Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas again denied visa by the United States to visit the UN

For the second year in a row, the President of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas, will not be able to participate in person in the next UN General Assembly, the general debate of which is scheduled for September 22 to 28 in New York. The United States once again refused to grant visas to representatives of the Palestinian delegation

“Due to its failure to carry out reforms, contrary to commitments made to the United States, and its continued activities that undermine prospects for peace, the United States will extend sanctions banning visas to members of the PLO and officials of the Palestinian Authority”said the State Department in a press release, without specifically naming Mahmoud Abbas.

But a source close to the matter confirmed to Agence France-Presse (AFP) that the leader was indeed concerned. Despite the visa refusal, the Palestinians will be represented by their diplomats already accredited to the UN.

The Trump administration did the same in 2025, forcing Mahmoud Abbas, a regular at the UN General Assembly, to address it by videoconference. Washington accuses a breach of “commitments to peace in the Middle East”targeting “actions that undermine” and which aim “to internationalize the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, in particular through the International Criminal Court (ICC) and the International Court of Justice (ICJ)”.

Washington also blames the Palestinian Authority “seeking to circumvent negotiations by seeking unilateral recognition, and continuing to pay stipends to terrorists and glorifying acts of terrorism and terrorists in public statements and school textbooks”according to the press release.

Washington discreet on violence in the West Bank

In doing so, the United States is going against a number of countries, including France, which recognized the existence of a State of Palestine last year at the UN. In total, 142 UN member states had endorsed it, following the conference on the two-state solution co-chaired by France and Saudi Arabia.

This comes as violence perpetrated by Israeli settlers against Palestinians has increased in recent months in the West Bank. Israel has occupied the West Bank since 1967 and violence there has increased sharply since the Hamas attack on October 7, 2023, which sparked the war in the Gaza Strip.

According to an Agence France-Presse count based on data from the Palestinian Health Ministry, Israeli soldiers or settlers have killed at least 1,109 Palestinians – combatants and civilians – since October 7.

The international community has been concerned about the violence, but the United States has remained largely discreet on the subject, saying only that the American government is against any annexation of Palestinian territory.