For the second year... Washington denies Abbas visa to attend UN meetings

A Palestinian official familiar with the matter told Reuters on Thursday that the United States has refused to grant Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas a visa to attend the United Nations General Assembly in New York next week, extending a ban that has been in place since last year. The U.S. State Department said on Wednesday, without naming specific officials, that it would extend visa-related sanctions imposed on Palestinian officials for actions taken to “internationalize the Israeli-Palestinian conflict,” including pursuing cases against Israel in international courts. This is the second consecutive year that the administration of President Donald Trump has barred Abbas from attending the gathering of world leaders, at which last year’s session saw several U.S. allies recognize Palestine as a state. The General Assembly, comprising 193 member states, is scheduled to vote on Thursday on whether to allow Abbas to deliver a video statement during the annual meeting set for next week. Last September, Abbas addressed the high-level segment of the General Assembly via video link. The Palestinian official, who requested anonymity, confirmed that Abbas’s visa had been denied. The Palestinian Authority’s Foreign Ministry described the move in a statement as “contrary to efforts to restore trust, develop Palestinian-American relations, and create the political climate necessary to implement a two-state solution and achieve peace and stability in the region.” Palestinian officials say that U.S.-brokered talks over the decades have failed to end the Israeli occupation and establish an independent Palestinian state.