File 87/1926 Pt 2 'Arabia: Bin Saud: Relations with H.M.G. Revision of Treaty.' [‎163r] (13/840)

r«?ut«d from history, m will bs ehuwc bolow.
In ths year 1886 the SsnJaJt Sf jte&n (whloh Inolnded
wm avtmh*& from tk* Ottoman rilajwt of &yrl* aoA
tranofor:*d to tho Ottoman rllajat of tho K«Ja** In 18^4
the I wnjmk of l&aan wa« roetoro* to tko Til ytt of iSyriiu By
tlilss ohan^t tko nerth-oaat boundary af tho rllayot of liojaa
waa imde to ran from * point on th» lalf of Akahn two allss
south of iituba town to a point on tho pllgrin rou6 two alloo
south of iiisan, in othor words both Ainbs and m*B woro
adnaioiatriitiTOly onolnasd from tho iiejas.
'fhe above boundary hold good uitil Ivld, when far
military reasons tho forks found it expedient to puah tho
northern boundary Of tho Uojas still further south to ths
lino aolb - £1 Ala, It is intareating to not# tha roaaon
which led tho Ottoman authorities to ohooso this line of
doaaroation. fho rilayot of the HeJar was a purely Ottoman
adjainlatrutlre Bub-divieloH of torrltoryj but there existed
at tho saiM time another territorial oonoopticn of tho Hojas,
eanotioned and accepted hy long raligloue tradition, fhlo
Other Bsjas wu« the Holy hand of Islam, the northern confines
Of whioh ware recognised not only by Arabs and Turks, lint by
the whole world of Islam. lalmal# practice held that this
boundary ran tram the Bed iea oeaat near vejh irOand to the
town of kl Ala on the Hejas railway. 1 Ala waa, indead,
icown to koalema aa the '’Berthdrn Oataway’ of the holy land,
si-d Christ lane were allowed to travel southward along tha
He jar railway and pilgrim rood as far aa that point, but not
beyond it. dhen, therefore, the Ottoman Oovernsmnt in 1*1S
pushed tha oonflnes Of the vilayet of Syria aa far aouth aa
the line bejh - tl Ala, they deliberately refrained rare
ensroaehing/