Evening star., 1949-03-20
Aqoba's Strateqic Value an Old Story
Tender Spot in Effort
to Establish Peace
in Middle East
By N. Mortin Ekserdjion


tender spot in efforts to maintain,
or to re.establish. peace in the
Middle East.
It is the head of the Gulf OF
Aqaba. point of junction today
of the frontiers of four jealously
nationalistic Middle East States
Egypt, Israel, TRANSFORMING and
Saudi Arabia. One of these
states, Israel, has troops today at
Umm Resh Resh, a port site. while
a few miles away at the existing
port of Aqaba is an alerted gar
rison of British troops. bound by
treaty to alliance with Trans
Jordania.
Aqaba's Early History
The little fishing village OF
Aqaba first came into contact with
modern civilization when Anglo
French naval bombardment re-
duced most of it to rubble in the
summer of 1917. Shortly after.
on the 9Th of July, it fell to Law
renee and his Arab Irregulars as
they thrust down toward it from
their victory at Ain Abu el Lasan.
The strategic significance of Aqaba
was then emphasized by the fact
that its capture. by shortening
lines of communication
to the sea, opened up the Levant
to the Allied forces.
In 1917 British troops came to
Aqaba for the first time to develop
a temporary military base from
which the Arabs under Lawrence
and Feisal could operate east OF
the Jordan as Allenby's right flank.
Vessels steamed up the Gulf OF
Aqaba there came the armored
cars Egyptian laborers and
thousands of troops ct. E.
Seven Pillars OF Wis
dom," chapter LX).
The British, who had left it 20
years before, came to Aqaba for
the second time, in 1941. There
was then little obvious trace OF
their previous visit. except that
the flag flying over the little Arab
Legion Fort was the Hashimite
flag of Trans-Jordania. and neither
the star and crescent of Turkey
nor the flag of Saudi Arabia.
Through most of the interwar
period Trans-Jordania' S southeast
ern frontier was the scene OF
skirmishes and raids which some
times developed to the scale OF
quite serious affrays because Ibn
Saud, after ousting Abdulla' s
father. King Hussein. from the
Hejaz, claimed Southern Trans
Jordania, including Aqaba and
Ma'an, for himself. In fact. rela-
tions between the two countries
unfriendly until in 1948
the two kings tremendously ex-
changed gifts and proclaimed a
new friendship.
Has an African Air
It was again the importance OF
Aqaba as a gateway to the sea that
brought the British there in 1941.
The Luftwaffe was by then estab-
lished in the Aegean and in the
Western Desert of Egypt. They
were pounding Suez and the canal
mercilessly in nightly raids. New
ports, lower down the Red Sea,
had to be developed as alternatives
to Suez. On the eastern side OF
the Red Sea Aqaba was the only
possible place.
AS the British saw it in 1941,
it's fringe of tall date palms gave
Aqaba an African air. At close
quarters, however, it was typical
Arab village of crowded mud brick
houses devoid of any attempt at
decoration. The dust squirting at
their feet seemed to those British
soldiers to be the only sign of
life. In the center of the village
by a little stone jetty was the
Arab Legion Fort, and behind 1t
lay the ruins of its Turkish pred
ecessor. Even the little Arab
urchins were listless and so un-
sophisticated that they did not
greet military uniforms with
cries Of "backsheesh." It was
not surprising that in the airless,
glaring heat of a summers day
only the British were astir.
Their activity bore fruit and
soon there was a port with good
lighter jetties, big warehouses, a
light railway, utilities dncluding
precious water. accommodation
and all the hundred and one re-
quirements for the expeditions
handling of 100000 tons OF
military stores daily.
Rehearsal for Invasion
A port alone Is not enough
without adequate inland COM
munications. Accordingly, the
meter-gauge Hejaz railway was
extended to the edge OF Naqb el
Ashtar. At the top Of the Naqb
the high plateau of Ma'an comes
to an abrupt end and there is
a sheer drop of some 5000 feet
to the Plain of Guerra. The rail-
way could not be taken down this