Even before its independence from Britain in 1961, Palestinians formed large, settled communities in the State of Kuwait and made major contributions to its socioeconomic and cultural development. Their experience in Kuwait spanned over five decades and ended abruptly with the First Gulf War in 1991. Details about the symbiotic relationship between Palestinians and Kuwait reflect developments in Kuwait and milestones in the trajectory of the Palestinian cause, identity, and formation of an effective diaspora there.

Kuwait’s Palestinian community was one of the prime casualties of the First Gulf War. Over 300,000 Palestinians were expelled from Kuwait and had to start new lives in Jordan, Palestine, or elsewhere. Their psychosocial traumas outlived their financial woes. This thesis will relate their experience and the significant marks it left on the geopolitical map of the region and the psyche of the Palestinians impacted by this experience and its fateful conclusion.