The United States suspended most of them

US officials have further limited visitors’ visas for the Palestinians, refusing them to almost all candidates who use a Palestinian passport, according to media.

Development comes a few days after 80 Palestinian officials refused visas before the United Nations General Assembly in New York.

Earlier in August, visitors’ visas were interrupted for people hoping to travel from the Palestinian territory of Gaza. This newly declared decree would affect a wider group – including people living in the West Bank occupied by Israeli.

The State Department has not explicitly confirmed this decision, but said that it “took concrete measures in accordance with American law and our national security”.

The decision was made in a diplomatic cable dated August 18, reported the New York Times and CNN.

US consular officers were invited to refuse non-immigrant visas to “all eligible Palestinian authority passport holders,” said communication.

This would apply to Palestinians in the hope of coming to the United States for the United States, including for business, studies or medical treatment.

This decision meant that civil servants would be required to carry out an additional examination of each applicant, which was equivalent to a general ban on issuing visas to the Palestinians, added the New York Times in his report.

Palestinians who are able to make visa requests using other passports were not affected.

It is not clear what prompted the reported decision, although the Trump administration was firm in its support for the military campaign of Israel against Hamas in Gaza.

The news also follows the announcements of last month by a number of other American allies – including the United Kingdom, Canada and France – that they would recognize a Palestinian state under certain conditions. US vice-president JD Vance said Washington had “no plan” to follow the plunge.

The Trump administration has also suppressed pro-Palestinian demonstrations on university campuses.

This decision represents an additional hardening of the president’s position on the visas, following two previous measures.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas was part of a group of dozens of Palestinian officials who were recently prevented from attending the United Nations General Assembly session in New York later this month, after US officials revoked his visa and accused the Palestinian authority and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), both Abbas) peace.

And the State Department declared on August 16 that it had interrupted the approvals of visitors’ visas for the Palestinians of Gaza in particular, so that a exam may take place.

Hamas, appointed as a terrorist group by the United States, ruled Gaza when hundreds of its armed fighters attacked Israel on October 7, 2023, killing around 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages. The attack sparked a massive and current Israeli military offensive in which at least 63,459 Palestinians were killed, according to the Ministry of Health managed by Hamas.

The American visa policy has indeed been extended now to include people from the West Bank and a broader Palestinian diaspora.

Asked about the last decision, a statement by the spokesman for the Ministry of State said: “The Trump administration takes concrete measures in accordance with US law and our national security with regard to announced visa restrictions and revocations for passport holders of the AP (Palestinian Authority). We refer to these public announcements for more information on these restrictions and revocations.

“Each visa decision is a national security decision, and the State Department checks and judges visa decisions for passport holders in AP accordingly.”