US extends visa sanctions on Palestinian Authority officials, PLO members

The U.S. State Department said on Wednesday it would extend visa sanctions on Palestinian Authority (PA) officials and members of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) ahead of the upcoming U.N. General Assembly.



The United States denied visas to several Palestinians ahead of last year's U.N. General Assembly and did not allow Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas to travel to New York for the gathering of world leaders, where several U.S. allies recognized Palestine as a state.



The 193-member United Nations General Assembly is due to vote on Thursday to allow Abbas to submit a video statement for the annual gathering next week. Abbas addressed the high-level meeting of the General Assembly via video last September.



In its statement on Wednesday, the State Department accused the PA and PLO of taking actions "to internationalize the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, including through the International Criminal Court and International Court of Justice" and to seek the "unilateral recognition" of a Palestinian state. It also accused the groups of backing "terrorists."



Palestinian officials say that decades of U.S.-mediated talks have failed to end Israeli occupation and secure an independent Palestinian state.