US extends visa ban on Mahmoud Abbas and Palestinian officials

The US State Department has announced that it will extend measures barring visas for Palestinian Authority officials and members of the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO), including Mahmoud Abbas, ahead of the United Nations General Assembly.

“As a consequence of their failure to reform, contrary to their commitments to the United States, and their ongoing activities that undermine the prospects for peace, the United States will extend sanctions that deny visas to PLO members and PA officials,” the State Department said in a statement.

During Trump’s first term, his administration imposed a series of restrictions on Palestinian officials, including closing the PLO office in Washington in 2018 and cutting US aid to the Palestinian Authority.

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The restrictions also affected Abbas, who was forced to address the UN General Assembly by video link after the United States refused to grant him a visa.

Israeli media had previously reported that the United States had rejected Abbas’s request for a visa to attend this year’s General Assembly meetings.

The Palestinian side was also informed that the rejection was based on allegations of links to a group designated as a terrorist organisation by the United States.

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