French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot says there should be no restrictions on access to next month’s UN General Assembly, after the United States said it would deny visas to members of the Palestinian Authority.
The US said yesterday it will not allow Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and other officials to travel to New York next month for a United Nations gathering of world leaders, where several US allies are set to recognize Palestine as a state.
“A UN General Assembly meeting… should not be subject to any restrictions on access,” Barrot says at a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Denmark.
A string of ministers in Copenhagen echo France’s call for the United States to allow access to the Palestinian delegation.
The extraordinary step by Washington comes as France is leading a push to recognize the Palestinian state at the gathering of world leaders in New York.
Under an agreement as host of the United Nations in New York, the United States is not supposed to refuse visas for officials heading to the world body.
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