Evening star., 1924-10-08
IN TODAY'S SPOTLIGHT
BY PAUL Y. COLLINS.

Arabia and approached King Hussein
with plan to appeal to all tribes to
lay aside their feuds and, taking ad-
vantage of the general war unite
against their Turkish oppressors. He
Travelled from tribe TO tribe. in the
disguise of an Arab. and his knowl-
edge of their many dialects. together
with his persuasive eloQuence, sue
ceeded beyond all expectations. Only
one tribe remained uhreconciled.
With Prince Feisel son of King HuS-
sein. as the nominal head of the army
of 100000 united tribesmen Qater al
lied with Gen. Allenhys army they
drove the Turks from Mecca To
Damascus and Aleppo.
Lawrence'S policy was TO give full
est possible credit to Ara bian lead
ers. although he was the actual lead
er of the tribesmen. He became rec
oEnized throughout Arabia as Shereef
(Prince) of Mecca, and among Brit
ish officers as the "uncrowned King
of Arabia" He refused a commission
as general, as he believed it would
weaken his influence on his fellow of
ficers if he were promoted above them
with high British rank He also de
clined the Victoria Cross, in order To
prevent jealousy.
The Wahabis (who refused 10 join
with the other tribes against the
Turks) are now fighting Hedjaz. King
Hussein fearing that they would
lombard the holy City of Mecca, has
preferred to ahdicate the throne 10
his son, in order to preserve tho
sacred places from destruction. How
his successor, Emil Ali. will prevent
the bombardment is not clear, al
, though he is known to be mar Of
brilliant military record and NOR
modern and progressive than his
father. Since the World War he has
successfully fought the brigands be
tween Mecca and Jeddah--the "tomh
of Eve" younger brother Emir
Abdcllah, is King of Transjordania
which is part of the mandate terri
tory giveL to Great Britain by the
treaty of Versailles. Another brother
Feisel, is King. or Irak, of Mesopo-
tamia, also part of the British man
date. All three thrones have been
and remain subsidized by Great Brit
ain. for the British found it impossi-
BILE to rule the tribes without the
nominal recognition of these Arabian
Kings but there are official British
advisers, or residents" behind each
throne. The subsidy to the throne
Hedjaz is 100000 sterling, and
corresponding sums to the Irak and
Transjorda MIA thrones. A younger
prince, son of Hussein, is now en-
route to London, with a mission TO
appeal for protection of Hedjaz and
the other Kingdoms, and for greater
recognition of war pledges that He'd
JAZZ should be the head of an autono-
nous alliance OF Free Arabia-a ma
ton half as populous as France.
Hussein opposed the British de
mand that he should recognize Brit
ish sovereignty over Palestine, al
though he had expressed a readiness
to welcome Jews therein for the
building up of a Jewish homeland
under Moslem rule. This may explain
somewhat his forced abdication. The
new King, Ali, is said to have prom
ised to accede to the British regard
ing Palestine, in consideration of
support against the Wahabis.
There are several candidates for
the caliphate, including King Fuad OF
Egypt, supported by Great Britain;
the Sultan of Morocco, supported by
France. and the Sultan of Afghanis
ton, supported by Russia. There has
been some agitation in France for re
instating the deposed Turkish caliph,
Abdul Medjik, but it is not taken Sc
riously
Copyright, 1874. by Paul V. Collinsl