{"id":320237,"date":"2026-09-17T12:10:22","date_gmt":"2026-09-17T16:10:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/?post_type=document&p=320237"},"modified":"2026-09-22T15:59:11","modified_gmt":"2026-09-22T19:59:11","slug":"general-assembly-adopts-resolution-allowing-state-of-palestine-to-participate-virtually-in-high-level-debate","status":"publish","type":"document","link":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/document\/general-assembly-adopts-resolution-allowing-state-of-palestine-to-participate-virtually-in-high-level-debate\/","title":{"rendered":"General Assembly Adopts Resolution Allowing State of Palestine to Participate Virtually in High-level Debate of the 81st session"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Eighty-first Session,<\/strong><\/p>\n

4th Meeting (PM)<\/strong><\/p>\n

GA\/12784<\/p>\n

The General Assembly today adopted a text to enable the high-level Palestinian delegation to participate virtually in the general debate next week, even as the representative of the United States said that the Palestinian Authority is subsidizing terrorists and using diplomatic theatre.<\/p>\n

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By a recorded vote of 152 in favour to 3 against (United States, Israel and Paraguay), with 4 abstentions (Colombia, Honduras, Panama and Peru), the 193-member organ adopted the resolution on \u201cParticipation by the State of Palestine during the eighty-first session\u201d (document\u00a0A\/81\/L.2<\/a>)<\/p>\n

By its terms, the Assembly decided that the State of Palestine may submit a pre-recorded statement of its President, which will be played in the General Assembly Hall during the general debate at its eighty-first session, after introduction by its representative who is physically present in the Assembly Hall.<\/p>\n

Further, the State of Palestine may submit a pre-recorded statement of its President or other high-level representative at any high-level meeting or United Nations conference if its representatives are prevented from participating in the meetings of the United Nations.<\/p>\n

The resolution became necessary in the wake of the decision of the United States to deny visas to and revoke visas from representatives of the State of Palestine ahead of the eightieth and eighty-first sessions of the General Assembly.<\/p>\n

Host Country Visa Obligations<\/strong><\/h4>\n

The responsibility of the host country to facilitate the visits of Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ diplomatic delegations is governed by the\u00a0Agreement between the United Nations and the United States regarding the Headquarters of the United Nations<\/a>. \u00a0According to Sections 11, 12 and 13 of that Agreement, the authorities of the United States are not to impose any impediments to the transit of Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ member representatives to or from the Headquarters. \u00a0When visas are required, they shall be granted without charge and as promptly as possible. \u00a0That Agreement was signed on 26\u00a0June\u00a01947 and approved by the Assembly on 31\u00a0October\u00a01947.<\/p>\n

Speaking in explanation of vote, the representative of the United States said that her country,\u00a0under President Donald J. Trump, has been clear that the Palestinian Authority and the\u00a0Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO)\u00a0\u201care not compliant with their commitments under the Oslo Accords\u201d.\u00a0 The Palestinian Authority committed \u201cto renounce terrorism and violence as a means to political ends\u201d, she said, adding that the Authority \u201ccontinues to refuse to directly condemn terrorist attacks against Israeli citizens\u201d.<\/p>\n

She also said the Authority is incentivizing terror by continuing payments to \u201cterrorists, living and dead\u201d, and to their families, through new mechanisms.\u00a0 \u201cThe United States will not be fooled by creative accounting,\u201d she said.\u00a0She also rejected the Palestinian Authority\u2019s diplomatic and legal campaigns as a \u201cstrategy to isolate Israel and internationalize the conflict while avoiding the hard work of governance, diplomacy and leadership\u201d.<\/p>\n

Palestine Says Visa Denial Violates Agreement<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Riyad Mansour, Permanent Observer for the State of Palestine, exercising his right of reply, said that the\u00a0152 votes in favour of the text make the position of the international community crystal clear. \u00a0The efforts by the United States to deny the Palestinian delegation \u2014 headed by President Mahmoud Abbas \u2014 the right to participate in the high-level week is a clear violation of the host country, under the provisions of the host country agreement. \u00a0\u201cThis agreement is part of the national law of the United States,\u201d he said, noting that not only was it signed by the Administration at that time but also ratified by the United States Congress.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe fact that we were denied visas does not mean that the big elephant at the United Nations \u2014 the Palestinian people and their leadership \u2014 are not present,\u201d he added. \u00a0Palestinians will be front and centre at the\u00a0Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ\u00a0until there is an end to the illegal occupation and a free and sovereign State of Palestine is established, he underscored.<\/p>\n

Speakers Criticize Visa Decision<\/strong><\/h4>\n

In an explanation of vote, China\u2019s delegate said that depriving Palestinians of the right to make their case at the\u00a0General Assembly is \u201cunacceptable in conscience and indefensible in reason\u201d. \u00a0Iran\u2019s delegate added that this text does not absolve the host country from its obligations.\u00a0 The representative of the Russian Federation said\u00a0the non-issuance of visas is a glaring violation of host country commitments. \u00a0However,\u00a0his \u201cvote in favour should not be interpreted as support for remote or hybrid formats of work\u201d, he added.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  17 September 2026 Eighty-first Session, 4th Meeting (PM) GA\/12784 The General Assembly today adopted a text to enable the high-level Palestinian delegation to participate virtually in the general debate next week, even as the representative of the United States said that the Palestinian Authority is subsidizing terrorists and using diplomatic theatre. By a recorded […]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":299,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"country":[1593],"document-category":[6999],"document-source":[1365],"committee-meeting":[],"document-subject":[2517,1805],"entity":[1729],"document-language":[6542],"class_list":["post-320237","document","type-document","status-publish","hentry","country-palestine-state-of","document-category-meeting-coverage","document-source-general-assembly","document-subject-access-and-movement","document-subject-occupation","entity-united-nations-system","document-language-english"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document\/320237","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/document"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/299"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document\/320237\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":320271,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document\/320237\/revisions\/320271"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=320237"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"country","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/country?post=320237"},{"taxonomy":"document-category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document-category?post=320237"},{"taxonomy":"document-source","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document-source?post=320237"},{"taxonomy":"committee-meeting","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/committee-meeting?post=320237"},{"taxonomy":"document-subject","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document-subject?post=320237"},{"taxonomy":"entity","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/entity?post=320237"},{"taxonomy":"document-language","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document-language?post=320237"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}