Coll 6/10 'Hejaz-Nejd Affairs: Financial Situation and Internal Situation' [‎316r] (638/1310)

THIS DOCUMENT IS THE PROPERTY OF HIS BRITANNIC MAJESTY'S
EASTERN (Arabia).
CONFIDENTIAL.
[E 3505/76/25j
5036 f
L93 2_J
July 13, 1932.
Section 1.
No. 1.
(No. 258.) A ' Hyan t0 Si ' J ° hn S J uly 13.)
Sir,
SINCE writing my despatch No 234 of thp I 7 t} r Juv f 21 ’ 19 ^ 2 -
reports, most of whirh mnlr k ’ k 4 °* tne 17th June, J have heard various-
recording In connex on with fh rf^ rUmnurs ’ but which are
possible repercussions elsewhere in^he Heu^ a fe ,r f nd , Its re P ercussl ous or
Indian vice-oonsnl whn I he principal sources are my
Charted d AfiaAe ’ with wt ly Sllort sta ^ at Taif . a « d the French
conversation on the’8th and 201 “^ “ lmUSUal am ° Unt ° f general
na«t 2 ' ,/ rhere h f S UJ | <lou t)tedly been much malaise in Hejazi circles for some time
Cca^SnSv h^h^ 6 Ring's trenchant address to the notables“t
news of Ibn RifariW^ which has formed the subject of a separate report. The
it as ol Ihn Kifada s adventure fell on a soil of public opinion prepared for
" to thetlrtvl'f r tt eVentUality - Fear 0 C Ita Saud - fe- oTvaraS doubts
general uneasiness. glme ^ am ° ng the characterl stic symptoms of the
3. Old friends fought shy of the Indian vice-consul at Taif The Kinv
weather !i\™ mfhldHl^Th™^ to 1 f " ve , nti °n a l conversation on topics like thf
Leo-islative Council anH ' t Jf ban ® abadur saw . however, the president of the
would apDear that the d K?1 Cked UP 7 a [T S ltem ® of information, from which it
hut hv Ihftfnte of f h t- K S 18 P er u turbed not only hy the situation in the north,
said tha^t manl oVtheT T 0ng the ly unru,y tribes round Taif - 11 was
said that many of the leading men had been imprisoned, and that some were
leleased after a few days, while others were detained. The Kin® was also said to /
dire"^ rd P1 toX 1 ^ 0 i Vard , S Yemen ' t0 SUSpeCt Hashimite activity fn thal
l and be contemplating measures in Asir, including the desnatch
thither of one of the family of the Director-General of Finance. P
leader Kh^ltrf t J lat th ® Ki ^ ^ ad summoned the well-known military
d '^ " T ^ OW ^ 1 ’ Turaba for consultation, and that a few days
eft lorry '° ads ^ 80 dl ers, which had been standing by outside the palace,
11. T f P ° SSlbly to, be .P la “ d under Khalid’s commancf. The vice-consul saw
personally a certain Sheikh Abdullah Jefali, who played a role in the last war in
the Dejaz mainly, I gather, on the commissariat side. This person was expecting
e sent to Medina. The Amir Neshmi, who has apparently been in these parts
is said to have been despatched with a force to Wejh. What with these
movements and the turn out of tribal forces from the regions of Hail Jauf &c
£ nnn V1Ce " COnS ? D 8 ; nf °rmants estimated that Ibn Saud was mobilising at ’least
a,UUU men, with the object of inflicting a crushing defeat on the present rebels
and giving a salutary lesson to all and sundry.
arrest of Faudhi-al-Kawokji seems to have created no small
sensation. It is undoubtedly connected with the Ibn Rifada affair as an
immediate cause, but it has its own background of rumour. It is suggested
GO that the Amir Feisal had incurred the King’s displeasure before he left for
-urope (compare Mr. Hope Gill's telegram No. 56 of the 8th May); (5) that
there is a split among the influential Syrians, and notably a great enmity between
luad Bey Hamza and Sheikh Yusuf Yasin, owing to an intrigue between the
tormer and the wife of the latter; (c) that Faudhi is a protege of the Amir Feisal;
and (a) that Yusuf Yasin took advantage of the absence of the Amir and Fuad to
procure Faudhi’s arrest on receipt of the news about Ibn Rifada. There is said to
be yet another lady in the case in the person of the Amir’s latest wife, who is
described as being a woman of Nejdi and Turkish parentage, born and educated
m Constantinople, strong-minded, and determined to make a man of the Amir,
who is alleged to be much under her influence and to have agreed to discard his
other wives in her favour. Finally, there was talk in Mecca and Taif of other
arrests besides that of Faudhi. but of these I have no particulars.
[516 n—1]