Coll 6/43 'Pan Arab Congress 1933. Attitude of H.M.G. to a Pan Arab Movement' [‎141v] (283/1144)

2
is small doubt that their ultimate objective is the inclusion of all the Arab peoples
in both Africa and Asia in a single Arab State. They appreciate, however, that
this can only be achieved gradually by stages, and their immediate aim is to help
Syria and Palestine to win independence as a necessary preliminary to their
union with Iraq. They see that neither Iraq nor Syria nor Palestine is strong
enough to dispense with the support of a Great Power, but they hope that when
united in a political and economic unit these countries will be able to stand alone
without the invidious support of a foreign alliance and the concomitant limitation
of their national sovereignty. Though they are ready to accept schemes for closer
cultural and economic co-operation between these countries as helpful
preliminaries, such expedients will not deter them from continuing to work for
the earliest possible implementation of measures which will enable Palestine. Syria
and Iraq to devote their united strength to the Arab cause. These pan-Arab
leaders enjoy considerable support among their contemporaries and generally
among the Sunni Arabs of the country. Most of them are now well disposed
towards ourselves and, in spite of many disappointments in the past, subscribe to
the principle that Arab aspirations can only be achieved through close and
friendly co-operation with Great Britain. The Shiahs, who number more than
half the Arab population of the country, are, however, showing little enthusiasm
for the federation idea. For some time they have been absorbed in the task of
winning political equality with the Sunnis, and they foresee that if Iraq is at all
closely federated with the other Arab States, they may again recede into the status
of a {kditically impotent religious minority. The half million Kurds are another
important element in the country, indifferent, and to a small extent opposed, to
pan-Arab ideals, and even among the Sunni Arabs a number of the younger men
interested in politics take the view that federation should be postponed until
many fundamental social and economic reforms have been carried out within
Iraq itself.
The leaders of the federation movement have not up to the present shown
much sign of being discouraged by the negative attitude of the elements mentioned
above, but the outcome of the recent pourparlers of Jamil Madfai and Tahsin al
Askari with political leaders in Syria and Hgypt has evidently proved disap
pointing to them. It is not yet clear what further steps they will now decide to
take, but they are not likely to let the matter drop for long. A branch of the
Arab Union Club founded by Fuad Abbaza Pasha An Ottoman title used after the names of certain provincial governors, high-ranking officials and military commanders. of Egypt has recently been
established in Bagdad, but it is as yet too early to judge whether it will play
an active part in Arab politics.
Iraq and Syria.
It has already been mentioned that Iraqis have for long taken an interest in
Syria’s struggle for independence. When British forces entered the country in
1941, there were hopes that Syria would rapidly be set on the path already trodden
by Iraq. Disappointment and irritation followed with the creation of the Taj
ud Din Government, and what appeared to be the reluctance of the Free French
authorities to restore the Constitution, and the opportunity of Mr. Wendell
Willkie’s visit to Bagdad in September 1942 was taken to submit to him a
memorandum signed by two ex-Prime Ministers and the President of the Senate,
urging the intervention of the United States to secure for Syria her
legitimate rights. A pointed reference to Syria’s struggle for independence was
also made in Nuri Pasha’s reply to the message which Mr. Churchill sent to him
on the occasion of Iraq’s declaration of war on the Axis. Political developments
since the death of the late President have, however, given considerable satisfac
tion to political circles in Iraq and there is now less anxiety about Syria’s future
prospects.
Palestine.
Iraq’s interest in Palestine has been even deeper than her interest in Syria
and, since the end of the last war, w henever there have been political disturbances
in Palestine, strong reactions in favour of the Palestine Arabs have been evident
in Iraq.
At the beginning of the present war the ex-Mufti of Jerusalem and a large
number of his most determined followers were in Iraq. Their anti-British
propaganda among the people and their intrigues with the remaining diplomatic
representatives of the Axis Powers were a serious menace to our position, and were
to a noteworthy degree the cause of Rashid Ali’s open defiance of his Majesty’s
Government in May 1941. Since the restoration of a constitutional and friendly