A new chapter in Kuwaiti-Palestinian relations is about to begin following a two-decade-old rift between the oil-rich Gulf state and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO). On April 15, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas traveled to the Kuwaiti capital, where he was scheduled to reopen the Palestinian embassy, closed in 1990 after the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait.

Relations soured between the Kuwaiti and Palestinian leaderships after the PLO, headed by the late Yasser Arafat, failed to condemn the invasion. It was then that the Palestinian embassy was closed, ties with the PLO severed and financial support withheld.

“The opening of the embassy makes official the thawing of ties and marks a new phase of more positive interactions that will pave the way for normalized relations,” Talal Okal, an independent political analyst, told Al-Monitor.

Before the Iraqi invasion, between 400,000 and 450,000 Palestinians lived in Kuwait. That number fell sharply, to about 30,000, after many of them were deported, had to leave because their visas renewals were denied, or were forced to flee fearing intimidation or persecution.