
"The US denial of visas for Palestinian officials who were to attend the UN General Assembly is yet another move to silence Palestinians. As world leaders are preparing to gather in New York for the 80th session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in September, one nation will not have any representatives: the Palestinian people. That is because the United States Department of State has decided to deny visas to Palestinian officials seeking to attend the UNGA session."
"Since 1947, the US has mostly honoured its headquarters agreement with the UN, granting visas albeit limited in scope to officials from around the world invited to attend UN meetings. There have been occasions, however, where the US has used its position as a UNGA host to deny visas to foreign diplomats from countries it wished to isolate, such as Russia, Iran, Venezuela and others."
"The Trump administration is offering a similar justification, claiming the decision reflects US national security interests and accusing the Palestinian Authority (PA) of not complying with their commitments, and undermining the prospects for peace. The official US rationale that the PA has failed to repudiate terrorism, including the October 7, 2023 attacks, is flimsy. Under President Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian leadership has consistently condemned terrorism, including the attacks, and has gone even further by supporting the French-Saudi statement that called for Hamas's disarmament."
The US Department of State denied visas to Palestinian officials seeking to attend the 80th UN General Assembly in New York, leaving the Palestinian people without representatives. Since 1947 the US has mostly honored its headquarters agreement with the UN by granting visas to officials invited to attend meetings, though it has occasionally denied visas to diplomats from countries it wished to isolate. Palestinian leaders have faced such denials before, including when Yasser Arafat was barred in 1988. The US administration justified the denial by citing national security and alleged Palestinian Authority noncompliance and failure to repudiate terrorism. The official rationale appears flimsy given Palestinian condemnations of terrorism and support for a French-Saudi call for Hamas disarmament. The Palestinian Authority originated from the 1993 Oslo Accords signed at the White House.
Read at www.aljazeera.com
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]