The US government does not want any Palestinian to speak

The US denial of visas for Palestinian officials who were to attend the UN General Assembly is yet another move to silence Palestinians.

By Daoud Kuttab

Award-winning Palestinian journalist.

As world leaders are preparing to gather in New York for the 80th session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in September, one nation will not have any representatives: the Palestinian people. That is because the United States Department of State has decided to deny visas to Palestinian officials seeking to attend the UNGA session.

Since 1947, the US has mostly honoured its “headquarters agreement” with the UN, granting visas — albeit limited in scope — to officials from around the world invited to attend UN meetings. There have been occasions, however, where the US has used its position as a UNGA host to deny visas to foreign diplomats from countries it wished to isolate, such as Russia, Iran, Venezuela and others.