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File 756/1917 Pt 1 ‘ARAB BULLETIN Nos 1 to 65’ [‎434r] (872/1240)

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The record is made up of 1 volume (616 folios). It was created in 1916-1917. It was written in English and French. 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. .

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;£SS.,“h. ; ..a though, »a .PF*™ » » “
— 87 —
ARABIA.
North-Eastern Desert.
Tribal Fights in the Shamiyah.
[Compiled from Arab reports, recorded by A. P. 0. Zubeir.]
Human nature being what it is—and at bottom the same in
the Arab as in the European, pugnacious, ambitious and
covetous, sometimes loyal but mainly treacherous, occasionally
enlightened but always restless—the tribal fights in the Shamiyah
desert may be expected to exhibit the same to and fro, change
and interchange, of alliances as may be found in the history of
the relations between the various nations which compose Europe.
The redeeming feature of the picture is its comparative blood
lessness. Normally, an Arab fight means the taking of an enemy
by a surprise raid, and the casualties may be in some cases more,
in others rather less, than those of a football match. As a ru e,
no prisoners are taken. By that phrase, ill-omened as it is to
us more barbarous Europeans, it is not meant that they are
killed A man who surrenders gives up his rifle, his horse, and
even his clothes, except the bare minimum that will save a
blush. He is then let go. At times, however, the fight is
waged without respite and without mercy, and, considering e
numbers engaged, with sanguinary results. The history of these
fights has its own intrinsic interest, apart from any lesson it may
convey about the possibility of relating the tribes together under
the influence of an external power. For those concerned, the
story lias landmarks as great to Bedouins as are Hastings and
Waterloo to us. What to Ibn Rashid and Ibn Suweit are
Hastings or Waterloo compared with the battle of the Reeds or
the battle of Naba ? o i r> u i-n
We will begin from the time when Saadun Pasha An Ottoman title used after the names of certain provincial governors, high-ranking officials and military commanders. , the
Muntafiq chief, had been driven back from north ^
and made the Shamiyah desert his own particular ^
anViPrp of influence The great Muntafiq family or baadu
not native to Iraq by origin for they boast themselv^ descended
from the nobles of Mecca—had built itself a ring ,
forts extending from Ghabashiyah through Chabdah an
Shagrah to Abu Ghar and Neba, a ring of defiance to any
attempt of the alien Turk to reduce them proud souls to sub-
•S The great Saadun had once carried his arms to he
walls of Basrah itself. . When the disciphned forces of t^
rp Vo oi Ipno’ih drove this unruly element into the aeserr,
■s"’*** » a
claimed himself king of the Shamiyah. •
But there was another enemy bes^e the Turk. J he se d
forts were both a defence against the inevitable raids ot^.ra
enemies and a base for their tenants'own ^ ™e Bedouin has

About this item

Content

The volume consists of individual copies of the Arab Bulletin numbers 1-65 produced by the Arab Bureau at the Savoy Hotel, Cairo. They deal with economic, military, and political matters in Turkey, the Middle East, Arabia, and elsewhere, which – in the opinion of British officials – affect the ‘Arab movement’; the bulletins cover a wide range of topics and key personalities.

Tables of content can be found at the front of each issue. A small amount of content is in French.

Extent and format
1 volume (616 folios)
Arrangement

The bulletins are arranged in numerical order from the front to the back of the file. An exception being that No 1 is located after No 6. An index to Nos 1-35 can be found at the front: folios 4-15.

The subject 759 (Arab Bulletins) consists of two volumes. IOR/L/PS/10/657-658.

Physical characteristics

Foliation: the foliation sequence for this description commences at the inside front cover with 1, and terminates at the inside back cover with 618; 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. A previous foliation sequence, which is also circled, has been superseded and therefore crossed out.

Written in
English and French in Latin script
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File 756/1917 Pt 1 ‘ARAB BULLETIN Nos 1 to 65’ [‎434r] (872/1240), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, IOR/L/PS/10/657, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100048503666.0x000049> [accessed 29 March 2024]

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