(Reuters) -The U.S. is denying and revoking visas from members of the Palestine Liberation Organization and the Palestinian Authority ahead of the United Nations General Assembly meeting in September, the State Department said on Friday.
The department did not name the officials targeted. It was unclear whether Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, who is planning to travel to New York to deliver an address to the late September gathering, was included in the restrictions.
The Palestinians’ ambassador to the U.N., Riyad Mansour, told reporters that they were checking exactly what the U.S. move means “and how it applies to any of our delegation, and we will respond accordingly.”
Abbas’ office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The U.S. restrictions follow the imposition of U.S. sanctions on Palestinian Authority officials and members of the Palestine Liberation Organization in July, even as other Western powers move toward recognition of Palestinian statehood.
In a statement, the State Department said that “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.”
Officials with the Palestinian Authority, which has limited self-rule in parts of the Israeli-occupied West Bank, reject that they’ve undermined peace prospects.
Under the 1947 U.N. “headquarters agreement,” the U.S. is generally required to allow access for foreign diplomats to the U.N. in New York. But Washington has said it can deny visas for security, terrorism and foreign policy reasons.
The State Department said that the Palestinian Authority’s mission to the U.N. would not be included in the restrictions. It did not elaborate.
Palestinians have long sought to create an independent state in the occupied West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem through a mediated peace process. Many accuse Israel of having destroyed Palestinian statehood prospects through increased settlement building in the West Bank and by levelling much of Gaza during the current war. Israel rejects this.
Close U.S. allies Canada, Britain, Australia and France in recent weeks announced or signaled their intention to recognize a Palestinian state during the U.N. General Assembly meeting. This ratcheted up pressure on Israel as starvation spreads from its military assault in Gaza.
(Reporting by Ryan Patrick Jones in Toronto, Michelle Nichols at the United Nations and Ali Sawafta in Ramallah; editing by Rami Ayyub)
