ABSTRACT
Introduction The 1990-91 Gulf conflict claimed a victim largely forgotten by the world: the community of approximately 400,000 Palestinians who lived in the emirate of Kuwait. The vast majority of Palestinians within Kuwait opposed the Iraqi occupation; however, their image was badly damaged by the perceived support of the invasion by the Palestinians outside of Kuwait. Consequently, Palestinians in general were tarred as Iraqi ‘collaborators’. As a result, frenzied revenge attacks took place after the liberation of Kuwait, with Palestinians in the emirate being beaten, tortured and in some instances, brutally killed. While these attacks were initially carried out by Kuwaiti vigilantes, once sovereign rule returned to Kuwait, they became part of a more systematic state campaign of terror aimed at ‘cleansing’ the emirate of Palestinians. As a result, the Palestinian community in Kuwait was reduced from 400,000 to around 30,000 people. While this campaign was driven to a certain extent by scapegoating and revenge, it was also part of a more systematic process of state terrorism. Due to the size and influence of the Palestinian community in Kuwait, by the 1980s, they were increasingly seen as a potential demographic threat. Thus, the actions taken against Palestinians following liberation also had more sinister motives – to terrorize the entire Palestinian civilian population to force them to leave the emirate. Although Kuwaiti actions received harsh criticism from human rights groups and NGOs, the plight of Palestinians from Kuwait was soon forgotten by the international community. This chapter explores this largely untold story: the acts of state terror perpetrated by the Kuwaiti government against its Palestinian population following the 1990-91 Gulf conflict.
