The United States announced on Friday for visas for members of the Palestinian authority before the UN General Assembly scheduled for September, where France will advocate for the recognition of a Palestinian State.
“The Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, revokes and rejects the granting of visas for members of the Palestine Liberation Organization and the Palestinian authority before the next United Nations General Assembly,” said the State Department in a statement.
“The Trump administration was clear”
This extraordinary measure closer even more to the Trump administration of the Israeli government, which categorically rejects the idea of a Palestinian State and seeks to put the same position as the Palestinian authority, based in the West in the West Bank and Hamas in Gaza.
“The Trump administration was clear: it is of interest to our national security maintain the organization of the liberation of Palestine and the Palestinian authority responsible for not respecting its commitments and compromising the perspectives of peace,” said the press release.
The Palestinian authority in return has expressed “its deep repentance and its astonishment” in the face of this decision that is “in contradiction with international law”, and called Washington to “return.”
The State Department accused the Palestinians of using justice for illegitimate purposes when resorting to the International Criminal Court (ICC) and the International Court of Justice (CIJ) to resolve their litigation with Israel.
The Palestinian authority must end “attempts to avoid negotiations through international judicial wars” and “efforts to obtain unilateral recognition of a Palestinian state,” the text said.
Gideon Saar, the Israeli Foreign Minister, thanked the Trump administration in X for “this brave scenario” and “supporting Israel again.”
The UN spokesman Stéphane Dujarric said it was “important” that all the permanent states and observers, including the Palestinians, are represented at a summit provided for the day before the beginning of the General Assembly. “Obviously we hope it will be resolved.”
Mahmoud Abbas at the UN
It is assumed that the United States should not reject visas to public officials who go to the UN, whose headquarters are in New York, under an agreement that the State Department claims to respect when authorizing the Palestinian mission to the United Nations.
The State Department did not specify whether the measure announced on Friday was applied to all Palestinian officials.
His spokesman said that the United States “remained open to a contact resumption if the Palestinian authority and the Palestine Liberation Organization took concrete measures to return to a constructive discussion.”
The president of the Palestinian authority, Mahmoud Abbas, must participate in the 80th UN General Assembly, which will be held from September 9 to 23, according to Riyad Mansour, Palestinian ambassador to the United Nations.
“We will see what this implies exactly and how it applies to our delegations, then we will respond accordingly,” Mansour told the press.
At the end of July, Emmanuel Macron announced that France would recognize the State of Palestine at the UN General Assembly. In the process, more than a dozen Western countries have asked other countries in the world to do the same.
In 1988, Yasser Arafat, head of the Palestine Liberation Organization, had a speech during a special general meeting gathered in Geneva instead of New York, after a refusal of the United States to allow him to return to his territory.
More recently, in 2013, the United States had rejected a visa to Omar El-Kémir, then president of Sudan, who was the subject of an arrest warrant of the CPI for war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide in Darfur’s conflict.
Benjamin Netanyahu, Israeli prime minister, is also the subject of an arrest warrant issued by the ICC.
Donald Trump plans to attend the General Assembly of September, where one of the first speeches will say. Its administration has clearly limited relationships with the United Nations and other international organizations.
Source: BFM TV
