How far the reports regarding the attitude of King Ibn Sand of Arabia are to be accepted as correct, it is difficult to say. The Saudi monarch gave good support to the British authorities at the time of the appointment of the Peel Commission. His is a difficult task for the mullah when stirred by some sense of religious grievance is not amenable to reasoned argument and obviously underground influences have been at work to spread the impression that the Partition proposals are unfavourable to Islam, despite the impartiality of the Commission's report and the undoubted authority of its members. It is significant that King Tbn Sand is represented as having refrained from publishing the mullahs' formal protest and hopes by some means to come to an amicable agreement. The delicacy of the situation is partly found in the effect of the proposals on Jerusalem which has the unenviable distinction of being a sacred city for no less than three major religions—Jewish, Christian and Mahomedan. As the Protector of Islam's holy places—his kingdom now embraces the Hedjaz—King Ibn Sand naturally is looked upon by the Mullahs as a champion in a time of religious anxiety. The problem is how to distinguish between genuine grievances and those factitious, but none-the-less formidable, allegations of injustice which have their real root in the activities of mer-canary agitators.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.