PLO chairman Mahmud Abbas apologised on Sunday to Kuwait for the organisation's stand during the 1990 Iraq invasion, as he arrived on a landmark visit to the emirate aimed at healing a 14-year rift. "We apologise to Kuwait and the Kuwaiti people for what we did," Abbas told reporters when asked to comment on the PLO's position during the invasion. Abbas spoke at Kuwait airport shortly after landing at the head of a large delegation on the first visit by a Palestinian leader since ties were frozen 14 years ago over the late Yasser Arafat's backing of the invasion by Saddam Hussein's troops.
Abbas, who is running in the January 9 election to succeed Arafat, issued the apology despite the fact that Kuwait dropped its demand for such a gesture on the eve of the visit.
"We consider the issue of the position of the Palestinian Authority (leadership) towards the Iraqi invasion as over. We welcome the visit" of Abbas, Prime Minister Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Sabah told reporters on Saturday.
"I heard a statement by his highness Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad (forgoing an apology)," Abbas told reporters.
"This statement was very civilised. It expressed and reflected his highness Sheikh Sabah's ethics, feelings and tolerance. I send Sheikh Sabah all (my) affection and appreciation," he added.
The Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) chief, who will go on to Saudi Arabia on Monday, earlier said he was looking to start a new era in ties with Kuwait.
"I hope that the chapter of pain in the Palestinian-Kuwaiti relations will be closed and that a new page and a new era will start to restore trust to the historical ties that bond the two leaderships and peoples," he said in comments published in a local daily.
An official visit by Abbas to Kuwait in August 2003, when he was the Palestinian Authority's prime minister, was called off due to differences over the proposed apology. Abbas however visited Kuwait last May in his personal capacity to address a political symposium organised by the Kuwaiti parliament. He was received by a number of senior officials.
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