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.