US to deny visas to Palestinian officials for UN summit

WASHINGTON — The Trump administration announced Friday it would be denying and revoking visas for Palestinian officials ahead of the upcoming United Nations General Assembly summit in New York. 

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas was expected to speak at the annual gathering of world leaders in September, where several US allies including France and the United Kingdom are set to officially recognize the state of Palestine. Speaking on condition of anonymity, a US official said Abbas would be denied a visa to travel to New York City.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio called on Palestinian officials to “return to a constructive path of compromise,” accusing the Palestine Liberation Organization and the  Palestinian Authority of undermining prospects for peace with Israel. 

“Before the PLO and PA can be considered partners for peace, they must consistently repudiate terrorism — including the October 7 massacre — and end incitement to terrorism in education, as required by US law and as promised by the PLO,” Rubio said in a statement. 

The PLO is the internationally recognized representative of the Palestinian people, and the PA is the governing body established in the 1990s that exercises partial control over the Israeli-occupied West Bank. 

Rubio also pressed Palestinian officials to abandon efforts aimed at securing international recognition of statehood and halt their "attempts to bypass negotiations through international lawfare campaigns,” including at the International Criminal Court and the International Court of Justice.

Diplomats working at the Palestinian Mission to the UN will receive waivers per the UN Headquarters Agreement, Rubio said without elaborating. A representative of the mission did not respond to an Al-Monitor request for comment. 

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar welcomed the visa denials in a statement posted to X, praising the Trump administration “for standing by Israel once again.” Saar met with Rubio and other US officials during a visit to Washington on Wednesday. 

Under the UN Headquarters Agreement signed in 1947, the United States must issue visas “without charge and as promptly as possible” to all foreign officials attending UN events in New York. 

But in approving the US-UN pact, the US Congress passed a joint resolution in 1947 that said "nothing in the agreement" could weaken "the right of the United States to safeguard its own security." The Reagan administration invoked this law in 1988 when refusing a visa request from Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, citing his links to terrorism.

Relations between the United States and the PA remain fraught under the Trump administration, which signaled a downgrade in ties with the Palestinians when it merged the Palestinian Affairs office with the US Embassy in Jerusalem earlier this year. 

In July, the State Department announced that it would deny visas to members of the PA and PLO. Palestinian officials, however, are already avoiding travel to the United States due to a 2019 law recently upheld by the Supreme Court that allows American victims of international terrorism to sue the PLO and the PA in US courts.

Earlier this month, the State Department announced it would be halting the visas used to bring injured Palestinians from Gaza to the United States for medical treatment. Rubio said the department had evidence linking some of the medical evacuees to Hamas but did not provide further details. 

This developing story has been updated since initial publication.