Reports of a serious situation developing in Arabia is given credence in official circles in Jerusalem, according to a Telegraphic report to the London “Daily Maji’s from its Jerusalem correspondent.
The correspondent confirms that Ibn Sand is marching against Skeilc Feisal El Dowish. The sudden death of Sir Gilbert Clayton has removed the restraining band. It is heared that Arabian feuds would have their repercussions in Transjordania and Palestine.
The correspondent of the “Daily Chronicle” reports that another great revolt has broken out in the Arabian Desert, where Ibn Saud is faced by the most serious threat to his power in all the thirty stormy years of his rule. Ibn Saud marched out with between twenty and thirty thousand picked fighting men to battle with hostile tribes who are believed to be of the same number. News of this clash of nearly sixty thousand warriers is eagerly awaited
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throughout the Arab world, the correspondent declares.
This rising is a sequel to the trouble in 1927 when the Iraq government established a military force on the from-tier to control Arab raiders, a measure resented by some tribes and by Ibn Saud himself who, however, adopted diplomatic measures to urge his objections. The negotiations did not achieve his object. Ibn Saud’s northern tribes therefore demanded that he should lead them in battle against Iraq, but Ibn Saud refused. Therefore, the powerful Mytair confederation of tribes rose in rebellion against him, led by Feisal El Dowish. They were immediately joined by the Ajman confederation under Ibn Hithlain, powerful desert chieftain, who, it is said, can muster nearly 15,000 fanatical Wahabi warriers and who has always been rather an unpleasant thorn in Ibn Saud’s side.
Desultory fighting between the overlord and the rebels continued for a while until April 1929 when Ibn Saud triumphed at the great battle of Sibilla, north of Riadth. The battle ended the rebellion for a time, but no real peace resulted.
During the past few weeks the rebellious Mutair and Ajman chieftains have again been on the warpath, but two factors now make Ibn Saud’s position more serious than ever before, first, the spread of the revolt, reported on excellent authority, to the Ateiba tribes who form anther extremely powerful confederation under the leadership of Sultan Ibn Bijad. The importance of this extension of the rising can be judged from the fact that this Sultan’s territory embraces all the country between Riadh, which is Ibn Saud’s capital, and Hedjaz, his subject kingdom on the Red Sea, the correspondent writes.
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.
