(31 Jul 2025)
RESTRICTIONS SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Ramallah, West Bank – 31 July 2025
1. Various of Palestinian Liberation Organization building in the West Bank city of Ramallah
2. Establish shot of PLO member Mustafa Barghouti
3. SOUNDBITE (English) Mustafa Barghouti, PLO member:
"Instead of punishing Israel, the criminal aggressor that is committing genocide and collective punishment and starvation of the Palestinian people, Trump’s administration is punishing the victims, the Palestinians. Maybe it is also time for the Palestinian Authority to realize that it is an illusion to think that the United States could be a mediator between Palestinians and Israelis. The United States and this administration has shown that it is totally and completely, not only biased to Israel, but complicit with what Israel is doing in Gaza and with the crimes that are happening."
4. Cutaway of hands
5. SOUNDBITE (English) Mustafa Barghouti, PLO member:
"I think this is a punishment act from the side of the United States against the fact that so many countries in the world are now beginning to recognize Palestine. It is the American reaction to the fact that Israel is absolutely and totally isolated because of the war crimes it is committing against the Palestinian people."
6. Various of Palestinian Liberation Organization building in the West Bank city of Ramallah
STORYLINE:
A top PLO official said on Thursday that the United States’ decision to revoke its members’ visas was in response to other nations’ recognizing Palestinian statehood.
Palestinian officials linked to the Palestinian Authority and the Palestine Liberation Organization will no longer be able to travel to the U.S. after their visas were revoked Thursday, marking a further deterioration of their relations with the United States.
PLO member Mustafa Barghouti in an interview in Ramallah, West Bank, said the action proved the United States couldn’t be a neutral mediator in the peace process and reflected how Israel and the United States were becoming increasingly isolated for their positions on the conflict.
"Instead of punishing Israel, the criminal aggressor that is committing genocide and collective punishment and starvation of the Palestinian people, Trump’s administration is punishing the victims, the Palestinians," said Barghouti.
"Maybe it is also time for the Palestinian Authority to realize that it is an illusion to think that the United States could be a mediator between Palestinians and Israelis," he added.
The PLO is the internationally recognized representative of the Palestinian people and oversees the Western-backed Palestinian Authority, which exercises limited autonomy in parts of the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
The U.S. State Department said the organizations had violated longstanding agreements not to undermine the peace process or globalize the conflict through international courts. It accused them of inciting violence and supporting attackers and their families.
It did not specify which officials would be sanctioned, but similar actions taken during President Donald Trump’s first term led the group to shutter its Washington-based office in 2018.
Some of the recent recognitions of Palestinian statehood have been predicated on reforming the PA, which is mired in corruption and widely unpopular at home. The PA has also clashed bitterly with Hamas, the militant group that controls Gaza.
AP video by Imad Isseid
AP production by Jalal Bwaitel
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