The Cup Dashed from the Lips, 1938–45

Abstract

When Ibn Saud and his sons received the British royal party in March 1938 the visit did not take place in a vacuum. The invitation was not issued lightly and the British Government in responding to it positively wished to demonstrate its concern for the need to maintain excellent relations with Ibn Saud.

The United States is a great country but I have learned that it cannot send anything to Saudi Arabia without the consent of the King of England.

Ibn Saud to Floyd Oligher, quoted in B. Rubin, The Great Powers in the Middle East 1941–7, p. 44

The English keep enjoining the Arabs to be united. I wonder what is behind this.

Ibn Saud, quoted in C. Leatherdale, Britain and Saudi Arabia 1925–39, p. 340

Give them and their descendants lands and homes of the Germans who had oppressed them.

Ibn Saud to President Roosevelt, February 1945, on resettling survivors of the Holocaust, quoted in W. A. Eddy, F.D.R. meets Ibn Saud, p. 34