Early extension of the four-power Saadabad pact (Iraq, Turkey and Afghanistan) to include Egypt and Saudi Arabia will deal a disillusioning blow to Reich penetration hopes in the Near East, it was said here tonight in well-informed Arab quarters.
The same quarters said King Ibn Saud of Saudi Arabia may be “flirting” with Berlin as part of a plan to force Britain to make further concessions in favor of the Palestine Arabs. When the final choice comes, they said, however, he plans to throw in his lot with other Arab countries in a strongly reinforced coalition built around the Saadabad pact.
While declining to offer a formal denial, Arab quarters here were skeptical of reports from Cairo that Ibn Saud was preparing to give Germany an oil concession in his country. Saudi Arabia only recently rejected a German bid in that direction and there was no reason to believe its Government had since changed its decision, they said.
The same sources denied that the current visit of Kjalid Al Hud to Germany was in any way connected with a possible oil concession. Describing him as a businessman, they said he did not represent the Saudi Arabian Government and was in Berlin to handle “personal” affairs.
Negotiations for Saudi Arabia’s adherence to the Saadabad pact are proceeding slowly but surely at Baghdad, Arab circles said. A special mission of Egyptian Bedouins are meanwhile striving to reconcile the two sects of Iraqian Moslems hostile to Ankara’s participation.
The recent marriage of Princess Fawzia of Egypt to Crown Prince Mohammed Reza Pahlavi of Iran has done much to appease this traditional enmity. Hopes are consequently high in Arab quarters that complete agreement will soon be reached permitting a general pact of non-aggression and consultation among all Arab countries.
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.
