Abstract
Despite its attempts to improve the image of Britain’s presence in the Persian Gulf, from March 1964 onwards the British Government was faced with a significant increase in Egyptian and Iraqi propaganda directed against it.1 Radio stations such as Egypt’s Sawt al-‘Arab (‘Voice of the Arabs’), and the Iraqi ‘Bahgdad Home Service’ and ‘Voice of Iraq’, attacked Britain’s relationship with the protected states, and accused the British Government of tolerating and encouraging large-scale Iranian immigration in the Gulf. This ‘Anglo-Iranian conspiracy’ was aimed at strengthening Britain’s imperialist presence in the area and crushing the struggle of the Gulf Arabs for liberation:
We have concluded from our previous talks that the Arab liberation struggle in the Gulf is facing a conspiracy which it is the duty of every Arab to know. […] Britain has concluded alliances with a number of new colonialist powers and large economic monopolies, in particular the great oil monopolies. She has also made an alliance with Iran. The object of all this is to confront the Arab demand for freedom, independence and unity in the Arab Gulf region.2
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Notes
The Trucial States Council, which had been founded following a British initiative in 1952, was a regular meeting of all seven rulers of the Trucial States, chaired by the political agent in Dubai. Even though it was merely a consultative body with no executive powers, the rulers could issue joint decisions in the form of resolutions. See Fatma Al-Sayegh, ‘International Relations and the Formation of the UAE’, Journal of Social Affairs, Vol. 21, No. 84, Winter 2004, pp. 43–60
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© 2013 Helene von Bismarck
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von Bismarck, H. (2013). Excluding the Arab League: The Development Policy. In: British Policy in the Persian Gulf, 1961–1968. Britain and the World. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137326720_6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137326720_6
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London
Print ISBN: 978-1-349-45992-6
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