Washington (United States) (AFP) – The United States has denied Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas an entry visa to attend the UN General Assembly in New York next week, a source familiar with the case said Wednesday.
In a separate statement that did not mention Abbas by name, the State Department say it would deny visas to members of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and officials with the Palestinian Authority (PA), "as a consequence of their failure to reform, contrary to their commitments to the United States, and their ongoing activities that undermine the prospects for peace."
A source familiar with the matter confirmed to AFP that the Palestinian Authority president, Abbas, was covered by the measure.
The Trump administration took the same step last year, forcing the Palestinian leader, a regular at the UN General Assembly, to address the body of global leadership by video.
In its statement Wednesday, the State Department said that the PLO and PA had "once again, failed to live up to their commitments."
"This includes initiating and supporting actions at international organizations that undermine and contradict prior commitments," the department also said.
Washington also accused the organizations of "taking actions to internationalize the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict including through the International Criminal Court (ICC) and International Court of Justice (ICJ), seeking to bypass negotiations through seeking unilateral recognition, and continuing to pay stipends to terrorists and to glorify acts of terrorism and terrorists in public pronouncements and school textbooks."
The move puts the United States at odds with numerous countries, including France, that recognized a Palestinian state at the United Nations last year.
A total of 142 UN member states endorsed it following the conference on a two-state solution co-chaired by France and Saudi Arabia.
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I disagree, educating, agitating, and organizing will, and kindness will become more commonplace in a post-revolutionary world.
I think it's a necessary part of the equation. Kindess now and always. Are you not driven by kindness? To fight for the end of imperialsim and equality for all people is a kind thing to do in my eyes.
I'm not opposed to kindness, I just don't see "spreading kindness" as the practical means by which we get a kinder world.
Hatred begets hatred. Kindness begets kindness. Of course i would agree that to overthrow imperialism we need to do far more than just be nice to each other. But i do believe it is important to keep kindess in your thoughts whenever you choose an action.
I'm not saying kindness is bad, just that being nice isn't primary.
Ah I think this is where we differ. For me, it is primary. I endevour to treat everyone with kindness and respect because i genuinely do believe it makes the world a better place.
Absolutely no shade for your position though. You are free to act as you choose!
I understand that you believe ideas to be primary. The problem is that this is idealism, not materialist.
I wouldn't say that. Kindness can be an idea. But it can also be a real physical action. While it would be idealistic to say that all of our problems would be solved if everyone was nicer to each other. It would be materialistic to incorporate kindness into your everyday actions.
I'm referring to idealism and materialism as they exist within the philosophical realm.
Thanks for the links, very interesting! I'm still not quite understanding how advocating for kindness is idealism. Is believing in free will idealism?
I agree with most of materialism but this principle throws me off
Quantum mechanics does not allow for a knowable world. What happens inside the event horizon of a black hole is surely unknowable?
Advocating for kindness itself isn't idealist. The framing of how we actually get change was more idealist. Of course we do need to change our consciousness deliberately through study, education, agitation, and organizing, but this does not create a kinder world.
As for quantum mechanics, they do not go against materialism. This is in-depth if you want to explore, but requires a good deal of knowledge to actually understand it IMO. The post is a bit imperfect but essentially materialism is correct, and does not conflict with quantum mechanics.