Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has been barred from attending next month’s United Nations General Assembly in New York after the United States revoked visas for him and about 80 other Palestinian officials, according to the State Department.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the move was taken because Palestinian leaders were undermining peace efforts and pushing for “the unilateral recognition of a conjectural Palestinian state.” The unusual decision breaks with long-standing practice, as the U.S. is generally expected to facilitate access for officials traveling to the UN headquarters.
The decision comes as France, backed by the United Kingdom, Canada, and Australia, leads a new diplomatic effort to formally recognize a Palestinian state at the General Assembly. The Biden administration, like Donald Trump before it, has opposed such recognition, aligning with Israel’s stance. Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar welcomed the U.S. move.
Abbas had been expected to lead the Palestinian delegation in New York. Palestinian ambassador Riyad Mansour confirmed earlier that the president would attend the session of world leaders, but U.S. officials later announced that visas for the Palestinian Authority (PA) and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) representatives were being denied or revoked.
The U.S. said Palestinian representatives at their UN mission could still attend meetings under the UN Headquarters Agreement. That agreement requires Washington to allow entry to foreign officials traveling to the UN “irrespective of the relations” between their governments and the U.S. It remains unclear if the American decision complies with those obligations.
Abbas’s office condemned the move, calling it “a clear contradiction to international law and the UN Headquarters Agreement, particularly since the State of Palestine is an observer member of the United Nations.” Palestinian officials urged Washington to reverse course.
The dispute comes amid escalating tensions over the decades-long conflict. Israel’s government under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu continues to reject a two-state solution, warning that recognition of a Palestinian state would reward “Hamas’s monstrous terrorism.” Netanyahu insists that Israel will not negotiate under international pressure while Hamas controls Gaza.
The latest flashpoint follows the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on October 7, 2023, which left about 1,200 people dead and 251 others taken hostage. Israel’s military campaign in Gaza since then has killed more than 63,000 people, according to the territory’s Hamas-run health ministry.
The United Nations voted in 1974 to recognize the PLO as the sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people, granting it observer status at the General Assembly. In 2012, the Assembly upgraded Palestine to a non-member observer state, a symbolic step but one that fell short of full statehood. Today, 147 of the UN’s 193 member states recognize Palestine.
UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said the world body would continue discussions with the U.S. in hopes of resolving the matter. “It is important that all member states and permanent observers be able to be represented, especially given the upcoming discussions on a two-state solution,” he said.
For now, Abbas remains excluded from the New York gathering, even as world powers prepare to debate whether to move forward with recognition of Palestine—a step that could shift international diplomacy but leave realities on the ground largely unchanged, with Israeli settlements expanding in the West Bank and calls for similar control in Gaza.