LiveUpdated Sept. 25, 2025, 9:26 a.m. ETThe address by the leader, Mahmoud Abbas, comes days after 10 Western countries joined 150 other nations in recognizing Palestinian statehood.ImagePresident Mahmoud Abbas of the Palestinian Authority delivered virtual remarks to a U.N. conference on Palestinian statehood on Monday.Credit...Dave Sanders for The New York Times PinnedUpdated Sept. 25, 2025, 9:24 a.m. ETThe president of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas, who was denied a visa to attend this year’s gathering of the U.N. General Assembly in New York, will address the body remotely on Thursday from his party’s headquarters in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.Mr. Abbas, whose organization administers part of the West Bank and considers itself the rightful government of a future Palestinian state, is scheduled to speak in the morning to an audience that is largely sympathetic to his cause. The war in the Gaza Strip has dominated the speeches of world leaders at this year’s General Assembly, and Palestinian statehood took center stage at a conference hosted by France and Saudi Arabia on Monday.In speech after speech at the conference, a majority of world leaders recognized Palestinian statehood, slammed Israel for a military campaign in Gaza that has killed 65,000 people and displaced more than a million and called for an end to the suffering and starvation of Palestinians, which some described as genocide.Mr. Abbas has dedicated his political life to freeing Palestinians from Israel’s military occupation and to creating an independent Palestinian state. This week represented a milestone in pursuit of that dream as 10 Western countries, including France, Britain, Canada, Australia and Belgium, announced their recognition of Palestinian statehood, joining about 150 countries that had already done so.Israel and the United States opposed the move, saying it was a gift to Hamas, which set off the war in Gaza by leading an attack on southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, that killed about 1,200 people and led to the abduction of about 250 others. The two countries said that the announcements recognizing a Palestinian state were little more than political theater and that they would have minimal effect on the situation in Gaza.But the move to recognize Palestinian statehood still carries political and symbolic weight and may make it harder for Israel to avoid a two-state solution.Israeli officials have suggested in recent weeks that their government could annex at least part of the West Bank in retaliation for the Palestinian statehood announcements. But President Trump assured leaders of Arab and Muslim-majority nations this week that he would not allow Israel to annex the Israeli-occupied West Bank, according to three people familiar with the matter.In a virtual address to the French and Saudi-hosted conference on Monday, Mr. Abbas said Hamas would have no role in running a future Palestinian state. He called for the militant group to release all hostages and disarm. He also called on Israel to “end the bloodshed” and return to the negotiating table.“Enough violence and war,” he said. “Our future and yours banks on peace. Our generation deserves to enjoy freedom and security.”Sept. 25, 2025, 7:58 a.m. ETAn area of the West Bank known as E1 where the Israeli government plans to build settlement units.Credit...Ammar Awad/ReutersPresident Trump assured leaders of Arab and Muslim-majority nations this week that he would not allow Israel to annex the Israeli-occupied West Bank, according to three people familiar with the matter.Israeli officials have suggested in recent weeks that their government could annex at least part of the West Bank in retaliation to decisions by several countries, including Britain, Canada and France, to recognize a Palestinian state.Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel has faced growing calls from right-wing allies to extend sovereignty over the West Bank. On Sunday, Itamar Ben-Gvir, a far-right minister, called for the government to adopt the measure “immediately.”Mr. Trump offered assurances on annexation during a meeting on Tuesday on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly, according to the three people familiar with the matter, including an Arab official. They spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive details.President Trump and Melania Trump, the first lady, returning to the White House on Wednesday.Credit...Tierney L. Cross/The New York TimesThe meeting included the president of Turkey, the emir of Qatar, the king of Jordan, the foreign minister of the United Arab Emirates, the prime minister of Egypt and other regional and Muslim leaders.The president of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, described the discussion with President Trump as having been “productive and successful.”The possibility of annexation has prompted rebuke in the Arab world. Palestinian leaders in the West Bank, and much of the world, have long envisioned that the territory would form part of a future independent Palestine.About three million Palestinians live in the West Bank, which Israel has controlled since the Arab-Israeli war of 1967. Around half a million Israelis also live in the West Bank, in settlements scattered across the territory that the Palestinians and much of the world consider to be illegal.If Israel unilaterally annexes part or all of the West Bank, it would underscore how distant the prospect of a Palestinian state has become. Many Palestinians, however, say that Israel’s policies toward the West Bank, including stringent restrictions on Palestinian movement and construction in the territory, already amount to a de facto annexation.Palestinian officials have said that while recognition carries great symbolic value, it does not change the harsh reality experienced by Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza.On Sunday, Mr. Netanyahu reaffirmed his opposition to Palestinian statehood.“There will be no Palestinian state west of the Jordan River,” he said. “For years, I have prevented the establishment of this terrorist state facing tremendous pressures at home and abroad.”Isabel Kershner contributed reporting.Sept. 20, 2025, 5:00 a.m. ETThe United Nations and the United States signed an agreement in 1947 about access to the U.N. headquarters in New York.Credit...Angelina Katsanis for The New York TimesAs the United Nations General Assembly gathers in New York City this week, the war in Gaza and the issue of Palestinian statehood will dominate much of the debate. But notably absent will be the Palestinian leaders themselves.The Trump administration has denied visas to Mahmoud Abbas, the president of the Palestinian Authority, and his delegation. Because the United Nations headquarters is in New York City, the United States is the country that issues visas to the leaders and diplomats who travel to the event.The State Department said that the decision to deny Mr. Abbas a visa was made on grounds of national security.France and other nations announced their formal recognition of the state of Palestine on Monday at a conference with more than 100 other countries about a two-state solution. The United States says Palestinian statehood must be negotiated between Israel and the Palestinians.Here’s what you need to know about the standoff.What’s in the agreement between the U.S. and U.N.?In 1947, the United States and the United Nations signed a 16-page agreement called the Headquarters Agreement, which was approved by the U.S. president and Congress in a joint resolution and became federal law.Section 11 of the agreement says that “the federal, state or local authorities of the United States shall not impose any impediments to transit to or from the headquarters district.” The people eligible for access include representatives of member states and any person invited to headquarters by the United Nations or one of its agencies for official business.The agreement also states that the visa provisions shall be “applicable irrespective of the relations existing between the Governments of the persons referred to in that section and the Government of the United States.”Disputes between the United Nations and the United States over host-country issues are addressed by a 19-member committee of member states. An unresolved issue can be escalated to arbitration.“We have raised this issue with the United States based on the obligations under the Headquarters Agreement and sought clarification,” said Stéphane Dujarric, a U.N. spokesman. “We are concerned about the possible consequences of the decision.”Mahmoud Abbas, the leader of the Palestinian Authority, spoke at the U.N. General Assembly last year.Credit...Dave Sanders for The New York TimesCan the U.S. refuse entry to leaders and U.N. diplomats?This has been a longstanding point of dispute.When U.S. lawmakers approved the Headquarters Agreement, they also passed separate legislation saying the agreement cannot prevent the United States from safeguarding its national security interests. This states:“Nothing in the agreement shall be construed as in any way diminishing, abridging, or weakening the right of the United States to safeguard its own security and completely to control the entrance of aliens into any territory of the United States other than the headquarters district and its immediate vicinity.”The United Nations and legal experts say the United States is violating the agreement, and that it is legally obliged to provide visas and unimpeded access to the U.N. They argue that there is no loophole in the host-country agreement and that the language is clear.“There is an underlying dispute between the U.N. and U.S. that it has been there since 1947,” said Larry Johnson, who served in the past as the body’s assistant secretary general for legal affairs.Has the U.S. barred diplomats in the past?The only time the United States denied entry for the head of a government attending the General Assembly was in 1988, when it blocked a visa for the Palestinian Authority leader Yasir Arafat. Mr. Arafat did attend U.N. gatherings in subsequent years.Robert A. Wood, who was a deputy ambassador to the United Nations under the Biden administration, said visa restrictions and delays surface occasionally for delegations from countries such as Russia, Iran, China, and Venezuela because of intelligence or security concerns. But an outright rejection or threat to deny access to a head of government is extremely rare.“This is a very controversial issue, and whenever we have had this issue brought up about denying visas it’s always the question of whether we have the legal right to do it,” Mr. Wood said.Russian and Venezuelan diplomats complain that the United States drags out the visa process for so long that by the time visas are issued, the requested event has already taken place, effectively denying them access. The delegates from Brazil, a nation that has defied U.S. pressure over the criminal prosecution of former President Jair Bolsonaro, this year were left waiting for some of their visas until just days before the General Assembly.In 2014, the United States denied a visa to Iran’s nominee for ambassador because he had participated in taking American diplomats hostage in 1979.Iran’s diplomats face movement restrictions confining them to a 25-mile radius of the U.N. building. Sometimes the limitations are even tighter. In 2019, Iran’s foreign minister then, Mohammad Javad Zarif, was not allowed to travel some 20 blocks north of the United Nations to Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center to visit his ambassador, who was receiving treatment.