The Trump administration is facing growing criticism for suspending visas for Palestinian passport holders, including for Palestinian officials set to attend the annual UN General Assembly in New York City this month.
On July 31, in an official statement, the U.S. State Department announced it was “imposing sanctions that deny visas to PLO members and PA officials”, because it is “in our national security interests to impose consequences and hold the PLO and PA accountable for not complying with their commitments and undermining the prospects for peace.”
Their crime? “Undermine and contradict prior commitments in support of Security Council Resolution 242 and 338, taking actions to internationalize its conflict with Israel such as through the International Criminal Court (ICC) and International Court of Justice (ICJ), continuing to support terrorism including incitement and glorification of violence (especially in textbooks), and providing payments and benefits in support of terrorism to Palestinian terrorists and their families.”
Of course, if 80 Palestinian diplomats are denied the possibility of speaking against genocide at the UN General Assembly, the latter is de facto disfunctional. When the Reagan administration denied a visa to Yasser Arafat to address the UN in 1988, the General Assembly decided in a vote of 154-2-1 to move to Geneva, Switzerland to hold meetings on Palestine (resolution A/43/49). The UN faces similar calls now. Luxemburg’s Foreign Minister Xavier Bettel made such a call early September.
