Overview

• The State Department said it will deny or revoke visas for members of the PLO and the Palestinian Authority planning to attend the September U.N. session, while exempting Palestine’s permanent mission under the host‑country agreement.
• Palestinian ambassador Riyad Mansour said President Mahmoud Abbas had planned to speak at the General Assembly, and a U.S. official told Reuters the move could affect about 80 Palestinians, though Abbas’s status was not clarified.
• The Palestinian presidency protested the decision as contradicting the U.N. host‑country agreement and requested that the United States reverse it.
• U.N. spokesman Stéphane Dujarric said it is important that all member states and observers, including the Palestinians, be represented and noted the U.N. will seek a resolution with Washington.
• Israel’s foreign minister Gideon Saar publicly thanked the United States, as the step comes as France and other Western governments prepare initiatives to recognize a Palestinian state during the General Assembly.