US pressure forces Palestinian envoy to drop UN candidacy

Palestinian UN Ambassador Riyad Mansour is withdrawing his bid for Vice President of the UN General Assembly after the United States threatened to revoke visas for members of the Palestinian delegation if he did not step down.

Citing a source familiar with the matter, the report said Lebanon’s ambassador is taking Mansour’s place after the Palestinian UN delegation conveyed through an Arab country that Mansour will refrain from running for a vice presidential position for the next two years, Middle East Eye reports.

The spokesperson for the President of the UN General Assembly, La Neice Collins, confirmed the Palestinian delegation’s withdrawal.

An internal US State Department cable, dated May 19, instructed American diplomats in Jerusalem to pressure Palestinian officials to drop the bid, claiming that his candidacy undermines US President Donald Trump’s plans for Gaza.

By Vafa Guliyeva