File 1707/1924 ‘Arabia:- Jeddah Situation Reports. (1924-1930)’ [‎377v] (759/898)

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except by a rare chance. If they think by bombarding the town to induce the Jeddah
people to revolt against King Ali, that is probably more futile than their other ideas.
The people of Jeddah are too mean-spirited to take any action whatsoever.
It is to be noted that the advent of the month of Rejeb, one of the four sacred
months when fighting by Moslems is supposed to be unlawful, has not put a stop
to the hostilities. The'reason is that the Wahibis regard the Hedjaz people as
polytheists,” because of the exaggerated respect they are alleged to pay to the
Prophet. The close season does not apply when polytheists are the object of attack.
2. For weeks the Hedjaz Government have been pinning their faith to some
“ tanks ” which they were to* get from Germany. It was assumed by those who
had seen tanks that they would turn out to be at most some sort of armoured car, but
no' one suspected how useless they would be. On the 31st January five motors and
fourteen cases of plates were landed from the Kertosono,” of the Rotterdam-Lloyd
line. The cars were from Hamburg, but they are not of German manufacture.
They are American four-wheel-drive lorries, Nash-[ ? Gadd] make. It seems that
they belonged to a large number which were sold off at scrap prices when the United
States army evacuated the Rhine area. They are all old and in bad condition, and
the petrol tank of one of them was full of mud when it arrived at Jeddah—a circum
stance which leads one of the Russian mechanics here to believe that all the lorries
belong to a batch which were under water for some time owing to a flood, and which
he afterwards saw on sale in Bremen for about £5 apiece. The plating sent with
them is iron, not steel, and only an eigth of an inch thick, so that it would probably
not keep out a bullet fired from a good rifle. On the other hand it is heavy enough
to overload the engine, which is only 36 h.p., and to make it pretty certain that the
cars will hardly get far outside the wire, since there are patches of loose sand every
where on the desert, and the wheels are ordinary narrow single-lorry wheels with
solid tyres. However, two have been fitted up, and one of them manages to run at
8 or 10 miles an hour on the hard roads of the town.
3. Of the six Germans who left Jeddah after a very short stay because they
could not agree with the Hedjaz Government about their pay, one returned from
Cairo. He says that he saw the German representative there and obtained permis
sion to accept an engagement with the Hedjaz Government in a technical capacity.
His return probably has something to do with the armoured cars. He has been
.working on them with three other Germans, who arrived on the 5th February. He
gives his name as Willi Beiersdorff, and says he is a Berliner and an ex-officer.
4. As the Hedjaz Government refused to allow them to go to Ibn Saud unless
they first recognised the independence of the Hedjaz under King Ali as the basis of
negotiations, the Indian deputation, after consulting the Caliphate Committee by
telegram, left Jeddah for India, via Suez, on the 30th January. The Caliphate
Committee seem to be very angry at the attitude of the Hedjaz Government, but in
view : of the admittedly hostile views of the committee, King Ali seems to have acted
more generously than most Governments would have done in such circumstances, he
would have been justified in putting the delegates into prison and preventing them
from coming into contact with the people.
5. The Sheikh-ul-Islam of Cairo has telegraphed to the King (addressing him,
it may be noticed, as “ His Majesty King Ali ”), saying that the Caliphate conference
which it had been proposed to hold in March has been postponed for a year, for three
reasons :—
(1.) Certain Moslem countries want to send delegates beforehand to find out
what the objects, scope, &c., of the conference are.
(2.) The Hedjaz and other Arab countries are at war.
(3.) Egypt is busy with the elections.
King Ali has replied, expressing the readiness of the Hedjaz to take part in
the conference whenever it may meet, and protesting against the conference to which
Ibn Saud has issued invitations as likely to sow dissension among Moslems.
6. Amin Rihani has returned to Syria, after writing to Ibn Saud once more to
ask whether it was of any use his staying any longer. There are no signs of yielding
m Ibn Saud now. He was particularly violent in his last letter to the Caliphate
Committee delegates. His war against Ali is now a jehad.
7. Among the persons other than Nejdis, who are known to be with Ibn Sand,
are the following :—
Jamal Ghazzi, of Damascus. Formerly aide-de-camp to Enver Pasha An Ottoman title used after the names of certain provincial governors, high-ranking officials and military commanders.
Mahmud Hammudah, a Syrian doctor.