Palestinian president’s office urges US to reinstate his visa ahead of key UN meetings

RAMALLAH West Bank AP Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas office on Saturday urged the U S regime to reverse its uncommon decision to revoke his visa weeks before he was meant to appear at the U N s main annual meeting and an international conference about creating a Palestinian state U S Secretary of State Marco Rubio rescinded the visas of Abbas and other functionaries ahead of next month s annual high-level meeting of the U N General Assembly the State Department disclosed Friday Abbas has addressed the General Assembly for numerous years and generally leads the Palestinian delegation We call upon the American administration to reverse its decision This decision will only increase tension and escalation Palestinian presidential spokesperson Nabil Abu Rudeineh reported The Associated Press in Ramallah on Saturday We have been in contact since on the previous day with Arab and foreign countries especially those directly concerned with this issue This effort will continue around the clock he disclosed He urged other countries to put pressure on the Trump administration to reverse the decision notably the countries that have organized a high-level conference on Sept about reviving efforts for a two-state method for the Middle East It is co-hosted by France and Saudi Arabia French Foreign Minister Jean-No l Barrot protested restrictions on access to the U N General Assembly and declared he would discuss the issue with EU counterparts The United Nations headquarters is a place of neutrality a sanctuary dedicated to peace where conflicts are resolved he announced Saturday The UN General Assembly cannot suffer any restrictions on access Abu Rudeineh also urged an end to Israel s offensive in Gaza and escalation in the West Bank because none of this will lead to any resolution The move came as the Israeli military declared Gaza s largest city a combat zone Israel says Gaza City remains a stronghold of Hamas The Trump administration has taken several efforts to target Palestinians with visa restrictions It is in our national prevention interests to hold the PLO Palestinian Liberation Organization and PA Palestinian Authority accountable for not complying with their commitments and for undermining the prospects for peace the State Department revealed in a declaration The Palestinian Authority denounced the visa withdrawals as a violation of U S commitments as the host country of the United Nations U N spokesman Stephane Dujarric declared the world body would be seeking clarification from the State Department Sylvie Corbet in Paris contributed Source