UNITED NATIONS: The UN General Assembly voted on Friday (Sep 19) to allow Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to address the annual gathering of world leaders next week via video after the United States said it would not give him a visa to travel to New York.
The resolution received 145 votes in favour and five votes against, while six countries abstained. It also allows Abbas and any other high-level Palestinian officials to take part in UN meetings or conferences via video over the next year if they are prevented from travelling to the United States.
The U.S. said last month that Abbas and about 80 other Palestinians would be affected by its decision to deny and revoke visas from members of the umbrella Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and the West Bank-based Palestinian Authority.
“US opposition to this resolution should come as no surprise,” US diplomat Jonathan Shrier said before the vote. “The Trump Administration has been clear: We must hold the PLO and Palestinian Authority accountable for not complying with their commitments under the Oslo Accords, some of them very basic, and for undermining the prospects for peace.”
Under a 1947 UN “headquarters agreement”, the US is generally required to allow access for foreign diplomats to the UN in New York. However, Washington has said it can deny visas for security, extremism and foreign policy reasons.
