BBC News Online: World: Middle East

Hamas leader in Kuwait

The leader of the Palestinian Islamic movement Hamas, Sheikh Ahmad Yassin, is in Kuwait on the first visit by a Palestinian leader since the 1991 Gulf War -- when the Palestinian leadership expressed support for Iraq.

Sheikh Yassin, who's been visiting Gulf states seeking support for Hamas, is scheduled to hold talks with the Kuwaiti Emir Sheikh Jaber al-Ahmad al-Sabah, and the Crown Prince.

Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians were expelled from Kuwait at the end of the Gulf war -- on the grounds that they'd sympathized or collaborated with the Iraqis.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service