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THE UNITED STATES has announced it will deny Palestinian officials visas, meaning they will be prevented from attending a UN General Assembly meeting in New York in September, where France has said it will push for the recognition of a Palestinian state.
The extraordinary move shows how US President Donald Trump is continuing to indulge his country’s close ally, Israel, which is totally opposed to the establishment of a state in Palestine, where it maintains a military occupation and continues to wage war on the Gaza Strip.
“Secretary of State Marco Rubio is denying and revoking visas from members of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and the Palestinian Authority (PA) ahead of the upcoming United Nations General Assembly,” the State Department said in a statement.
“The Trump administration has been clear: it is in our national security interests to hold the PLO and PA accountable for not complying with their commitments, and for undermining the prospects for peace,” it said.
The announcement comes on the same day that Israel began its full-scale assault on Gaza City, where almost one million people live.
Using a term favoured by Trump to deride legal challenges from his opponents, the State Department accused the Palestinians of “lawfare” by turning to the International Criminal Court (ICC) and International Court of Justice (ICJ) to take cases against Israel.
South Africa has taken a case against Israel at the ICJ, accusing it of violating the Genocide Convention in its war on Gaza. Separately, the ICC has issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former defence minister, for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity.
Contrary to the characterisation of the US State Department, the ICC conducts its own investigations and states do not request the issuance of warrants.
The US has sanctioned members of the court, including its lead prosecutor and a number of judges.
The US State Department called on the Palestinian Authority today to drop “efforts to secure the unilateral recognition of a conjectural Palestinian state.”
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar, writing on X, thanked the Trump administration “for this bold step and for standing by Israel once again.”
Saar said earlier this week that “there will not be a Palestinian state” following a meeting with Rubio.
As it stands, 147 of the UN’s 192 states already recognise Palestine statehood.
The Palestinian Authority called for the United States to reverse today’s decision, which it said “stands in clear contradiction to international law and the UN Headquarters Agreement.”
UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said it was “important” for all states and observers, which includes the Palestinians, to be represented at a summit scheduled for the day before the General Assembly begins.
“We obviously hope that this will be resolved,” Dujarric said.
The UN summit has been marked as the event at which France intends to unconditionally recognise Palestinian statehood.
The UK and Canada have also said they would recognise a Palestinian state, but both attached a list of conditions.
With reporting from AFP
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