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Coll 6/66 'Saudi-Arabia: Saudi-Transjordan Frontier' [5v] (10/427)
The record is made up of 1 file (212 folios). It was created in 3 Apr 1934-6 Mar 1940. It was written in English. The original is part of the British Library: India Office The department of the British Government to which the Government of India reported between 1858 and 1947. The successor to the Court of Directors. Records and Private Papers Documents collected in a private capacity. .
Transcription
This transcription is created automatically. It may contain errors.
4
A
Ibn Saud a frontier rectification which, while transferring to Saudi Arabia the
town of Akaba and some part of the region to the north and east, would still
leave
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
(as well as Palestine) with direct access to the Cxulf of Akaba.
It was eventually decided that the retention of the town itself was important
strategicallv for'the defence of
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
,( 5 ) but no reply was, in the upshot,
sent to Ibn Sand on this point and he did not raise it again. His action suggests,
however, that he regards the secret assurance of the 21st May, 1927, as ai^^
assurance to His Majesty’s Government only, which does not invalidate any claim
he may have against
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
.
19. In an Eastern Department memorandum of August 1926, the general
position is summed up as follows :—
“ Transjordan’s claim to the ownership of Akaba and Maan as against
the claim of King Hussein, was never entirely established. The question
was deliberately left over during the war for negotiations afterwards, and
these negotiations never achieved finality. But we have never in any way
admitted to Ibn Saud that he, as successor by conquest to the Kingdom of
the Hejaz, was entitled to include Akaba and Maan in his kingdom. On
the contrary, in all our dealings with Ibn Saud, we have adopted the consistent
attitude that the boundary between the Hejaz and
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
runs south
of Akaba and Mudawara. Ibn Saud has never categorically agreed to this
boundary, but he has tacitly acquiesced in our contention. The disputed
area is not historically part of the Holy Land of Islam, and any claims which
King Hussein may have had to it were personal, and due to his occupation
of the district as our ally during the Great War. Whatever obligations we
may, therefore, have been under to King Hussein, have been liquidated by
the fall of his dynasty.”
20. The problem probably presents itself to Ibn Saud in a somewhat
different light. He probably feels that being at war with King Hussein he was
entitled to take possession of all King Hussein’s territory if he could, and that
he undoubtedly could and would have occupied that part of King Hussein’s
territory represented by Akaba and Maan had not a third party, who had not
been able to assert his claim to those places as against King Hussein, or had at
any rate not seen fit to do so, suddenly stepped in and occupied the territory in
question himself, instead of continuing to pursue the claim as against Ibn Saud
by the same diplomatic methods which he had employed in the case of
King Hussein. But all the same the argument indicated in the last two sentences
of the preceding paragraph appears to be the best reply His Majesty’s Govern
ment can make to any argument based on the events of 1916-20, which, as has
been shown, throw some doubt on the intentions of His Majesty’s Government
at the time as regards Maan, and even more so as regards Akaba.
21. In conclusion, it may be said that Ibn Saud’s claim has no merits in
itself. Akaba—and still less Maan—are of no value to Saudi Arabia, which has
a long coast-line and infinite stretches of desert. But both places, and especially
Akaba, are of great importance 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
, which has no other outlet to
the sea.
Eastern Department,
Foreign Office, January 12, 1940. (*)
-*!
(*) See Annex D.
About this item
- Content
This file primarily concerns British policy on the question of the Saudi- 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 frontier, specifically the frontier between 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 and Nejd, as initially outlined in the Hadda Agreement of 1925.
The correspondence includes discussion of the following:
- The reported disaffection of certain Saudi tribes in the Jauf [Al Jawf] and Teima [Taymā’] areas.
- Difficulties arising from inaccuracies discovered on a 1918 map of the frontier, on which the Hadda agreement was based.
- Saudi Government complaints regarding the alleged violation of the Saudi frontier by British aeroplanes and soldiers at Thaniyya Taraif [Thanīyat Ţurayf, Saudi Arabia].
- A proposal made by Fuad Bey Hamza, Deputy Minister for Saudi Foreign Affairs, during a meeting at the Foreign Office in July 1935, that the frontier should be that which is shown on the 1918 map, regardless of the map's inaccuracies (a proposal that the British authorities in 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 encourage the Foreign Office to accept).
- Reports of infringements of the existing frontier by Saudi patrols.
- The British response to Ibn Saud's [‘Abd al-‘Azīz bin ‘Abd al-Raḥmān bin Fayṣal Āl Sa‘ūd] claim to the districts of Akaba [Aqaba] and Maan [Ma‘ān] in 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 .
The file also includes the following:
- Compiled notes of correspondence relating to the Treaty of Jedda (1927) and its modification (and more specifically, to the question of the Hejaz- 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 frontier) exchanged between Sir Gilbert Clayton and Ibn Saud (1927), and between the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs and the Minister for Saudi Foreign Affairs (1936).
- Copies of the minutes of meetings of the Committee of Imperial Defence's Standing Official Sub-Committee for Questions Concerning the Middle East, concerning the Saudi- 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 frontier (and, in one instance, also addressing the Island of Tamb in the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. ).
- Copies of the minutes of interdepartmental meetings regarding the Saudi- 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 frontier, held at the Colonial Office (7 January 1935) and Foreign Office (28 September 1934) respectively.
- Two sketch maps depicting disputed territory near the frontier.
The file features the following principal correspondents: His Majesty's Minister at Jedda (Sir Andrew Ryan, succeeded by Sir Reader William Bullard); His Majesty's Chargé d'Affaires to Jedda (Albert Spencer Calvert); John Bagot Glubb, Acting Officer Commanding the Arab Legion; the Air Officer Commanding Palestine and 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 (Richard Edmund Charles Peirse); the Saudi Minister of Foreign Affairs [Fayṣal bin ‘Abd al-‘Azīz Āl Sa‘ūd]; officials of the Foreign Office, the Colonial Office, the Air Ministry, and the War Office.
The file includes a divider which gives a list of correspondence references contained in the file by year. This is placed at the back of the correspondence (folio 2).
- Extent and format
- 1 file (212 folios)
- Arrangement
The papers are arranged in approximate chronological order from the rear to the front of the file.
- Physical characteristics
Foliation: the foliation sequence (used for referencing) commences at the inside front cover with 1, and terminates at the last folio with 213; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto The front of a sheet of paper or leaf, often abbreviated to 'r'. side of each folio. An additional foliation sequence is present in parallel between ff 2-209; these numbers are also written in pencil, but are not circled.
- Written in
- English in Latin script View the complete information for this record
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Coll 6/66 'Saudi-Arabia: Saudi-Transjordan Frontier' [5v] (10/427), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, IOR/L/PS/12/2133, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100040939863.0x00000b> [accessed 13 May 2024]
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- Reference
- IOR/L/PS/12/2133
- Title
- Coll 6/66 'Saudi-Arabia: Saudi-Transjordan Frontier'
- Pages
- front, front-i, 2r:5v, 7r:7v, 9r:79v, 81r:172v, 174r:213v, back
- Author
- East India Company, the Board of Control, the India Office, or other British Government Department
- Usage terms
- Open Government Licence