US BARS MAHMOUD ABBAS from participating in a UN Summit in New York

The United States said on Friday that it would not allow Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to travel to New York next month for a United Nations rally for world leaders, where many US allies will recognize Palestine as a state.

A foreign ministry official said Abbas and about 80 other Palestinians would be influenced by the decision to refuse and revoke the visas by members of the Palestinian umbrella and the Palestinian authority based in Western Bank.

Abbas had planned to attend the UN UN Annual General Assembly in Manhattan. He was also ready to attend a summit there, where Britain, France, Australia and Canada have been committed to formally recognize a Palestinian state.

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ABBAS’s office said that surprised by the Visa decision and said it had violated the UN “headquarters” agreement.

According to a 1947 “headquarters” agreement, the US is generally obliged to allow foreign diplomats to access the UN in New York. However, Washington said it could deny visas for reasons of security, extremism and foreign policy.

“We call on the US administration to reverse this decision, which contradicts international law, namely the agreement of the seat between the United Nations and the United States, which prohibits preventing access to any delegation,” he told Reuters.

Several European Foreign Ministers who arrived at a European Union meeting in Copenhagen on Saturday criticized the US decision.

The UN General Assembly “cannot undergo restrictions on access,” French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot told reporters. Irish Foreign Minister Simon Harris said the EU should protest the decision “on the strongest possible terms”.

Spain’s Prime Minister, Pedro Sanchez, said in a statement on Saturday that he had spoken to Abbas to express Madrid’s support and called the VISA decision “unfair”.

“Palestine has the right to hear its voice in the United Nations and in all international forums,” she told X.

The Foreign Ministry justified its decision by repeating long -term US and Israeli complaints that PA. And PLO failed to renounce extremism while pressing for “unilateral recognition” of a Palestinian state.

Palestinian officials reject such allegations and say that decades of US mediation talks failed to end Israeli occupation and secure an independent Palestinian situation.

“(It) It is in the interests of national security to keep PLO and PA responsible for not complying with their commitments and undermine the prospects of peace,” the department said.

The Foreign Ministry said that the Palestinian Authority’s mission to the UN, which includes officials based there, would not be included in the restrictions.

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Recognition

UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said the UN would discuss the issue of visa with the Foreign Ministry.

In 1988, the US refused to issue a visa to Plo Yasser Arafat’s leader. The United Nations General Assembly held a meeting that year in Geneva instead of New York so that it could face it.

The Foreign Ministry said it was demanding that the PA And the IP “to firmly frustrate terrorism”, including the deadly October 2023 attack on Israel that triggered the Gaza war.

In June, Abbas wrote a letter to the President of France, in which he condemned Hamas’ attack and called on the hostages that the militant team received to be released.

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar welcomed the decision of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Israel and the US are upset with several western allies who have promised to recognize a Palestinian state at the UN next month.

These promises reflect frustration with Israel’s attack on Gaza, which has killed tens of thousands of people and began a hunger crisis. It also reflects anger with the building of the Israeli settlement on the West Bank, which is regarded as the heart of a potential Palestinian state.

At least 147 of the 193 UN Member States are already recognizing a Palestinian state. The Palestinians have a UN observer status, as well as the Holy See (Vatican).

The Palestinians have long demanded a state on the Israeli West Bank and Gaza, with the capital of Eastern Jerusalem. The US says that a Palestinian state can only be established through immediate negotiations between the Israeli and the Palestinians.