"ملف ٨/٣ شؤون أولاد الشيخ خزعل." [و‎‎١‎٣‎٧] (٥٠٨/٢٧٣)

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SE CRET
the BAKHTIARI recovering their old position as the chiefs returned from the
opened prisons then led to heart searchings among the impoverished IdLAZ’ALI
exiles at B.ASRA* Oby should not they too recover the properties forced from
their imprisoned father? The heirs of Shaikh KKAE’.AL had better claims on
Allied goodwill than the heirs of SOLAT ud DOWLEH, the QASHQAX who had
fought for WASSvIUSS. One of the sons. Shaikh I-IUKAIilAD SA'ID was at the time
interned for supporting RASHID ALI, but he had been in the Iraqi Army and
the rest of the family were in no way implicated*
23. At the end of 1941 therefore Shaikh ABDUL AZIZ, CHASSIS's full
brother, paid an illegal visit to MQHAHMERAH to discover the lie of the land
and in the spring of 1942 ambitious schemes were laid to oust the Persian
acbninistration of KHUZISTATT. By then, of course, it was too late. Disturb
ances in the area bordering the railway and the pipeline were highly
undesirable, the British were committed to support the central government,
and unmistakeable intimations from British and Iraqi sources were sufficient
to prevent the matter from being put to the test.
24* In January 1943 however Shaikh CHASSID wrote to H.k. Ambassador
in BAGHDAD requesting to be restored to the family property and honours.
He does not appear to have received a reply. On 4th Lay 1943> selecting
the moment when the Persian forces in IC 1 UZI 8 TAN were involved with the
B/iKHTIARI at IZEH he took the bit betv/een his teeth, croeced the frontier
with his unbalanced half brother ’ABDUL loAJID and a few supporters and
attempted to rally the Arabs at QAJARIXA. He secured a limited following
chiefly from among his own tribe the LUKAISIN, but was induced by the
Consul and A.L.O. to return to MOHAfcLlERAH# There the Arabs vehemently
opposed his return to Iraq and drew up a petition to this effect (Appendix
’E 1 ), but they and he eventually yielded to British pressure, and by the
15th he was back in BASRA. The Persians sent aeroplanes over QAJARIYA
where all the tribesmen bn.d not yet dispersed and caused a few casualties,
but there were no further reprisals and H.M. Minister in TEHRAN took the
opportunity to urge on the Persian Government a settlement of the KHAZ’ALI
claims.
25* The outcome of this last step was an offer by the Persian
Government to compensate for the KHiZHALI’s claims in KEUZISTAN by a grant
of land ^ in the neighbourhood of TEHRAN. The HUHAISIN Shaikhs considering
that this would be the death blow to their hopes of at least a send.—
autonomous Arab government in Southern Khusistan made a counter offer of a
voluntary gift of a proportion of the income of their own and other dis
puted estates, and this proposal was welcomed by Sheikh ’ABDULLAH, probably
the most estimable of the KHAZ’ALIs, on the grounds;
(1) That in view of the return of the other tribal leaders
to their estates, the KHAZ’ALIs had a sound claim to
similar treatment.
(2) That the Persian Cove rumen c were not co be trusted and that
if once the KHAZ’ALIs signed a document renouncing their
claims in KHUZISTAN some excuse would soon be found to deprive
them of their new property.
(3) That they had not the money necessary for the intrigues in
TEHRAN Which would inevitably precede such a settlement.
(4) That to take such a step would indeed be the abanuorm»nt of
the Arabs of KHUZISTAN.
With ’ABDULLAH tire last consideration undoubtedly had weight.
26. On 11th June 1944> CHASSIB wrote a letter to H.li. Ambassador in
BAGHDAD, complaining that his family was in a bad way financially, and
asking the British to back him up in his claims for the return of the
KHAZ’ALI estates. He claimed that H.M.G. had not honoured a word of the
promises/