File 1707/1924 ‘Arabia:- Jeddah Situation Reports. (1924-1930)’ [‎8r] (20/898)

3
4. General.
rei ? arked tc l increase Nejdi influence in the Heiaz. The
U ffi -^i tlle rJ 6 ^! kead(ir ® ss has now been imposed by Government order on Heiaz
officials On the other hand there has been no further attempt of late to enforce
s nc Wahabi principles If anything the tendency to compromise has been a
little more in the ascendent. On his return after several months’ absence,
bir A. Kyan found the gramophone as much a feature of life as before and
choral music, bearing a singular resemblance to Christian hymn tunes, raged
relentlessly in the school close to the Legation House, apparently in preparation
of the celebration of the King s Accession Day on the 8th January. Mecca also
has its school choirs.
(&) No news of interest was received in December in connexion with the
tribes in the interior.
5. Transjordan Used in three contexts: the geographical region to the east of the River Jordan (literally ‘across the River Jordan’); a British protectorate (1921-46); an independent political entity (1946-49) now known as Jordan . Frontier Questions.
(a) The centre of interest as regards the MacDonnell investigation (see
section 10 (a) of previous report) had shifted to London by the beginning of
December. Ihe Hejaz-Nejd Minister there attempted, in conversations with
Mr. MacDonnell and at the Foreign Oflice, to reinforce the position previously
taken up by his Government in regard to various matters, notably these:
(a) Their refusal to recognise the validity of any proceedings before
Mr.MacDonnell in the case of raids committed by Ibn Mashhur; and (b) their
refusal to regard raids into Nejd by the Beni Atiya tribe, certain of whose leaders
had moved back to Nejd, as being for that reason excluded from the scope of the
investigation, unless an undertaking were given that the persons responsible for
the raids would be denied readmission to Transjordan Used in three contexts: the geographical region to the east of the River Jordan (literally ‘across the River Jordan’); a British protectorate (1921-46); an independent political entity (1946-49) now known as Jordan . In the latter case the
Hejaz Government have persistently tried to obtain more than they originally
asked for. Not only have they wished, not unreasonably, that the proposed
undertaking should be defined to provide for expulsion from Transjordan Used in three contexts: the geographical region to the east of the River Jordan (literally ‘across the River Jordan’); a British protectorate (1921-46); an independent political entity (1946-49) now known as Jordan , if
measures taken to prevent re-entry should fail, but they have sought to make the
undertaking applicable to groups of unnamed members of the Beni Atiya. These
demands were reaffirmed in a note from the Minister for Foreign Affairs to His
Majesty’s Legation in Jedda, dated the 24th December, and the matter was still
under consideration at the end of December.
(b) During the month the Hejaz-Nejd Government only protested against
one raid, alleged to have been made by Transjordan Used in three contexts: the geographical region to the east of the River Jordan (literally ‘across the River Jordan’); a British protectorate (1921-46); an independent political entity (1946-49) now known as Jordan subjects on the 2nd December
and involving the loot of seventy camels. There was no counter-protest by the
Transjordan Used in three contexts: the geographical region to the east of the River Jordan (literally ‘across the River Jordan’); a British protectorate (1921-46); an independent political entity (1946-49) now known as Jordan Government against any raid from the Hejaz-Nejd.
(c) The month passed without any further reply having been returned by
the Hejaz-Nejd Government to the comprehensive British memorandum on the
present and future of the frontier situation, which His Majesty’s Charg6
d’Affaires forwarded on the 23rd October (section 10 (b) of the previous report).
When replying on the 29th November to a note from Mr. Hope Gill, asking that
measures should be taken to forestall a raid into Transjordan Used in three contexts: the geographical region to the east of the River Jordan (literally ‘across the River Jordan’); a British protectorate (1921-46); an independent political entity (1946-49) now known as Jordan which His
Majesty’s High Commissioner believed to be impending, the Acting Minister
for Foreign Affairs professed inability to identify the section of the Aniza tribe
believed to be implicated, and went on to suggest openly that raids from Nejd
were legitimate retaliation, and that his Government could not definitely condemn
them until raids from Transjordan Used in three contexts: the geographical region to the east of the River Jordan (literally ‘across the River Jordan’); a British protectorate (1921-46); an independent political entity (1946-49) now known as Jordan had been completely stopped. Mr. Hope Gill
took exception to this attitude in a reasoned note dated the 2nd December. His
Majesty’s Government decided to leave it to Sir A. Ryan, who had been fully
acquainted with their views at home, to attempt to deal orally with the questions
raised in this unsatisfactory correspondence, with special reference to the some
what inconsequent interim reply made by the Hejaz-Nejd Government in
November to His Majesty’s Government’s memorandum (see section 10 (c) of the
last report). Instructions to this effect were telegraphed to Jedda on the
15th December, but Sir A. Ryan had no onportunity up to the end of December
of takin? the question up with the Heiaz Government.
(d) It was reported in December that Sheikh Abdul Aziz Ibn Zaid, formerly
Assistant Governor of Jedda, who acted as Hejaz Agent during the MacDonnell
investigation, had been appointed Governor of Jauf.
6. Iraq.
(a) No development in connexion with the oronosed Bon-Voisinaae Agree
ment came to He notice of the l egation from Hejaz sources during December.
The question has, however, come to life again at the Bagdad end. On the
[34 b—1 ] b 2