'IRAQ AND THE PERSIAN GULF' [‎216v] (437/862)

HISTORY
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system, which aimed at the suppression of all hostile tribal movement
and which, by the use of aircraft against tribesmen, ‘outraged the
feelings of his people’. However, in 1929 he found it necessary in his
own interest to reassert his authority over several tribes which were
openly flouting his orders. After the rebels had been crushed he
realized the desirability of coming to an understanding with the Iraqi
Government, and the long-delayed personal meeting with Faisal took
place in H.M.S. Lupin at the mouth of the Shatt al Arab (Feb. 1930).
As a result of this meeting a formal Treaty of Friendship and Bon
Voisinage, with an arbitration protocol and an extradition agreement,
was concluded and signed (1931). The treaty provided particularly
for measures to prevent raiding from either country, whether on a
large or a small scale, and likewise established the right of the tribes
of either country to complete freedom of movement in the territory
of the other for grazing or for purchase of provisions. To control
these matters a permanent Frontier Commission was set up. Since
1931 friendly relations have generally persisted between the two
countries and no fresh outbursts of heavy raiding have taken place.
In 1936 the two states formed a closer connexion by concluding
a Treaty of Arab Brotherhood and Alliance which aimed at the diplo
matic and military collaboration of the two countries for the preven
tion of aggression and the pursuit of common interests and also for
scientific and educational co-operation. This treaty, together with
other agreements with the Gulf states, Yemen, and Egypt, the richest
of the Arab states, marked a complete change in the relation of the
hitherto aggressive Wahhabi power to its neighbours, and fore
shadowed the negotiations for an Arab federation which have been
pursued in the Middle East since 1942. The attempt of Nuri as Said,
Premier of Iraq, to take the lead in these negotiations (1942-1943)
has, however, given some offence to Ibn Saud, who believes that the
Iraqi aim is to renew the power of the humbled Hashimite family
by the union of the Syrian and Mesopotamian states under a Hashi
mite prince.
Syria and Palestine
Formal relations with these countries are mainly concerned with
the regulation of beduin migrations and the delimitation of frontiers
in the Jazira and the Syrian desert, which is nominally divided
between four countries but is a geographical unit for the nomads.
Trouble is caused by the division of the Shammar and Anaiza con
federations between Syria and Iraq into tribes which are often