Overview
- The U.S. Department of State announced on Sept. 17 that it will extend visa denials for senior members of the Organization for the Liberation of Palestine and the Palestinian Authority, preventing President Mahmoud Abbas from attending the UN General Assembly in person.
- The UN General Assembly voted the same day 152–4–3 to let the Palestinian delegation participate remotely, enabling Abbas to address the Assembly by video despite the U.S. travel ban.
- Washington said the bans respond to what it called PA and OLP practices that undermine peace, including payments to militants, glorification of violence in public statements and school materials, and efforts to pursue cases at the ICC and ICJ.
- The State Department maintained a limited exemption for notified staff of the OLP observer mission to the UN and separately authorized a reduced Iranian delegation to travel to New York under travel and conduct restrictions.
- European diplomats and others criticized the U.S. action as damaging to multilateral norms and U.S. host-country duties under the 1947 UN Headquarters Agreement, a dispute that could increase diplomatic friction and set a precedent for contesting access to UN meetings.