Coll 6/19 'Arabia: (Saudi Arabia) Hejaz-Nejd Annual Report.' [‎207r] (414/540)

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authorities felt that they had been very hardly used. As for Ibn Saud, he
criticised in a note of the 10th September both Mr. MacDonnell and the reasons
given by His Majesty’s Government for their inability to arrive at exact
estimates. He spoke of the bad effects which the finding would produce and the
difficulty which he would have in pacifying his outraged subjects, but declared
that he would stand by his undertaking to accept any decision given by His
Majesty’s Government. He went on to deal with the actual and future situation
in the manner described in paragraph 20 above. The half-heartedness of his
acceptance of the finding was emphasised by his reference to “ compensation for
past violations ’ ’ in his summary of the measures necessary in his view to remedy
a deplorable situation; by his subsequent refusal to hear his half share in the
costs of the MacDonnell investigation, a refusal so worded as to suggest that he
contemplated the possibility of some further adjustment of the claims covered
by it; and perhaps by his willingness to allow Sherarat raiders to retain certain
of the camels looted from the Atun on the 28th September, 1931, on the ground
that the Atun had previously stolen them from the Sherarat. The “perhaps”
in this last sentence is necessitated by the fact that it was disputed whether the
camels in question had been raided by the Atun before the 1st August, 1930, in
which case they would have become the property of the holders as a result of
the MacDonnell finding, or whether the Atun had captured them in subsequent
raids, in which case, subject to a doubt cast by the Hejazi Government on
the Transjordanian nationality of the Atun, the matter would fall to be decided
by Ibn Zeid and Captain Glubb.
27. The MacDonnell finding, even if unlikely to be observed scrupulously,
has the one merit of having set up a definite legal position, which can be relied
on for diplomatic purposes in case of future need, in regard to all raids prior to
the 1st August, 1930. The position as regards raids from the 1st August, 1930, .
to the end of the year (more exactly, up to the 18th January, 1931), remains
indeterminate. It seems probable that in this case, also, the eventual solution
will be a reciprocal cancellation of claims. Strongly as the Transjordan Used in three contexts: the geographical region to the east of the River Jordan (literally ‘across the River Jordan’); a British protectorate (1921-46); an independent political entity (1946-49) now known as Jordan
authorities felt about the Nejdi raids of the autumn of 1930, which deprived the
Howeitat of several hundred camels and reduced them to the verge of starvation,
they would be prepared for such cancellation, if assured of genuine collaboration
on Ibn Sand’s side in the future. It has not, however, been thought advisable on
the British side to rush into any proposal for a “fifty-fifty” settlement in
respect of the period under consideration; partly because there may still be
hope of redress for the Howeitat; partly because a settlement regarding the
raids in question is the theoretical raison d'etre of continued meetings between
Captain Glubb and Ibn Zeid, which, in spite of all limitations, serve a useful
purpose from a more general point of view, and may pave the way for the
continuous co-operation which His Majesty’s Government have at heart.
28. It remains to deal with the situation as regards actual raiding on the
frontier. From the records in His Majesty’s Legation, it appears that
twenty-two raids w T ere alleged to have taken place between the 1st August, 1930
(the end of the period covered by the MacDonnell finding), and the end of that
year. Sixteen of these were attributed to Transjordan Used in three contexts: the geographical region to the east of the River Jordan (literally ‘across the River Jordan’); a British protectorate (1921-46); an independent political entity (1946-49) now known as Jordan tribesmen, including two
reported by the Transjordan Used in three contexts: the geographical region to the east of the River Jordan (literally ‘across the River Jordan’); a British protectorate (1921-46); an independent political entity (1946-49) now known as Jordan authorities themselves, but not protested against
by the Hejazi Government. Six were raids from Hejaz-Nejd. The figure, though
small, includes the important raids in September and October, which had the
retarded effect of precipitating the controversy described earlier in this section;
and one raid through Transjordan Used in three contexts: the geographical region to the east of the River Jordan (literally ‘across the River Jordan’); a British protectorate (1921-46); an independent political entity (1946-49) now known as Jordan into Syria, for which the Syrian authorities
sought to hold the Transjordan Used in three contexts: the geographical region to the east of the River Jordan (literally ‘across the River Jordan’); a British protectorate (1921-46); an independent political entity (1946-49) now known as Jordan Government responsible.
29. The raiding situation in the autumn of 1930 was thus one of some
anxiety, although even then it was not as grave as might be inferred from the
crisis in the relations between His Majesty’s Government in the United Kingdom
and Ibn Saud, to which it subsequently gave rise. It underwent a marked
improvement towards the end of the year, after Captain Glubb had taken charge
on the Transjordan Used in three contexts: the geographical region to the east of the River Jordan (literally ‘across the River Jordan’); a British protectorate (1921-46); an independent political entity (1946-49) now known as Jordan side. The improvement was maintained throughout the whole
of 1931. Leaving out of account an unsubstantiated complaint by the Hejazi
Government early in 1932 regarding certain alleged incursions from Transjordan Used in three contexts: the geographical region to the east of the River Jordan (literally ‘across the River Jordan’); a British protectorate (1921-46); an independent political entity (1946-49) now known as Jordan
in the previous December, the total number of raids or alleged raids recorded in
the Legation files for the year did not exceed twelve, exclusive of some abortive