United States authorities have again denied Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas a visa to attend the United Nations General Assembly in New York, a decision announced in Washington on Wednesday, 16 September 2026, that will prevent the Palestinian leader from appearing in person at next week’s high-level gathering for a second consecutive year.
The US State Department said it would deny visas to members of the Palestine Liberation Organisation and officials of the Palestinian Authority, citing what Washington described as failures to meet commitments to the United States and actions that undermine prospects for peace. Reuters reported that Abbas was among those affected by the measure.
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The State Department said the Palestinian organisations had “once again, failed to live up to their commitments”.
Washington specifically pointed to Palestinian actions at international institutions, including the International Criminal Court and the International Court of Justice, as well as efforts to secure international recognition of a Palestinian state outside direct negotiations with Israel.
The department also accused the PA and PLO of continuing to pay stipends to what it described as terrorists and glorifying terrorism in public statements and school textbooks.
Those are US government allegations and form part of Washington’s stated justification for the visa restrictions.
The decision means Abbas faces the prospect of addressing the UN remotely again, as he did in 2025 after the United States also denied visas to Palestinian officials ahead of the General Assembly.
Last year, the General Assembly voted 145 to five, with six abstentions, to allow Palestine to participate virtually after its representatives were denied entry visas. The United States voted against the resolution.
Abbas subsequently addressed the 2025 General Assembly by video link, calling for a modern and democratic Palestinian state and saying the Palestinian Authority was prepared to work with the United States, Saudi Arabia, France, the UN and other partners on a peace plan.
The latest Abbas visa denial comes at a particularly sensitive point in international diplomacy over the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
The United Nations General Assembly endorsed the New York Declaration on the peaceful settlement of the Palestinian question and implementation of a two-state solution in September 2025 by 142 votes to 10, with 12 abstentions.
The United States was among the countries voting against the declaration.
France and Saudi Arabia co-chaired the international conference that produced the declaration.
The UN says the initiative was intended to establish a pathway towards the implementation of a two-state solution and to support Palestinian statehood alongside Israeli security and a peaceful settlement.
The issue of Palestinian recognition has since become a major point of disagreement between Washington and a number of other governments.
The United States maintains that Palestinian statehood should emerge through negotiations, while numerous countries have supported recognition as part of efforts to advance a two-state settlement.
The visa dispute also touches on the special position of the UN headquarters in New York.
In 2025, the General Assembly expressed concern that Palestinian representatives had been prevented from participating in person and referred to the headquarters agreement between the United Nations and the United States.
The Palestinian side argued at the time that Washington was obliged to facilitate access for officials attending UN meetings.
The United States, however, defended its decision on foreign policy and security grounds, accusing the Palestinian Authority and PLO of failing to meet commitments and of pursuing international legal action against Israel.
The latest decision comes amid continued violence in the occupied West Bank and the wider conflict that followed the Hamas-led attack on Israel on 7 October 2023.
The United Nations and other international bodies have continued to call for diplomatic efforts towards a political settlement, while disagreements over the conduct of the conflict, Palestinian statehood and the role of international courts remain sharply contested.
For Washington, the new visa restrictions represent a continuation of its approach towards the Palestinian Authority and PLO.
For the Palestinian leadership, however, the restrictions again limit Abbas’s ability to address the world’s largest multilateral forum in person.
The immediate question is whether the General Assembly will once again approve a mechanism allowing Abbas to participate remotely if the visa denial remains in place.
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Whatever arrangement is ultimately reached, the dispute highlights the widening diplomatic gap between the United States and the Palestinian leadership at a time when international efforts towards a two-state solution remain at the centre of debate at the United Nations.
Quadri Olaitan is a journalist and contributor to Freelanews.com, covering news, public affairs, and human-interest stories.
