US blocks visa access for Palestinians ahead of statehood recognition
US blocks visa access for Palestinians ahead of statehood recognition
M.U.H
02/09/202524
American officials say Washington has halted the approval of visas for Palestinian passport holders, a move coming just as international momentum builds toward recognizing a Palestinian state.
The Donald Trump administration has moved to suspend approvals of nearly all categories of US visitor visas for Palestinian passport holders, a sweeping restriction against Palestinians amid the ongoing genocide in Gaza.
Media reports said on Sunday that the US State Department had instructed its diplomats to refuse most visas for Palestinian passport holders, whether they live in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, or reside overseas.
The move will stop, at least temporarily, travel for medical treatment, attending university, visiting relatives, or conducting business.
Last week, the State Department also said it would not issue visas to Palestinian officials to attend the annual UN General Assembly in New York next month.
The Trump administration’s suspension of visas for Palestinians comes amid a new push by US allies for official recognition of the State of Palestine at the upcoming United Nations General Assembly (UNGA).
Last month, the US State Department announced that it would stop issuing visas to children from Gaza in desperate need of medical care.
The move came after an online pressure campaign from Laura Loomer, a far-right influencer close to Trump who has described herself as “a proud Islamophobe.”
The United States has been Israel’s staunchest supporter throughout its nearly two-year-long war on the Gaza Strip.
Even as international criticism has steadily mounted over the genocidal actions of the Israeli military and the humanitarian suffering it has caused, the US has not stopped its support for the apartheid regime.
The new restrictions cover anyone holding only a Palestinian passport, which were first issued in the 1990s when Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization signed agreements establishing a semiautonomous Palestinian government, known as the Palestinian Authority, in parts of the West Bank and Gaza.
They do not apply to Palestinians with dual nationalities using other passports or those who have already obtained visas.
