Ammon News - The United States said on Friday it will not allow Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas to travel to New York next month for a United Nations gathering of world leaders, where several U.S. allies are set to recognize Palestine as a state.

A State Department official said Abbas and about 80 other Palestinians would be affected by the decision to deny and revoke visas from members of the umbrella Palestine Liberation Organization and the West Bank-based Palestinian Authority.

Abbas had been planning to travel to New York for the annual high-level U.N. General Assembly at U.N. headquarters in Manhattan. He was also set to attend a summit there - hosted by France and Saudi Arabia - where Britain, France, Australia and Canada have pledged to formally recognize a Palestinian state.

Abbas' office said it was astonished by the visa decision and argued that it violated the U.N. "headquarters agreement."

Under a 1947 U.N. "headquarters agreement," the U.S. is generally required to allow access for foreign diplomats to the U.N. in New York. Washington, however, has said it can deny visas for security, extremism and foreign policy reasons.

The State Department justified its decision on Friday by reiterating longstanding U.S. and Israeli allegations that the PA and PLO had failed to repudiate extremism while pushing for "unilateral recognition" of a Palestinian state.

Palestinian officials reject such allegations and say that decades of U.S.-mediated talks have failed to end Israeli occupation and secure an independent state of Palestine.

"(It) is in our national security interests to hold the PLO and PA accountable for not complying with their commitments, and for undermining the prospects for peace," the department said.

The State Department said that the Palestinian Authority's mission to the U.N., comprising officials who are permanently based there, would not be included in the restrictions.

Reuters