United Nations Summit: US Blocks Palestinian officials

The United States said on Friday who will deny the visas to the members of the Palestinian Authority to participate in the United Nations General Assembly of next month, where France is leading a push to recognize a Palestinian state.

The extraordinary pass also aligns the administration of President Donald Trump with the government of Israel, who categorically refuses a Palestinian state and tried to group the Palestinian authority based in the West Bank with Hamas in Gaza.

“The Secretary of State Marco Rubio is denying and revoking the visas by the members of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and the Palestinian Authority (PA) before the imminent General Assembly of the United Nations,” said the State Department in a note.

“The Trump administration was clear: it is in our national security interests to make the OL and the PA responsible for not having respected their commitments and for having undermined the prospects of peace,” he said.

Using a term favored by Trump to deride his legal problems while he was out of office, the State Department accused the Palestinians of “Lawfare” by contacting the International Criminal Court and the International Court of Justice to take the grievances with Israel.

The Palestinian authority must put an end to “attempts to circumvent negotiations through international law campaigns” and “efforts to guarantee the unilateral recognition of a conjectural Palestinian state”, he said.

Based on an agreement as the Nations United Nations presenter in New York, the United States should not refuse visas for officials who head towards the world body.

The State Department insisted on the fact that it was respecting the agreement allowing the Palestinian mission to the United Nations.

AFP