FUTURE OF MEDINA.

Hawera Star, Volume XLV, 25 August 1925, Page 8

FUTURE OF MEDINA.

EX-KING HUSSEIN’S PLEA. APPEAL TO GREAT BRITAIN. LONDON, Aug. S. The latest notable seeking publicity in the columns of the Times in order to appeal to the world, is Hussein, exKing of Hedjaz, who, in- a letter, protests against the occupation of Akaba as being contrary ip Britain’s promise to the. Arabs. The result of this, he says, has been the interruption of communication,witli Medina, which will fall into the hands of the Wahabis and Bedouins, who. will ruin it as they mined Mecca. ..“Remember us in our misfortunes,” pleads Hussein. “Knowing the nobility of the people of Britain, I am sure they will never permit our enemy to run Medina* which belongs to the Arabs and Moslems.” The claim of Hussein, King of the Hedjaz, to the oasis of Khurmn- -led to a .conflict, of far-reaching consequences, fbn snucii Sultan of Nejd, as leader ol the Wahabis, began a . war in 1919. In August, 1922, and August, 1924, Wahabi columns attacked villages.in. Transjordan, but were repelled by the Royal Air Force. Ibn Sand bad occupied the whole of the Desert of Arabia at the beginning of 1924. and last September bis force captured Taif. the summer capital of the Hedjaz. After a defeat at Hadda, King Hussein abdicated. His successor, Ah. moved the -seat of government to Jedda, and in October the Wahabis occupied Mecca. Nejd, where Thu Sand rules in patriarchal style, is the dominant State in Arabia.