US imposes visa bans on Palestinian officials for undermining Gaza peace
The State Department said the two Palestinian organisations had "taken actions to internationalise" their conflict with Israel, including through the International Criminal Court, and said both had continued "to support terrorism."The PA and PLO serve as representatives for the Palestinian people and have long pushed for recognition of a Palestinian state by international organisations and foreign nations. The two groups had no immediate comment on the US move.The State Department made its announcement just a day after Canada said it planned to recognise the State of Palestine at a meeting of the United Nations in September, ratcheting up pressure on Israel as starvation spreads in the Palestinian enclave of Gaza.France said last week it would back Palestinian statehood and Britain said it would do the same at September's UN General Assembly meeting if the fighting in Gaza had not stopped by then.US President Donald Trump has insisted that recognition of Palestinian statehood would wrongly reward Hamas, the militant group that is battling Israel in the Gaza Strip. Since returning to office in January, Trump has been vague on his position on a two-state solution to the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians.Israel has denounced the moves by France, Britain and Canada.'MORAL DISTORTION'Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar, in a post on X, thanked the US for its "moral clarity" in sanctioning the Palestinian officials, saying the action "also exposes the moral distortion of certain countries that ran to recognise a virtual Palestinian state while turning a blind eye to its support for terror and incitement."It was not immediately clear how the US visa ban would affect Palestinian diplomats.Under the 1947 UN "headquarters agreement," the US is generally required to allow access for foreign diplomats to the UN in New York. But Washington has said it can deny visas for security, terrorism and foreign policy reasons.The US sanctions follow an international conference this week at the UN, hosted by France and Saudi Arabia, that aimed to work towards a two-state solution between Israel and the Palestinians. Israel and the US boycotted the event.advertisementAlso on Thursday, US special envoy Steve Witkoff met Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a bid to salvage Gaza truce talks and tackle a humanitarian crisis in the enclave, where a global hunger monitor has warned that famine is unfolding.The Gaza war began on October 7, 2023, when Hamas-led fighters stormed southern Israel, killing 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking 251 hostages back to Gaza, according to Israeli tallies.Since then, Israel's offensive has killed more than 60,000 people in Gaza, mostly civilians, according to Gaza health officials, reduced much of the enclave to ruins and displaced nearly the entire population.- Ends
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