If Palestinian officials believed they'd be attending any upcoming United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) meetings, they'd be wrong. Marco Rubio just took away that privilege.
The State Department announced today that the Secretary of State would deny or revoke any visas from members of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and the Palestinian Authority (PA).
The 80th session of the UNGA opens on September 9 in New York, of course, and various events last through the end of the month.
The State Department press release reads:
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.
Before the PLO and PA can be considered partners for peace, they must consistently repudiate terrorism — including the October 7 massacre — and end incitement to terrorism in education, as required by U.S. law and as promised by the PLO. The PA must also end its attempts to bypass negotiations through international lawfare campaigns, including appeals to the ICC and ICJ, and efforts to secure the unilateral recognition of a conjectural Palestinian state. Both steps materially contributed to Hamas’s refusal to release its hostages, and to the breakdown of the Gaza ceasefire talks.
The PA Mission to the UN will receive waivers per the UN Headquarters Agreement. The United States remains open to re-engagement that is consistent with our laws, should the PA/PLO meet their obligations and demonstrably take concrete steps to return to a constructive path of compromise and peaceful coexistence with the State of Israel.
According to Fox News, internal documents, on which Rubio signed off, had similar language, but they included a straightforward "The Trump Administration does not reward terrorism." The documents also argue "that the unprecedented step is justified because Palestinian leaders plan to use the September forum to push a 'constitutional declaration' of independence, a move the U.S. views as a major propaganda victory for Hamas and a threat to ceasefire talks in Gaza."
Fox also reports that denying visas on a case-by-case basis is the norm, and the United States has never blocked an entire delegation from attending the UNGA. It says that this "historic" move by Rubio will likely cause some friction between our country and various allies that recognize Palestine.
As of August 11, 147 of the 193 countries in the United Nations recognize Palestine as a state. Of the 32 countries in NATO, only 14 recognize a Palestinian state. In early August, France, Great Britain, and Canada announced that they would join them with some conditions, which would bring those numbers to 150 and 17, respectively.
It would also leave the United States as the only permanent member of the UN Security Council that does not recognize Palestine (Russia, China, France, and Great Britain are the others). Last year, the U.S. blocked the Security Council from making Palestine an official member of the UN.
Of the industrialized nations that make up the G20, only the United States, Germany, Australia, Italy, Japan, and South Korea do not currently recognize a Palestinian state.
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