national security interests to hold the PLO (Palestinian Liberation Organization) and PA (Palestinian Authority) accountable for not complying with their commitments, and for undermining the prospects for peace,” the State Department said in a statement.
The Palestinian Authority denounced the visa withdrawals as a violation of U.S. commitments as the host country of the United Nations. U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said the world body would be seeking clarification from the State Department.
Sylvie Corbet in Paris contributed
