Palestinian Leader Offers Apology to Kuwait for Support of Hussein

New PLO Chairman Mahmoud Abbas apologized to Kuwaitis on Sunday for Palestinian support of Saddam Hussein during the 1991 Persian Gulf War, his latest gesture to mend fences with Arab nations that the late Yasser Arafat had offended over the years.

Kuwaitis had mixed feelings ahead of Abbas’ visit, with many holding a grudge against the Palestinians for supporting Hussein during the war. On his arrival Sunday, Abbas provided a long-awaited apology in response to a question.

“Yes, we apologize for what we have done,” he said.

Kuwait’s prime minister, Sheik Sabah al Ahmed al Sabah, had said an apology was not needed and the matter of the Palestinian leadership’s support for Hussein “has been closed.”

Mohammed Saqr, who heads Kuwait’s foreign affairs panel, praised Abbas’ action, saying a “new page in relations was now being opened.”

However, a group of lawmakers said in a statement Saturday that they had rejected the visit before the Palestine Liberation Organization offered “an official apology to the Kuwaiti people for the sin it committed against Kuwait.”

One of the lawmakers, Mussalam Barrak, said Sunday that the apology was too brief and “simple.”

As PLO leader, Arafat supported Iraq in its 1990 invasion of this oil-rich country and opposed the subsequent U.S.-led war that freed it. He never visited Kuwait afterward.

Last year, Abbas -- then prime minister -- condemned the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait in an interview with the state-owned Kuwait News Agency and called the Palestinian leadership’s position “incorrect.” However, he stopped short of apologizing.

About 450,000 Palestinians lived in Kuwait before the Iraqi invasion.

Most were expelled or pressured to leave after the country was freed, and scores of Palestinians were convicted after the war of collaborating with Iraqi occupiers.