Scandal at the UN after the US refused visas for the Palestinian delegation. “We must be able to discuss together. We cannot be taken hostage”
UN General Assembly, Photo: Bebeto Matthews / AP / Profimedia
The European Union appealed to the US on Saturday to reconsider its refusal to give visas to Palestinian officials who intend to participate in September at the New York General Assembly, AFP reports.
“We all ask for this decision to be reconsidered, taking into account the international law,” said the head of EU Kaja Kallas diplomacy, after an informal meeting in Copenhagen of the Foreign Ministers of the 27.
Washington announced the decision on Friday night, a few weeks before the UN General Assembly where France and other states will plead for the recognition of Palestine. The State Department said that “revokes and refuses” the granting of visas “for the members of the Palestinian Palestinian authority”, with the approximation of this international meeting.
Proposal to be organized a special session in Europe
This gesture was denounced, in Copenhagen, by the head of French diplomacy Jean-Noel Barrot, according to which “the United Nations is a place of neutrality (…), a sanctuary in the service of peace”. “A general meeting of the UN should not face any access restrictions,” he stressed.
“We must be able to discuss together. We cannot be taken hostage,” said Luxembourg Xavier Bettel Foreign Minister.
He suggested the organization in Geneva of a special session of the General Assembly of the UN to which the Palestinians also participate.
Despite the protests from Europe, the US authorities confirmed on Saturday the measure announced the day before, a responsible person from the State Department, stating that the refusal or revocation of the visa affected 80 Palestinians, including Mahmud Abbas, the president of the Palestinian authority.
This extraordinary measure of Washington closer to Donald Trump's administration to the Israeli government. It categorically rejects the idea of a Palestinian state and tries to put on the same plane the Palestinian authority, based in the Cisiordania, and Hamas, leading to Gaza.
The condemnation of this refusal to grant visas is one of the few topics that have made unanimous among the 27 in Copenhagen, given that EU leaders are not able to understand to sanction Israel for the catastrophic humanitarian situation.
