The U.S. has recently gone to great lengths to block Visas application for Palestinian leaders. The sanctions were imposed following a report to Congress. According to this report the PLO and PA have both violated obligations under the PLO Commitments Compliance Act of 1989 as well as the Middle East Peace Comments Act of 2002. The purpose of this is to hold the relevant leadership accountable for their actions.
A deeper discussion on these Visa issues
The U.S. imposed sanctions on Palestinian Authority officials and members of the Palestine Liberation Organization on Thursday, accusing them of undermining peace efforts with Israel even as other Western powers moved toward recognition of Palestinian statehood. The State Department said it would deny visas for travel to the U.S. by those it was targeting, although it did not name any specific individuals.
The State Department said the two Palestinian organizations had “taken actions to internationalize” their conflict with Israel, including through the International Criminal Court, and said both had continued “to support terrorism.” The ICC or International Criminal Court is a permanent international tribunal, headquartered in The Hague, Netherlands. It was established in 2002 with the aim being to prosecute individuals for very serious crimes such as crimes against humanity, genocide and war crimes.
Some very strict Palestinian sanctions
The PA and PLO serve as representatives for the Palestinian people and have long pushed for recognition of a Palestinian state by international organizations and foreign nations. The two groups had no immediate comment on the U.S. move. There are signs of a growing diplomatic divide over Palestinian statehood between Washington and three fellow Group of Seven allies.
Late on Wednesday, Canada said it planned to recognize the State of Palestine at a meeting of the United Nations in September, ratcheting up pressure on Israel as starvation spreads in the Palestinian enclave of Gaza. France said last week it would back Palestinian statehood and Britain said on Tuesday it would do the same at September’s U.N. General Assembly meeting if the fighting in Gaza had not stopped by then. The United Nationals General Assembly forms part of the six principal organs within the UN.
The U.S. takes a firm standpoint on matters
U.S. President Donald Trump has insisted that recognition of Palestinian statehood would wrongly reward Hamas, the militant group that is battling Israel in the Gaza Strip. Since returning to office in January, he has been vague about his position on a two-state solution to the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians. Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar, in a post on X, thanked the U.S. for its “moral clarity” in sanctioning the Palestinian officials, saying the action
“also exposes the moral distortion of certain countries that ran to recognize a virtual Palestinian state while turning a blind eye to its support for terror and incitement.”
Under the 1947 U.N. “headquarters agreement,” the U.S. is generally required to allow access for foreign diplomats to the U.N. in New York. But Washington has said it can deny visas for security, terrorism and foreign policy reasons. Pigott said waivers of the visa sanctions could be considered on a case-by-case basis. Also on Thursday, U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff met Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a bid to salvage Gaza truce talks and tackle a humanitarian crisis in the enclave, where a global hunger monitor has warned that famine is unfolding.
Hamas is a Palestinian armed group as well as a political movement within the Gaza strip. During October 2023, they attacked Israel. Many people were killed whilst others were taken hostage. This triggered the huge Israeli military offensive in the Gaza area. Thousands of Palestinians were killed during this conflict. In many parts of the world, such as the UK and U.S., Hamas has been designated as a terrorist organization.