In an unprecedented step, Rubio says PA and PLO officials to be barred from visiting UN headquarters in NYC over their ‘efforts to secure the unilateral recognition of a conjectural Palestinian state.’ The US State Department announced Friday that Secretary of State Marco Rubio was denying and revoking visas from Palestinian officials ahead of next month’s United Nations General Assembly. The unprecedented step came a month after the State Department first announced that it would pursue the policy, which it now appeared to be implementing.
The US announcement did not name which individuals would be barred and if Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas was among them, though the New York Post cited an internal US State Department memo recommending that the visa ban be applied to him.
Explaining the seemingly unprecedented move, the State Department announcement said, “It is in our national security interests to hold the Palestine Liberation Organization and the Palestinian Authority accountable for not complying with their commitments, and for undermining the prospects for peace.”
Abbas’s office expressed its “deep regret and astonishment” at the US decision, which it said “stands in clear contradiction to international law and the UN Headquarters Agreement, particularly since the State of Palestine is an observer member of the United Nations.” (Read More)