By Elham Asaad BuarasLondon, (The Muslim News): The United States barred Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas from next month’s UN General Assembly session in New York, revoking his visa along with those of 80 other Palestinian officials. US Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, defended the decision, accusing the Palestinian leadership of undermining peace efforts and pushing for “the unilateral recognition of a conjectural Palestinian state”. However, legal experts and Palestinian officials point out that the same agreement requires the US to allow entry for all foreign officials invited to UN sessions, “irrespective of the relations” between their governments and Washington. Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, reiterated his opposition to a two-state solution, insisting that recognising a Palestinian state would reward “Hamas’s monstrous terrorism”. He has long rejected the international consensus advocating an independent Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza, with East Jerusalem as its capital.