WASHINGTON/RAMALLAH, West Bank: The United States said on Friday it will not allow Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas to travel to New York next month for a United Nations gathering of world leaders, where several US allies are set to recognize Palestine as a state. A State Department official said Abbas and about 80 other Palestinians would be affected by the decision to deny and revoke visas from members of the umbrella Palestine Liberation Organization and the West Bank-based Palestinian Authority.

The U.S. State Department announced on Friday that Secretary of State Marco Rubio is "denying and revoking visas" from members of the Palestine Liberation Organization and…

The US, as a host of the UN, is not supposed to refuse visas for officials heading to the world body.