Dr. Hanan Ashrawi, a member of the PLO executive committee, has travelled to the US frequently for decades and has family here. No reason was given for the denial.
By Amir Tibon, Jack Khoury and Reuters | Haaretz | May 13, 2019
I’ve met (and even negotiated with) every Sec. of State since Shultz, and every President since George H. W. Bush (present administration excluded) . . .
— Hanan Ashrawi via Twitter (@DrHananAshrawi)
Dr. Hanan Ashrawi, a PLO Executive Committee member and a senior figure in the Palestinian public relations arena, announced Monday evening that her US visa application has been rejected.
“It is official! My US visa application has been rejected. No reason given,” she wrote in the first of a series of tweets, providing a list of reasons for her visa’s refusal, which she told Haaretz was given without a reason.
“Choose any of the following: I’m over 70 & a grandmother; I’ve been an activist for Palestine since the late 1960’s; I’ve always been an ardent supporter of nonviolent resistance,” Ashrawi wrote.
In response, a US State Department spokesperson told Haaretz that “Visa records are confidential under US law; therefore, we cannot discuss the details of individual visa cases.”
The statement added that US law “does not authorize the refusal of visas based solely on political statements or views if those statements or views would be lawful in the United States.”
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