(Photo credit: Shutterstock)The Cradle
SEP 17, 2026
Trump’s government, which took the same measure against Ramallah last year, said the move was a result of the PA’s ‘failure to reform’
Washington has banned Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas from entering the US and making a speech at the UN General Assembly, with Ramallah condemning the move as an “unjustified measure” in an official statement on 17 September.
The ban includes Abbas and other Palestinian officials. Washington said its decision was a result of the PA’s “failure to reform.”
The Palestinian Foreign Ministry statement expressed “rejection of the decision announced by the US State Department to extend restrictions on granting entry visas to officials in the Palestinian National Authority and members of the Palestine Liberation Organization.”
It called it an “unjustified measure that contradicts efforts to restore confidence, develop Palestinian–American relations, and create the necessary political climate for implementing the two-state solution.”
US President Donald Trump’s government took the same measure last year, barring Abbas and others from attending the UN General Assembly.
Washington, the EU, and other major powers have demanded sweeping reforms from the PA as part of Trump’s Gaza’s plan, which offers a potential “path” to Palestinian statehood but no concrete commitment whatsoever.
Israel categorically rejects any prospect of Palestinian statehood, and has barred a US-endorsed, PA-linked technocratic body from entering Gaza as part of the US plan for the strip.
On the ground, it is actively working to expand settlements in a way that destroys continuity between Palestinian villages in the occupied West Bank, and in a clear effort to split apart the lands that would form any future Palestinian state.
This is particularly the case with the E1 settlement project currently in motion.
Washington’s move coincides with Israeli media claims that PA-affiliated forces may be preparing an attack on Israeli forces in the occupied West Bank.
A late August Israeli report by Israel Hayom alleged that the PA buildup includes an arsenal of “anti-tank weapons” and other arms.
Palestinian forces have reportedly been undergoing training and receiving military support from Egypt over the past year for “post-war” efforts to administer the Gaza Strip – which is still being subjected to genocide by Israel.
However, for the most part, the PA and its security forces continue deep security coordination with Tel Aviv, and Ramallah has significantly aided Israeli operations against the resistance via crackdowns and arrest campaigns.
Some elements of the PA and its Fatah party – such as the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades – remain committed to armed resistance against Israeli occupation.
Following the Hebrew media claims, Israeli War Minister Israel Katz threatened an “all-out war” against the occupied West Bank, warning not only Hamas and other resistance factions, but also the PA and its forces.
“If the security apparatuses of the PA and bodies associated with them launch, or we know for certain that they are about to launch, a 7 October-style terrorist attack against forces and Jewish settlements … Netanyahu and I instructed the [army] to prepare to launch an all-out war,” Katz threatened.
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