Coll 6/9 'Jeddah Reports Jany 1931–' [‎28r] (56/802)

THIS DOCUMENT IS THE PROPERTY OF HIS BRITANNIC MAJESTY’S GOVERNMENT
EASTERN (Arabia).
59 8 4 August 23, 1937.
CONFIDENTIAL.
Section 1.
[E 4918/580/251 Copy No. ^ 10
Mr. Trott to Mr. Eden.—(Received August 23.)
(No. 131. Confidential.)
Sir, Jedda, August 1, 1937.
I HAVE the honour to submit herewith the Jedda report for July 1937.
2. Copies have been distributed as in the list in paragraph 67.
I have, &c.
A. C. TROTT.
Enclosure.
Jedda Report for July 1937.
I .—Internal A ffairs.
267. Sir Reader Bullard and Mr. Ousman, pro-consul, left for Riyadh on
Saturday, the 3rd July. Full details of their journey had not reached Jedda by the
end of the month, owing to difficulties of communication. A fuller account will
therefore appear in next month’s report. The party is believed to have arrived
at Riyadh, after some vicissitudes, on the 6th July; and to have left Riyadh,
accompanied by Fuad Bey Hamza, for Khobar, on the Hasa coast, and Bahrein
on the 9th July, arriving at the last-named place on the 13th July. The journey
to Khobar was not pleasant. The cars had to be pushed by hand a good deal,
and the water nearly ran out. Mr. Ousman returned (with Fuad Bey Hamza)
to Riyadh, where he is to erect an electric lighting plant for King Abdul Aziz, on
the 19th July.
268. The King’s reactions to the Palestine report were mixed. After the
initial shock, he seems to have been chiefly alarmed at the prospect that the Amir
Abdullah would have untrammelled control of the new Arab State. He said that
he did not mind Abdullah with a mandatory Power to keep him in check, but
an independent Abdullah was quite a different thing ; he would in that case insist
on his claim to Akabah and Maan, and he would require a corridor allowing his
tribes to communicate direct with Syria.
269. The King’s only published reply to the many telegrams, which were
sent to him by Hejazis and subjects of other Arab States protesting against the
partition of Palestine, was extremely cautious.
270. Sheikh Yusuf Yasin's views are that the establishment of a Jewish
State will be a great danger to the Arab States bordering it; for the Jews, being
rich, will purchase expensive armaments and attack their neighbours.
271. The Umm-al-Qura of the 9th July published a carefully composed
communique reporting His Majesty's Minister’s arrival at Riyadh and his
audience in which he “submitted to the King, in the name of His Majesty’s
Government, the report of the Committee on Palestine ; there followed discussions
connected with matters concerning relations between the two countries, in an
atmosphere filled with the spirit of amity and friendship.”
272. The Umm-al-Qura and the Saut-ul-Hejaz have had much to say about
the Palestine Report. The latter published a good deal of the text "of the
“Summary ” of the report; the cuts were made more from the point of view of
space than from any desire to publish a misleading text, though the omission of
some of the headings made the Arabic a little difficult to understand. But the
whole idea of “ partition ” appears to be anathema.
273. The first indication of the feelings of the Jeddawis on the subject
was seen on the 19th July—a Monday, and therefore the day after the arrival of
the weekly mail bringing the Egyptian papers. Bands of youths, older men,
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