US bars Palestinian leader Abbas from UN as allies back statehood

31/8/2025 6:19

The United States said on Friday it will not allow Palestinian Authority (PA) president Mahmoud Abbas to travel to New York next month for a United Nations gathering of world leaders, where several US allies are set to recognise Palestine as a state.



A State Department official said Abbas and about 80 other Palestinians would be affected by the decision to deny and revoke visas from members of the umbrella Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) and the West Bank-based PA.



Abbas had been planning to travel to New York for the annual high-level UN General Assembly at UN headquarters in Manhattan. He was also set to attend a summit there – hosted by France and Saudi Arabia – where Britain, France, Australia and Canada have pledged to formally recognise a Palestinian state.



Abbas’s office said it was astonished by the visa decision and argued that it violated the UN “headquarters agreement”.