مجموعة ٦/ ٩ "تقارير جدة يناير ١٩٣١ -" [و‎‎٢‎٠‎٧] (٨٠٢/٤١٤)

[156 s—1] B 2
3
with a view to his being surrendered. Next day, the 12th June, the Imam’s envoy,
Abdullah-al-Wazir, left Jedda by sea, accompanied by the mission of Arab
mediators, reduced in number by the earlier departure of Muhammad Ali Pasha
Allouba for Egypt. A courier carrying Ibn Saud's ratification of the peace treaty
y** left in the same ship. It arrived at Hodeida late on the 14th June, and the
mediators went to Sana for a few days on the 16th. On the 19th June it became
known that the Imam had accepted the treaty and had signed his instrument of
ratification. He would appear to have completed also the arrangements for the
surrender of Abdul Wahhab-al-Idrisi about that time, though the date for the
actual handing over has not yet been announced. Finally, on the 22nd June
the ratifications of the peace treaty were exchanged at Hodeida between the
Amir Feisal and Abdullah-al-Wazir.
129. After this everything proceeded smoothly up to the end of the month.
Various outlying places were formally redelivered to the Yemenis, and news of
the handing over of Hodeida itself was expected at any moment. Several parties
of Saudis left by land for the north, and some by sea, though a difficulty over
ships made it impossible to ship more than a small portion of the 1,500 troops
who were to be embarked on the 29th June. The Saudi Government were looking
for transport for much larger numbers, and were understood on the 30th June to
have chartered an Indian pilgrim ship to collect the troops from Hodeida. The
Amir Feisal was expected to leave on the 1st July.
130. During all this time there has been practically no news of the heir
apparent. He would appear to have attacked the Yemenis at Fara towards the
end of May, when Ibn Saud was threatening to resume hostilities, but to have
been called off. Since then he has been lost to sight and almost to memory.
131. The Treaty of Taif, to give it its official name, proves to have been
signed on the 20th May. It is a lengthy document in twenty-three articles, with
a protocol on arbitration and six letters annexed. The most important article of
the treaty defines the frontier, on the double principle of describing the general
trend of the boundary by directions and place names and indicating separately
the allocation of various places and tribes. It starts from the sea a short way
north of Medi, and gives to Ibn Saud the mountain area which has figured so
much in recent events, as well as Najran. Its value is not so much that it adds
to his territory as that it confirms his legal title, at any rate for twenty lunar
years, the duration of the treaty, to what he has claimed most insistently. The
treaty stresses the spirit of Islamic and Arab brotherhood in which it has been
concluded between two countries forming “ one nation,” but there is nothing in
it to support the view that it amounts to a practical alliance, much less to the
establishment of a veiled Saudi protectorate over the Yemen. It gives the Imam,
for the first time in Saudi official language, the title of His Majesty the King of
the Yemen, and has everv outward mark of being an agreement made on equal
terms. There is no provision for an indemnity, and no evidence to support the
suggestion made in some quarters that Ibn Saud has got one under some separate
arrangement.
132. Hasan and Abdul-Aziz-al-Idrisi reached Mecca on the 25th June, and
were to be followed by Abdul-Wahhab. All three will probably be interned at
Riyadh, but they are likely to be quite well treated, the King having confirmed
his assurances in this respect in published replies to their telegrams of repentant
submission.
133. The question of Ibn Saud's eastern frontier, which started as one
affecting Qatar, has become so definitely a major Anglo-Saudi question that it is
better dealt with in chapter III below.
134. There is nothing important to record in connexion with Ibn Sand’s
other frontiers, except that on the 2nd June Fuad Bey Hamza, returning a belated
reply to Mr. Calvert’s letter of the 18th November (paragraph 251 of the report
for November) about Hazim, enquired, innocent-like, whether Sir Andrew Ryan
would supply him with any information regarding the recent survey work at that
place.
III .—Relations with Powers outside A rabia.
135. On the 15th June the Fegation addressed a short note to the Acting
Minister for Foreign Affairs reaffirming bluntly, under instructions, the view of
His Majesty’s Government that the legal position in regard to Ibn Saud's eastern