KUWAIT CITY, Feb. 13 (Xinhuanet) -- Kuwait will deal with Hamas as the legitimate Palestinian representatives when it takes office, Kuwaiti Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Sheikh Mohammed Sabah Al-Salem Al-Sabah said Monday.

    "Several political blocs, headed by Hamas, were elected in the Palestinian elections. When they officially assume their executive missions, they become the legitimate representatives of the Palestinian people," Sheikh Mohammed was quoted by the Kuwait News Agency as saying.

    Kuwait has no problem with visits paid by Hamas representatives, said the minister, adding that Hamas politburo chief Khalid Mashalhad visited Kuwait to express his condolences over the demise of late emir Sheikh Jaber Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah.

    Asked if a Hamas visit to Kuwait was scheduled, Sheikh Mohammed said that Kuwait has been in mourning period and a date would beset for the visit when the mourning ends.

    Ties between Kuwait and the Palestinians recovered when Palestine Liberation Organization's Executive Committee Chairman Mahmoud Abbas visited Kuwait in December 2004 and apologized for Palestine¡¯s stance on the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait in 1990. Hamas is expected to form a new Palestinian cabinet later this month, after it won a surprise victory in Jan. 25 Palestinian parliamentary elections.

    Mashal, who has been based in Damascus after being banned entry to the Palestinian territories by Israel, is currently on a tour of some Arab and Islamic countries, rallying support for a new Hamas-led Palestinian government. Enditem