"ملف 8/7 I تقارير الاستخبارات في جدة" [و‎‎١‎١‎٨] (٥٣٦/٢٣٥)

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II.— Frontier Questions and Foreign Relations in Arabia.
176. The treaty with Transjordan (reference paragraph 145) was first
mentioned by the Saut-ul-Hejaz in its issue of the 8th August and at greater
length in an article on the 15th August. It is a little curious that the Umm-al-
Qura, usually regarded as the semi-official organ of the Saudi Government, should
so far have refrained from any reference to the treaty.
177. The Saudi press has been almost equally mute on the subject of the
Yemen (reference paragraphs 148 and 149), whose relations with Saudi
Arabia had reached a critical stage at the beginning of August. The detention
of the Saudi delegation against their will at Sana, which had further exacerbated
Ibn Saud, proved happily to be of short duration, as they were allowed to leave
the Yemen on the 3rd August. The Saudi Government, in informing His
Majesty’s Charge d’Affaires of this on the 6th, attributed the release to the
steps taken by His Majesty’s Government, who had requested the Italian Govern
ment to make urgent representations to the Imam Yahya. In the meantime
(on the 5th) the Minister for Foreign Affairs had addressed a further lengthy
note to Mr. Calvert for the information and comments of His Majesty’s Govern
ment, setting forth the Saudi desiderata for the settlement of their differences
with the Yemen, which included : (i) an apology and satisfaction for the
detention of the delegation at Sana; (ii) the Idrisi either to be expelled from
the Yemen, or handed over to Ibn Saud, as the shelter afforded him by the Imam
Yahya, particularly in such unsettled territory as the Asir frontier districts, was
not merely a breach of the treaty, but a token of the Imam’s intention to force a
quarrel; (iii) the Imam’s encroachments in Najran w T ere to stop and the frontier
there to be delimited; and (iv) all frontiers between the two countries were to
be settled.
178. The returning delegation brought with them a letter from the Imam
to the King, the contents of which were wirelessed to Riyadh from Jizan. Ibn
Saud replied by telegram stating his grievances and the remedies that would
satisfy him. At this juncture it was possible to mark a certain detente, in the
situation consequent upon the release of the delegation, the apparent absence of
any forward movement by Imamic troops in the Xajran, and the resumption of
direct telegraphic correspondence between the two rulers. This interlude was
interrupted by a report received from the Minister for Foreign Affairs that
Husain-ad-Dabbagh, one of the conspiratorial family of that name, had recently
landed at Medi and had joined the Idrisi, taking with him supplies and money,
and that a certain Adnan, one of Ad Dabbagh’s followers, had established
himself at Kamaran as an Idrisi agent. As the result of enquiries, His Majesty s
-O Charge d’Affaires was able to inform the Saudi Government that Adnan had left
Kamaran on the 16th August. On the 17th His Majesty’s Government replied
to the Saudi Government’s request for comments on their desiderata regretting
that the position was too obscure and their information too incomplete to enable
them to express any opinion. They, however, expressed their pleasure at the
release of the delegation and the resumption of direct communication between
Riyadh and Sana.
179. On the 25th August Sheikh Abdullah Suleiman called on Mr. Calvert
and left with him copies of two telegrams, one purporting to have been received
by Ibn Saud from King Feisal, in which the latter, speaking in the name of the
Arabs of other countries, expressed the hope that every effort would be made to
avoid the shedding of Arab blood and declared his readiness to mediate. The
other telegram contained Ibn Saud’s reply, asserting equal concern for Arab blood,
declaring his desire for peace and summarising his case against the Imam. He
expressed his gratitude, non-committally, to Feisal for his offer of mediation.
The Minister of Finance dilated, during this interview, on the impossibility of
Arab trusting Arab and again sought the counsels of His Majesty’s Government,
to whom this information was conveyed, and whose reply was received before the
end of the month, but was held up for oral communication, as Sheikh Abdullah
Suleiman had. in the meantime, returned to Taif. Before he left Jedda, however,
he informed Mr. Calvert at a further meeting that on the receipt of reports, some
three weeks earlier, of mobilisation of troops within the Yemen, Ibn baud had
ordered the reinforcement of Saudi forces in the south-west by troops from the
north-east. The Minister went on to read a series of telegrams from Ibn Saud
[907 dd—1] b 2