Step comes when France is leading a push to recognise Palestinian state after Israel’s unyielding bombing of Gaza
The US has begun denying and revoking visas from members of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and the Palestinian Authority (PA) ahead of the United Nations general assembly meeting in September, the state department said on Friday.
“The Trump administration has been clear: it is in our national security interests to hold the PLO and PA accountable for not complying with their commitments, and for undermining the prospects for peace,” it said in a statement.
The new measure further aligns Donald Trump’s administration with Israel’s rightwing government which adamantly rejects a Palestinian state. Israeli officials have repeatedly equated the broadly secular PA, which exercises partial authority in the occupied West Bank, with its bitter Islamist rival Hamas.
Using a term favoured by Trump to deride his legal troubles while out of office, the state department accused the Palestinians of “lawfare” by raising grievances against Israel at the international criminal court and international court of justice.
