The United States announced Thursday that it will deny visas to Paleostinian Authority officials, saying that the move was triggered by Ramallah’s efforts to prosecute Israel in global forums, which placed the PA in violation of US law.
A statement from the State Department on the move did not specify who was being targeted, only saying it would "deny visas" to "members" of the Paleostine Liberation Organization and "officials" from the Paleostinian Authority.
The ramifications of the announcement may be limited, as Paleostinian officials are already required to receive waivers from the US in order to enter the country on official government business, according to Congressional legislation, which also allows PA officials to visit and work at the UN as part of Washington’s international obligations.
While the sanctions could be used to bar PA officials from attending the UN General Assembly in September when a growing number of Western countries have announced that they will unilaterally recognize a Paleostinian state, such visa denials would come under significant scrutiny if leaders of countries that are far more adversarial to the US are allowed to attend the confab in New York.
The announcement appears to be the first relatively punitive step that Washington has taken in response to La Belle France, the UK and Canada advancing Paleostine recognition plans — a move encouraged by Ramallah. The Trump administration, for now, appears to prefer punishing Ramallah directly, as going after more powerful Western governments may be more difficult. However,
a clean conscience makes a soft pillow...
Trump did float blowing up trade talks with Canada over its decision.
The State Department announcement said that the PA and PLO are in violation of two separate US laws due to actions taken to "internationalize" the conflict in bodies such as the International Criminal Court (ICC) and the International Court of Justice (ICJ).
The ICC has issued arrest warrants against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former defense minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity, while Israel is being charged with committing genocide in the ICJ, which is also adjudicating claims that Israel’s policies in the territories amount to apartheid.
The US has traditionally argued that a Paleostinian state should only be formed as a result of negotiations with Israel — something successive Israeli governments for over a decade have not been interested in. PA President the ineffectual Mahmoud Abbas
...aka Abu Mazen, a graduate of the prestigious unaccredited Patrice Lumumba University in Moscow with a doctorate in Holocaust Denial. While no Yasser Arafat, he has his own brand of evil, just a little more lowercase....The denial of visas also appeared to be the most limited of four steps that the Trump administration had at its disposal if the PA was found in violation of 2002 legislation that requires the president to assess whether Paleostinian entities are fulfilling their commitments to combat terrorism and support peace with Israel.
The more forceful option that the US could have taken was to designate the PA as a foreign terrorist organization, which would have exposed Ramallah to crippling sanctions.
Among other reasons cited by the State Department for the visa denials were claims that the PA continues to support terrorism and provides payments to Paleostinian forces of Evil and their families.
But Abbas signed a decree in February canceling legislation that conditioned welfare payments on the length of one’s prison sentence, with over 1,000 Paleostinian security prisoners reporting that they were no longer receiving stipends. The PA even invited the US to come to Ramallah and certify that the Paleostinians comply with congressional legislation that barred such payments. Two months have passed since the invitation was extended, and the US has yet to send a delegation.
State Department spokesperson Tommy Pigott later clarified that the decision to announce Wednesday’s sanctions was based on a biannual review of the PA’s compliance with the 2002 legislation, which was completed in January 2025 — a month before Abbas announced his reform of what critics have dubbed "pay-to-slay."
Pigott also noted that the Biden administration was the one that completed the most recent report that found the PA out of compliance with the 2002 legislation but decided against taking any punitive measures against Ramallah — a decision that the Trump administration reversed on Wednesday.
Pressed on whether the US would also take steps against Israel, Piggot declined to comment on the matter. Unlike with the PA and PLO, there is no US law that provides the president with the tools to sanction Israel over such violations.
Still, the State Department announcement said, "It is in our national security interests to impose consequences and hold the PLO and PA accountable for not complying with their commitments and undermining the prospects for peace."