France, the UK and Canada are expected to become the first G7 countries to recognise the state of Palestine at the UN General Assembly in late September, where Australia will also announce its recognition. Mahmoud Abbas, the leader of the Palestinian Authority, will not be present as he is banned from travelling to New York for the event.
The US decision to deny Abbas a visa mirrors what happened in late 1988 to Yasser Arafat, then leader of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO). A few weeks earlier, at a PLO meeting in Algiers, Arafat had read out the Palestinian Declaration of Independence. The US responded by denying Arafat permission to travel to New York. However, the UN temporarily moved its meeting to Geneva, so that he could speak.
