https://arab.news/2mnye
Two recent decisions by the US government are puzzling to any observer of the Middle East. Both are also deeply troubling: the Aug. 29 denial of visas to Palestinian invitees to the UN headquarters — a rare act reserved for the most egregious offenders — and the Aug. 13 instructions to US consulates not to grant sick or educational visas to holders of Palestinian passports. Both anti-Palestinian decisions are unusual for Washington and hard to explain through ordinary diplomatic reasoning.
When the leaders of North Korea, Iran and Venezuela, arch-enemies of the US, are allowed to attend the UN General Assembly, it is difficult to understand why Mahmoud Abbas, the peaceful president of Palestine, is refused.
US President Donald Trump met with Abbas during his first term and the Palestinian leader has not turned radical since then. In fact, much to the anger of his own people and Palestinian political bodies, Abbas has refused to stop coordination with Israeli security and US intelligence services. So why is he being punished?
One theory discussed in Palestinian circles is that Abbas does not fit the “demon” figure Israel and the US need to justify the continuation of the genocidal war on Palestinians. With the Gaza war nearing its end and Hamas largely weakened, a new demon figure is needed. Most of the world supports Palestinian self-determination, which Abbas embodies. This angers Jewish supremacists, who envision only a “Greater Israel,” as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu recently admitted.
