The US is denying and revoking visas from members of the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) and the Palestinian Authority ahead of the United Nations General Assembly meeting in September, the State Department said yesterday.
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 UN, Riyad Mansour, told reporters that they were checking exactly what the US move means “and how it applies to any of our delegation, and we will respond accordingly.”
The US restrictions follow the imposition of US sanctions on Palestinian Authority officials and PLO members in July, even as other Western powers move towards 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.
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