File 22/23 III Kuwait Conference [‎14r] (27/200)

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From Commissioner, Jeruftalem,
To Colonial Office; repeated to Knox and Baghdad.
No.. 33~E (No* to London),
Dated I»t Ajjrll 1»34. (Received 2-4-.Q4}.
Your tele^r^iii No, 1C : 3 W The frontier augmented in your
tielegram of 6th November 1^23 as a bar,is for discusftion
is affected by Kiri^'Rusaln’s de facto occupation of the
Ma*an district as rooorted In my secret despatch B„ dated
%
the 6th February 1^24, and unless King Husain’s delegate
is present at the Conference it is not easy to see how he
can be induced to agree / to give up territory of which he
is in actual occupation , even although the Kijaz - Trans-
/
Jordanian frontier has never been delineated and con-
V
sequently may be considered to be still under discussion*
It is difficult to see how the parties concerned can be
induced to agree not to extend their sphere of influence
to within a given distance on either side of their
frontlets at a time when the frontiers in question are
under discussion , and the various parties’ claims' differ
so widely. It is a oi&tter of no small concern to Trans-
Jordania as also to Palestine where tfta Nuri ash -Shavian
or some other shaikh is to rule in the proposed buffer
state of Wadi A seasonal or intermittent watercourse, or the valley in which it flows. Slrhan, more particularly in view of the
fact that His Majesty’s Government win not excercise any
direct control over the district, mat X aaid i n m,
telegram No «3 still holds good regarding the fixing of the
Tranc-Jordanla - Hajd frontier by direct agreement between
.the Sultan of Najd and. the Mandatory Power, and any agree-
of this sort which wt.H not concurred in by King Husain and
the Government of TranaJordania would, he an extremely
difficult impliment*