UN votes to let Abbas address General Assembly by video after US visa denial

The United Nations General Assembly has voted to allow Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to address its annual meeting of world leaders by video after the United States revoked his visa last month.

The motion passed by a vote of 145-5, with six abstentions.

Mr Abbas had hoped to attend the meeting next week called for by France and Saudi Arabia aimed at advancing a two-state solution to the decades-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict. France, the United Kingdom, Canada and Australia plan to recognise a Palestinian state.

The United States is opposed to those efforts, saying the promise of statehood has emboldened Hamas and made it more difficult to reach a deal for a ceasefire and hostage release in the Gaza Strip.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government was opposed to Palestinian statehood before the war triggered by Hamas’s October 7 2023 attack, and now says statehood would reward the militant group.

The ceasefire talks stalled after the Trump administration’s Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff walked away from them in July, blaming Hamas, and suffered another blow when Israel carried out a strike targeting Hamas leaders in Qatar, which has served as a mediator throughout the war.

The US State Department revoked the visas of around 80 Palestinian officials last month, including Mr Abbas, accusing the Palestinian leadership of undermining peace efforts.

Days ahead of the General Assembly vote, a number of US allies including France and the UK had tried to urge the US to reconsider its visa ban for Mr Abbas.

The decision by the Trump administration has received widespread backlash. The UN has called it a violation of the host country agreement the US made with the international organisation that requires it to allow heads of state and government to travel to New York for diplomatic work and for the annual gatherings.

France and Saudi Arabia have advanced a phased plan for the establishment of a Palestinian state in the West Bank, Gaza and east Jerusalem, territories Israel captured in the 1967 Middle East war.

It would be governed by Mr Abbas’s Palestinian Authority with international assistance.

The Palestinian Authority is led by rivals of Hamas and currently administers parts of the Israeli-occupied West Bank.

It recognises Israel and co-operates with it on security matters, but the Israeli government says the authority is not truly committed to peace and accuses it of incitement.

Many Palestinians view the Palestinian Authority’s leaders as corrupt and autocratic. Polls in recent years have shown that a vast majority want the 89-year-old Mr Abbas, whose mandate expired in 2009, to resign.

There have been no national elections since 2006, when Hamas won in a landslide.