Posted by Chinenye on Thu 17th Sep, 2026 - tori.ng
The United States has refused to let Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas enter the country for the upcoming UN meeting in New York.
(Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. Photo by Arab News)
The United States has refused a visa to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to attend next week's UN General Assembly meeting in New York.
The State Department did not name Abbas directly but said it would reject visas for Palestine Liberation Organisation and Palestinian Authority officials over their failure to uphold commitments and actions undermining peace prospects.
A source confirmed Abbas was among those denied entry.
The Trump administration made the same move last year, forcing the Palestinian leader to address the global assembly by video instead of in person.
Washington accused the Palestinian organisations of breaching their undertakings, pointing to their support for actions at international bodies that contradict earlier agreements.
The US highlighted their efforts to internationalise the Israeli-Palestinian conflict through the International Criminal Court and International Court of Justice, their push for unilateral statehood recognition, and their continued payments to those designated as terrorists alongside public glorification of violent acts and inclusion of such material in school materials.
The decision puts America at odds with many nations, including France, which recognised a Palestinian state at the UN last year with backing from 142 member countries following a two-state solution conference.
The move coincides with a sharp rise in violence by Israeli settlers against Palestinians in the West Bank, which Israel has occupied since 1967.
Killings have surged since the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack that sparked the Gaza war. Israeli forces and settlers have killed at least 1,109 Palestinians in the West Bank since then, mixing fighters and civilians.
The subsequent Israeli military campaign in Gaza has claimed more than 73,700 lives according to Gaza health authorities, whose figures are considered reliable by the UN.
The international community has raised alarm over the violence, though the US has largely remained silent on the issue, stating only its opposition to any annexation of Palestinian land.