For the Second Year, U.S. Refuses Abbas a Visa to Attend UN Meetings

Al-Taj News – For the second consecutive year, the United States has refused to grant Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas a visa to attend the United Nations General Assembly meetings in New York.

Informed sources reported that the U.S. administration refused to grant the Palestinian president and his delegation visas to attend the UN meetings.

The move came ahead of the participation of heads of state and government in the high-level week of the 81st session of the General Assembly, which began on September 8, while the general debate continues until September 28, according to the UN’s official schedule.

During his current visit to Egypt, Abbas spoke of what he considered “shifts in the international position toward the Palestinian cause,” pointing to the growing number of countries that have recognized the State of Palestine and what he described as a shift in U.S. public opinion toward greater sympathy and support for Palestinian rights.

Abbas also told Egyptian media representatives that the two-state solution, based on international legitimacy, provides a framework for ending the conflict and establishing an independent Palestinian state along the 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital, stressing the need to continue political and diplomatic efforts to achieve this.