KUWAIT - Kuwait said on Saturday it had put off a key visit by Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas because he would not apologize for Yasser Arafat's support of Iraq after it invaded in 1990.

"There was supposed to be a joint declaration at the conclusion of Abbas' visit which would include a clear and frank condemnation by the Palestinian Authority of the occupation crime but they were reluctant to agree," Kuwaiti Prime Minister Sabah al-Ahmad al-Sabah told Saturday's al-Seyassah daily.

"The Kuwaiti people cannot accept a visit by a senior Palestinian Authority official unless there is a statement that includes an apology for the Authority's position over Iraq's aggression on Kuwait in 1990."

Abbas, in Saudi Arabia at the start of a regional tour, planned to visit the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait to brief them about his talks in Washington last month with President George Bush on the U.S.-sponsored "road map" for Middle East peace.

Kuwaiti newspapers, quoting Palestinian officials, said Abbas would now visit Tunisia instead of becoming the first top Palestinian official to come to Kuwait since the 1990 invasion.

Kuwait was angered then by what it said was Palestinian leader Arafat's siding with Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.