Regressive Recovery in Kuwait
KIRK, DONALD
EIGHT MONTHS AFTER SADDAM Regressive Recovery in Kuwait By Donald Kirk Kuwait City As the ruling elite haggle over democratic reform and seal the fate of Kuwait's "traitorous" Palestinian...
...They should leave the country...
...It's better for us to go to Jordan or Syria," says ateenaged Palestinian from the upscale Salmiya district...
...They are onetime desert dwellers who never received Kuwaiti citizenship, despite a centuries-old history in the region...
...His remark seems difficult to understand in the context of trendy shops and fast-food franchises such as Pizza Hut and Baskin Robbins—frequented by Kuwaitis and Palestinians alike...
...Kuwaitis, however, are not quite convinced they must sacrifice their easy lives for the toil of reconstruction...
...The emirate's future may ride on whether he gets the message or insists on upholding the system that quickly crumbled before the Iraqi onslaught...
...Lately these have turned into highly extended gatherings, with the "family" including anyone sympathetic to the politician sponsoring the event...
...There is too much frustration with what they have done...
...Hereadseverything, including the crosswords...
...EIGHT MONTHS AFTER SADDAM Regressive Recovery in Kuwait By Donald Kirk Kuwait City As the ruling elite haggle over democratic reform and seal the fate of Kuwait's "traitorous" Palestinian minority, a legion of foreign technicians is eagerly rebuilding the smoking emirate...
...He claims that "things are loosening," and urges the Emir to recognize that "the opposition is not trying to overthrow him," After all, Sagar observes, "we stuck with him throughout the occupation...
...Just as Palestinians talk about fleeing, these youthful Kuwaitis discuss foreign travel plans of another kind...
...At least a third of the 700,000 Kuwaiti passport-holders are believed to be living abroad, mostly in apartments and villas scattered over Europe...
...Donald Kirk, a longtime contributor to The New Leader, writes frequently about Middle Eastern and Asian affairs...
...second-class males—those married to non-Kuwaitis and their offspring —have no political rights...
...The cost has been enormous, but it is a relatively small price to pay for being able to retap the oil reserves that earlier made Kuwait's economy among the strongest in the world...
...It is very effective...
...They say that although persistent inquiries by an International Red Cross team has put an end to the torturing of political prisoners, upon release a detainee and his family can fully expect deportation...
...We've tried most of them...
...Kuwaitis are facing the challenge of recovery without the help of longtime Palestinian residents, on whose technical and economic expertise the country had depended...
...And given the rate at which foreign contractors are flocking here, they probably won't have to...
...Sometimes more than 1,000 peoplecome," says a government critic...
...With U.S...
...They can travel to any country...
...If things do not improve by the New Year, I too will leave...
...In fact, with the Palestinian population now reduced from 400,000 to well below 100,000, officials are focusing on another group generally forgotten in the West, the "Bidoun" (literally "without...
...Thus they have been holding Ali, a sister who was visiting him inlraqanda few other family members, while his wife and child continue to live in Kuwait City...
...troops guaranteeing Kuwait's frontiers, internal upheaval by Palestinians and others bitterly opposed to Sheik Jaber al-Ahmed al-Sabah and his ruling families ranks as the most pronounced threat to the status quo...
...The people do not want the Palestinians anymore...
...Next October elections will be held for a largely powerless National Assembly...
...In these circumstances, Palestinians cannot regain their government jobs and are being fired in the private sector as well...
...At present thenation's largest minority, the Bidoun are estimated to number about 200,000...
...and Europe crowd the lobbies of luxury hotels and government bureaus, seeking lucrative contracts for everything from bringing the damaged oil wells back on line to scouring the desert for Iraqi mines...
...During the occupation such meetings were centers of resistance to the Iraqis...
...It also has reopened banks for citizens who want to draw on their savings...
...The Palestinians at least have passports from Jordan...
...Nevertheless, the Kuwaitis are suspicious of any captive not returned under the formal prisoner exchange arrangements...
...A friend of his observes that Palestinians cannot obtain a driver's license or pick up odd jobs...
...The kind of democracy espoused by liberal politicians here probably would not impress voters in most Western countries...
...But for most of us the situation has become worse...
...It's plumbing on a vast scale," he smiles...
...The sole forum where all Kuwaitis can express their opinions is the Dewania, or family meeting...
...The censor prohibited any report of a threeday seminar at the paper that gave political opposition leaders a chance to debate their views...
...Officials have often criticized the effort as inefficient, yet they are well aware that they could no more have fought the fires on their own than they could have fended off Saddam...
...Businessmen from the U.S...
...We can do nothing," he says...
...The Kuwaitis take your meat and throw away your bones," he says...
...Islamic Kuwait does not grant women suffrage, although in contrast to Saudi Arabia it permits them to drive cars and hold office jobs...
...He has an identification card affirming that he served as a policeman for Kuwait before the Iraqi Army trucked him and thousands of others to POW camps...
...That includes Palestinian children, who were not permitted to return to classes when the schools reopened last August 24, after having been shut for the past year...
...We are the most unlucky people of all," complains Ali Mohammed...
...The supermarket clerk looks forward to studying in London once he completes his schooling here...
...He is certain that his father's income as a doctor will suffice to pay for his higher education, even though the devastation of what is referred to as the "Iraqi period" will prevent the country from earning its vast oil profits for several years...
...With most of the more than 700 fires extinguished, the government predicts that the last one will be out by November...
...But Sagar is optimistic...
...At least in part, that is why the Emir has reluctantly agreed to a semblance of democratic reform...
...The beating and torture is now little, not like before...
...I spoke with Ali in a desolate detention camp near the Iraqi border, where he has been kept since the chaotic days following the liberation when he escaped from one of Saddam Hussein's prisons and tried to get home...
...In Mohammed al-Sagar's view, Kuwaitis are letting Sheik Jaber al-Sabah know that they want democracy...
...Indeed, the old habits may be hard to shake...
...Equally limiting is the nation's rigorous class system...
...Meanwhile press restrictions have been tightened and public protest has been banned...
...Perhaps nothing illustrates Kuwait's continuing reliance on foreign assistance better than the hundreds of firefighters from American, Canadian and, recently, Chinese companies who have battled the desert blazes...
...The foreigners are greatly needed...
...He is less emphatic in adding that his countrymen, noted for their tendency to "supervise" while others labor, are prepared to change their ways...
...The ones who have worked for the Iraqis are no longer working for us," declares Amai al-Hamid at the Ministry of Inf ormation...
...Our people are stateless...
...The Bidoun, like the Palestinians, played a major role in Kuwait before the Iraqi occupation, making up 60 per cent of the Army and police force...
...If I fight with aKuwaiti and we are seen by the police," he elaborates, "they will beat me and put me in jail, while the Kuwaiti goes free...
...On their identification cards Kuwaitis are divided into categories: Firstclass Kuwaiti men may participate in politics...
...To lure the sojourners home, and to promote a national rebuilding effort, the government has offered extraordinary financial incentives...
...I have no freedom," another tells me...
...They helped the Iraqis," insists one who has replaced a Palestinian clerk at a supermarket checkout counter...
...Palestinians are pessimistic...
...One nagging fear that still clouds the horizon is terrorism...
...Now we are criminals in their eyes," Ah goes on, "but they cannot rebuild their Army without us...
...Most of the qualified tutors have already joined the exodus or are planning to do so shortly...
...Young Kuwaitis in the same neighborhood are unsympathetic...
...I have sent my family to Jordan," says Ibrahim Talid, the manager of a car dealership looted by Saddam's troops but since restocked with new imports...
...There is a censor in our office all the time," notes Mohammed al-Sagar, editorofthedaily al-Qabas...
...I think our future is democracy," he says...
...Before the Iraqi invasion, they amounted to only a third of the emirate's 2.1 million inhabitants...
...The Palestinians are blamed for everything," protests Isamal-Rifai, a former office manager...
...Nor can their parents find teachers for private lessons...
...There are many ways to cap a well...
...Before the occupation we were living a very soft life, but in the past year we have learned how to work," he says mechanically...
...Each day hundreds of them are bused 80 miles across a desert wasteland littered with the charred hulks of tanks and trucks, and deposited on Saddam Hussein's border...
...Larry Flak, coordinator of the operation for the Kuwait Oil Company, speaks as though he has been engaged in a game that merely required a little practice until all the players got the knack of it...
...The downside, as the country's leaders see it, is that continued reliance on outsiders will thwart efforts to make Kuwaitis a majority in their own land...
Vol. 74 • October 1991 • No. 11
