Major-General Sir Foster Newland of the Egyptian Expeditionary Force raises the question of British interests in Arabia in connection with the Wahabi invasion of the Hedjaz.
An agreement, he writes, has already been signed between Ibn Saud and Nouri Shahlam, the chief of the Roda tribes, in which, I have received information from a trustworthy source, there is an article that Nouri Shahlam and his tribes will always do their best to prevent the English from constructing a railroad from Transjordania to Mesopotamia. This gives some idea of their fanaticism and hatred to all modern enterprise and civilization and they are specially inimical to the English. It is contrary to our interests that Ibn Saud should gain the victory and establish a wide interest in the Arabic Peninsula.
King Hussein entered the war with us. General Newland continues, as our Ally when we were fighting the Turks, and by his action and loyalty in great difficulties saved what might have been a Jehad or Holy War. We have given every promise to King Hussein for the independence of his Arabic kingdom, none of which promises have we kept. Both justice and interest oblige us to fulfill our promises to King Hussein.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
