The Relations between Bedouin Tribes Surrounding Aqaba in Light of the Political and Administrative Transformations in the Area (1914-1931)

Abstract

This study addresses the effect of the political and administrative transformations between Bedouin tribes in the areas surrounding Aqaba. Three Arab countries were the succession management of Aqaba during the first quarter of the twentieth century. Egypt was the first Arab country to be in charge of Aqaba until 1906; thereafter the management of Aqaba moved to the State of the Ottoman "Hejaz" until the declaration of the Arab Revolution in Hejaz in 1916, and the establishment of the Hashemite Kingdom of Hejaz. Then, Aqaba became part of this kingdom after liberating it from the Ottoman's occupation in July 1917. In exceptional circumstances while the Britain’s role was obvious, Aqaba was attached to the Emirate of East Jordan in June 1925. This study focuses on the nature of tribal relations in Aqaba and the surrounding areas, as they were sometimes tense and sometimes friendly. The study demonstrates how the political and administrative status of the region, especially in the wake of World War (I) played a role in influencing the nature of tribal relationships, which was through Britain's efforts to draw the borders between the Arab countries overlooking the Gulf of Aqaba in the Red Sea, so that the Bedouin tribes should adhere to these borders based on their administrative and political subordination. The relationships between the Bedouin tribes have been affected gradually by the political situations in the surrounding areas in Aqaba, but those relationships were not easy to control by the governments concerned in light of the situation those tribes were used to, and the difficulty of controlling them by using military force, especially if we take into account the rough geographical nature of the region. To resolve the disagreements that arose between those tribes, traditional tribal methods were used. The study was based on a variety of credible and reliable documents: British and Arabic, especially the non-published Arabic documents found in the Egyptian Library, and documents and the files of the Egyptian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. A group of newspapers, Arabic resources, and foreign resources were used, particularly the British documents contemporary to the time of the study, which are documented in the footnotes.