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6
parties to it, and their defence. It was open to the participation of any Arab
country, but was inspired by friendship for all friendly countries.
12. The Treaty of Alliance is the final proof of an extraordinary change
which has come over the relations between Saudi Arabia and Iraq in the space
of a few years. What Fuad Bey described on one occasion as the almost hopeless
state of affairs of 1929 was followed by a rapprochement in 1930 and a treaty in
1931, and the Treaty of Alliance has crowned the whole. Fuad Bey remarked
to Sir Andrew Ryan that the death of King Feisal had made a great difference,
as it had stimulated Saudi Arabia’s sense of responsibility for Iraq.
13. If Saudi Arabia ever felt entitled to patronise Iraq her feelings may
have received a shock from the change of government in Iraq, which resulted
from the military cowp of the 29th October. Ibn Saud sent to his Minister in
London a telegram of misgiving, which appears, however, to have been despatched
several days before he received the visit of Dr. Naji-al-Asil, the new Iraqi
Foreign Minister, at Riyadh. It had been intended that Nuri Pasha An Ottoman title used after the names of certain provincial governors, high-ranking officials and military commanders. should go
to Riyadh for the ratification of the treaty, and one of the first acts of the new
Iiaqi Government was to decide—apparently in order to reassure Ibn Saud as
to their goodwill—that Nuri Pasha’s successor should go to Riyadh at once in his
plane The treaty was ratified, the questions of the demarcation of the frontier
and the abolition of the neutral zone were discussed, and an etablissement agree-
ment was signed. During the visit Dr. Naji transmitted to Ibn Saud on behalf
u Ghazi the insignia of the Hashimite order, which is bestowed only on
the heads of States. It was noticed at Koweit that, whereas Dr Naii-al-Asil
went to Riyadh wearing the Iraqi dress, consisting of a suit and a “ sidara ”
cap, he returned wearing Arab head-dress and cloak. He told the Political Agent A mid-ranking political representative (equivalent to a Consul) from the diplomatic corps of the Government of India or one of its subordinate provincial governments, in charge of a Political Agency.
that Ibn Saud had made some remark about foreign diplomats wearing Arab
c othes in Cential Arabia, and that he had excused himself on the ground of ha^te
m departure.
-d i P ar ^ pl a y e d by Saudi Arabia and Iraq in connexion with the
Palestine disorders is dealt with in the section on Palestine. Twice it appeared
to Ibn Saud, and with some reason, that Iraq was trying to take the lead The
first occasion was when Nuri Pasha An Ottoman title used after the names of certain provincial governors, high-ranking officials and military commanders. paid his slightly ambiguous and whollv
unsuccessful visit to Jerusalem to see the Arab leaders. The second was when
m the course of his visit to Riyadh Dr. Naji-al-Asil proposed to Ibn Saud that
all discussion on the I alestine question and all correspondence with His Maiestv’s
(jovernment or with other authorities on behalf of the Palestine Arabs should
be undertaken exclusively by the Iraq Government on behalf of all the Arab
rulers This extraordinary proposal, which in any case could not have been
accepted by His Majesty s Government, was promptly rejected by Ibn Saud.
. 15 ' In , vlr , tu ? ? f , the al 5 nest y offered by Ibn Saud in 1935, most of the Saudi
telm« T)7 h0 had k !f at 6 ^? 6 “^returned to Saudi Arabia on favourable
terms. There remained ^aif-bin-Humaid, paramount sheikh of the Ataiba and
some of his clansmen. He received an invitation from Ibn Saud and was inclined
to accept, but it appears that at the end of the year he had decided to stav on
m Iraq because, after the Bagdad coup d'fctat, the King of Iraq increased the
monthly allowances to the Nejdi and Hejaz refugees, which had gradually been
cut down since the death of King Feisal. g u y oeen
16. It remains only to mention a few points of minor imnortance An
agreement about telegraph rates and settlement of accounts which had been
concluded between the telegraph departments of Saudi Arabia and Iraq on the
6th November 1935, was not published in Saudi Arabia, and only became known
to His Majesty s Legation in April 1936, when a translation was received from
His Majesty s Lmbassy at Bagdad. A modern note was introduced into the
Saudi celebrations of the post-Ramadhan feast when it was announced that
telegrams of congratulations from Saudi Arabia to Iraq would be ac “pted a£
one-third the usual rate. According to the Iraq Royal Air Force Summary for
September, the Saudi officials at the four newly-created posts of Wakiya Umm
Rakhuma, Lina and Hafr-al-Batm had begun to collect customs dues at 200 fiR
on every camel-load of goods imported from Iraq into Nejd, and this measure
had been received with dissatisfaction by the Nejdi tribes, who were accustomed