Expulsion of the Palestinians from Kuwait in 1991

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The displacement of the Palestinians from Kuwait in 1991 took place immediately after the Second Gulf War , when the approximately 450,000 Palestinians living in Kuwait were almost completely displaced . The Palestinians in Kuwait had previously suffered from discrimination. The action of the PLO leader Yasser Arafat for Saddam Hussein's invasion of Kuwait sparked the event.

The expulsion began with the withdrawal of Iraqi troops on the Highway of Death and was completed in the first weeks of March 1991.

background

Before their displacement, the Palestinians made up about 30 percent of Kuwait's 2.2 million inhabitants. Over 400,000 Palestinian Arabs and their descendants lived in Kuwait in 1990. They had arrived in three major waves of immigration. Initially in connection with the expansion of oil production and the Nakba in 1948, during which almost 700,000 Palestinians fled their homeland or were expelled. In the 1960s and 1970s, Palestinians from Jordan arrived, who were attracted by the good educational and employment conditions in Kuwait. However, like the Bedun , they suffered from discrimination and were never given full civil rights. The number of families started with native Kuwaitis also remained extremely low.

Yasser Arafat went to Kuwait in 1956, where he worked as an engineer and became a successful building contractor. The Palestinians working in the Gulf States were long considered privileged and were able to support their relatives who stayed at home.

course

Much of the foreign population had left Kuwait during the invasion. The entry of foreigners was handled much more restrictively after the invasion. Shortly after Kuwait was liberated from Saddam Hussein's troops, the Palestinians were expelled as “collaborators” through state intervention and revenge on the part of the Kuwaitis. The emir called the Palestinians the fifth column of the invasion. On March 14, 1991, there were 150,000 Palestinians in Kuwait who also feared for their lives and soon left the country. Trials against real and alleged collaborators were carried out with extreme severity and were actual show trials. The material loss of refugees from Kuwait alone, de facto expropriated by the Kuwait, was estimated in 1992 at at least ten billion dollars. The consequences for aid facilities and infrastructure, for example in East Jerusalem, were also far-reaching.

A few dozen Palestinians were killed by militant Kuwaiter groups, a few hundred tortured, and some of those responsible maintained relationships with the Kuwaiti leadership. Initially, no more than 7,000 Palestinians remained in Kuwait. Few returned in 2006; today the total number is 40,000.

Even after Iraq's military defeat, the PLO continued to support Hussein's policies in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. In 2004, prior to a visit from Mahmoud Abbas , Kuwait demanded an official apology for supporting the invasion of Kuwait. Abbas did so only after Arafat's death.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b c Angry welcome for Palestinian in Kuwait , BBC News, May 30, 2001
  2. ↑ a b c d Palestinians - Stepped in the sand - Kuwait drives out the last Palestinians, Jordan suffers from the burden of refugees. Der Spiegel June 8, 1992
  3. ^ A b c d e f Jill Crystal: Kuwait: Post-War Society . In: The Persian Gulf States: A Country Study . Library of Congress. Retrieved March 5, 2011.
  4. ↑ a b Palestinians in Kuwait Ann M. Lesch Journal of Palestine Studies Vol. 20, No. 4 (summer 1991), pp. 42-54
  5. ↑ a b c Always on the losing side DER SPIEGEL March 11, 1991
  6. ↑ Arafat's Squalid end how he wasted his load 30 years . Slate Christopher Hitchens November 17th, 2004
  7. ^ AFTER THE WAR: Kuwait; Palestinians in Kuwait Face Suspicion and Probable Exile By YOUSSEF M. IBRAHIM, Special to The New York Times March 15, 1991
  8. ↑ Forgotten Exodus of the Palestinians - Expulsion from the Oil Paradise , NZZ, December 15, 2015
  9. ↑ Palestine apology to Kuwait Mahmoud Abbas Mahmoud Abbas wants to look to the future 3:48 PM GMT December 12, 2004 Telegraph
  10. ↑ Abbas apology to Kuwait over Iraq , BBC News, December 12, 2004