The United States has again used its position as host of the United Nations to prevent Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas from attending the General Assembly in New York in person. The visa denial, announced on Wednesday, 17 September 2026, means Abbas will be barred from travelling to the annual gathering for the second year in succession.
The State Department said it would deny visas to members of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and officials of the Palestinian Authority (PA). Abbas, described as a regular at the UN General Assembly, will instead address the body through a prerecorded statement.
The UN General Assembly voted on Thursday to permit the televised broadcast at Abbas's scheduled time and date. The Trump administration took the same step last year, when Abbas was forced to deliver his address by video.
Washington said the visa restrictions followed the Palestinian organisations' 'failure to reform, contrary to their commitments to the United States, and their ongoing activities that undermine the prospects for peace'. The department did not specify the reforms it expected the PA and PLO to carry out.
The State Department accused the PA of violating US law by seeking international recognition for Palestinian statehood outside direct negotiations. Washington also said the organisations were 'taking actions to internationalize the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict including through the International Criminal Court (ICC) and International Court of Justice (ICJ)'.
It further accused them of 'seeking to bypass negotiations through seeking unilateral recognition, and continuing to pay stipends to terrorists and to glorify acts of terrorism and terrorists in public pronouncements and school textbooks'. The PA is accused by the US and Israel of continuing payments to people they describe as attackers.
The action comes amid deepening tensions between Washington and Palestinian leaders under the Trump administration. The administration has made the PA and PLO's use of international institutions a central point of criticism, presenting the visa sanctions as a response to failed reform commitments and a diplomatic strategy that it says should give way to direct talks with Israel.
It also comes after the October 7, 2023 Hamas attack and the subsequent Gaza war, as international backing for Palestinian statehood has increased. The move places the United States at odds with numerous countries, including France, which recognised a Palestinian state at the United Nations.
Following a conference on a two-state solution co-chaired by France and Saudi Arabia, 142 UN member states endorsed Palestinian statehood. Washington's visa decision therefore intersects with a wider argument over whether Palestinian statehood should be advanced through multilateral recognition or negotiated directly with Israel.
The decision also raises the practical question of US obligations as the UN's host. Under a 1947 UN 'headquarters agreement,' the United States is required to allow foreign diplomats access to UN Headquarters in New York. Washington has said it may refuse visas on grounds of security, foreign policy and extremism.
The PA mission to the UN will retain a waiver under the UN Headquarters Agreement. Its regular staff may therefore continue their work even while individual PA and PLO officials are prevented from entering the United States.
It remains unclear whether Washington will continue the sanctions in future years. The identity of officials who might have travelled with Abbas, the court proceedings cited by the State Department and the PA's response to the latest decision were also not specified.
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