File 756/1917 Pt 2-3 ‘ARAB BULLETIN Nos 66-114’ [‎196r] (400/834)

EMIR HUSEIN AND JEMAL IN 1916.
King Husein has forwarded to us copies of certain letters
which passed between himself and Ahmed Jemal Pasha An Ottoman title used after the names of certain provincial governors, high-ranking officials and military commanders. in
April, 1916. They contain some interesting references to enemy
offensive plans at that time, namely the despatch of Hairi Bey’s
picked force of 3,500 men, with the Stotzingen Mission for Yemen
(see Arab Bulletin, 1916, p. 272) ; and the expedition towards
the Canal, which resulted in the Katia affair of April 23.
In regard to the former of these undertakings, Jemal wrote
to the Emir, on April 2, that the first train conveying the detach
ment for Yemen was timed to reach Medina in ten days’ time.
He laid stress on the fact that the transport of these troops from
Aleppo was holding up rolling-stock, belonging to the Palestine
and Haifa railways, which was wanted for the Egyptian Expedition;
all possible despatch must therefore be used, and a camel regiment,
wanted back from Hejaz, should be put on the returning trucks,
so that none need be sent later specially to move it.
He then enters into the question of the mujahid regiment
which the Emir has raised, promising to send at once 500 rifles
for it and L.T. 5,000 ; and in a second letter, dated April 9, he
presses for its concentration at Medina, because the Egyptian
Expedition is on the point of departure. In his reply the Emir
stated that the said regiment had no equipment, nothing having
been sent in response to his frequent requests. As for the
L.T. 5,000 now to be sent by Jemal, if the sum was in paper, it
would be worth only about a quarter of its face value, and how
was it to be distributed among 1,500 mujahidin ? Finally, he
tells Jemal, with evident disgust : “ It is not worth your while
to worry about their pay and equipment ; 1 will pay the
expenses myself for the second time.”
Jemal states further, in his first letter, that “ under the
Sacred Banner of the Caliphate German and Austrian
troops are coming to participate in the Jihad.” The Emir, in
his reply, confines his comment to these words: “ The arrival of
Austrian and German forces will inaugurate a new chapter in
the history of Islam !”
Finally in his first letter, Jemal informed the Emir that
the latter’s son, AH Bey Effendi, had had “ an insignificant and
purely personal disagreement with the O.C. Medina garrison ”
(compare Arab Bulletin, 1917, p. 509), of a kind which he
(Jemal) had taken steps to obviate in the future. As for Feisal
Bey Effendi, says Jemal in his second letter, he could not be
spared from Army H.Q. for a single instant. Something in
these strained relations with the Emir’s sons must have led
Jemal, in a letter not before us, to suggest to the Emir a
discussion on the succession. Possibly Jemal had hinted that
the Porte would not be likely to approve Ali or Feisal after
recent experiences. The Emir’s reply ends with a curt rebuff-—
u You and I ”, he says to Jemal, “ cannot discuss the affairs
of the Emirate and the succession of the Sherifate.”