Summary
King of Saudi Arabia whom Niqula Khoury, as a member of the Executive Committee of the Second Arab Orthodox Conference, had already addressed in Cairo with a declaration that Palestine’s Muslims and Christians placed their sacred sanctuaries under his custody (‘The House of the Priest’: A Palestinian Life (1885-1954), PDF p.65), and whom Khoury’s Memoirs §48 presents receiving his delegation at Al-Zafaran Palace, Cairo, on 16th January 1946 (PDF p.160-164).
Details
- Khoury, ‘Isa Bandak and Yaqub Joumai’an brought him a shell engraving of Al-Aqsa Mosque and the Church of the Resurrection between a palm tree, two crossed swords and the Saudi flag; the King sent his own car for them, seated Khoury on his right, and, on Khoury’s explanation that the gift meant Palestine’s Muslims and Christians placed their sanctuaries under his protection and trusted them to his sharp sword, replied: “I am not the King of Arabs, neither the father of the Arabs nor the master of Arabs, but I am the brother of Arabs and the servant of Arabs” (PDF p.161-162).
- He pledged himself, his children and all he had as “a ransom to Palestine and its people”, saying “Palestine is Arab and will remain Arab for its Arab people, God willing”, kept the delegation three quarters of an hour in a “family gathering”, and, when Khoury asked him to toil for the Mufti’s return — the country “without him is like a body without a soul” — answered that every request of Palestine’s people would be met (PDF p.162-163).
- A member of his entourage, Khoury believes his foreign minister, wrote to the Mufti in Paris that none was able to move Ibn Saud to tears except “this honourable elder, Father Niqula” (PDF p.165).
- The visit enraged King Abdullah, his family foe, who denounced the delegation for declaring Ibn Saud guardian of the Christian and Muslim sanctuaries, accepted Bandaq’s and Joumai’an’s repentance blaming Khoury alone, and swore vengeance on Khoury (PDF p.166; see also Papastathis’s reading, PDF p.65-66).
Related pages
‘The House of the Priest’: A Palestinian Life (1885-1954), Niqula Khoury, Amir Abdullah, ‘Isa Bandak, Amin al-Hussaini