The State of Kuwait recognizes Yasser Arafat as the legitimate leader of the Palestinian people but does not deal with him, Foreign Minister Sheikh Dr Mohammad Sabah Al-Salem Al-Sabah affirmed in remarks published on Thursday. Sheikh Mohammad, in remarks to the Kuwaiti daily Al-Rai Al-A'm in New York upon his departure after chairing the Kuwaiti delegation at meetings of the United Nations General Assembly, said, "Kuwait does not want to deal with the chairman of the Palestinian National Authority Yasser Arafat. But Kuwait recognizes him as the chairman of the Palestinian authority and as the Chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization and also recognizes the organization as the sole representative of the Palestinian people. We recognize all this but we do not deal with Yasser Arafat."
"We support (relevant) Security Council resolutions as they do not mention Yasser Arafat and refer to the right of the Palestinian people and we support this right," Sheikh Mohammad added in the exclusive remarks to the Arabic-language Kuwaiti newspaper. Sheikh Mohammad, added, in reference to Arafat, "I believe that he had made a great blunder against Kuwait and he has not corrected this grave mistake but I do not withdraw my recognition of him as the legitimate representative of the Palestinians because I do not possess this right. "It's the Palestinian people who have this right and I do not intervene in their affairs." The foreign minister was alluding to Arafat's siding with the ousted Iraqi regime of Saddam Hussein when the regime's troops invaded the State of Kuwait on Aug 2, 1990, and occupied the country for seven months.
Sheikh Mohammad denied speculations that Kuwait suspended contributions to the Palestinian Uprising Fund. "We have voted in favor of supporting the fund at (an Arab) summit and now we are awaiting mechanism of disbursing the support allocations. "We want to make sure that these support allocations would reach those who deserve the backing among the Palestinians." Elaborating further on the dire consequences of the 1990 Iraqi aggression, the minister said, "I understand the anger of the Kuwaitis regarding some Arab states that stood with Saddam Hussein thus I have always called on these states to correct this error and that's what I have urged Arafat to do." |