Persian Gulf: Two Down for Nasser

In the sweltering reaches of the petroleous Persian Gulf, where Britain maintains some of the last outposts of Empire, Egypt’s Gamal Abdel Nasser has waged a long, hot campaign of intrigue and propaganda to get the “imperialists” out—and himself in. Last week the British inflicted two significant defeats on their foe.

The first setback for Nasser came in Bahrein, a tiny cluster of Persian Gulf islands where Sheik Isa bin Sulman al Khalifa unconditionally reaffirmed all existing agreements under which Whitehall uses his prosperous kingdom as a military and diplomatic pied-a-terre. Seemingly, Nasser-style socialism should have little appeal for Bahreinis, who boast the highest literacy rate in the Arab world, ten free, modern hospitals, electricity in 95% of their homes. For all his benevolence, however, the plump, diminutive Sheik is an unabashed autocrat who prefers to rule his 182,000 subjects exactly as his ancestors have since 1783, when they drove out the Persians.

Shark Food. Consequently, many Bahreinis listen approvingly to broadcasts from Cairo and Baghdad denouncing Sheik Isa as a feudalist and a British stooge. Their chief source of resentment is the Sheik’s 800-man British-officered police force. When oil workers went on strike last March, the Sheik’s tough cops cracked down hard, killing twelve and wounding 50, repressed Nasser-inspired student riots last month with equal severity. Opponents of Sheik Isa often end up in a mystery-shrouded prison on desolate Jidah Island. Over Baghdad radio last week, a political prisoner who had recently escaped from the island claimed that “thousands rot there in chains, and are thrown to the sharks when they grow weak.”

Characteristically, Bahrein’s ruler did not bother to deny the charges. “I do all I can for my people,” said the Sheik, “and I am aware of the need for progress. But we will not be stampeded.” As for the Arab line that Isa allows Britain to use his territory “for dirty intrigues,” the Sheik shrugged: “We know who our friends are. We intend to continue our close friendship with Britain.” As it happens, the British are under heavy pressure to give up their naval base at Aden when the Federation of South Arabia gains its independence in 1968; the logical site for it would then be Bahrein. Last week, after a visit from Britain’s Defense Minister Denis Healey, Sheik Isa let it be known that he would gladly cooperate in such a move.

Royal Scandal. Nasser was dealt an even sharper blow in the Trucial States,* which lie on the Gulf side of the horn of Arabia. There, in the tiny, impoverished sheikdom of Sharja, where Britain has an R.A.F. base, Sheik Sakr bin Sultan al-Kasimi has long been the Gulf’s only pro-Nasser ruler. When the Egyptian-dominated Arab League proposed a big aid program for the seven Trucial States last year, six of them turned it down at British nudging. Sheik Sakr, 39, on the other hand, joyfully accepted the offer and invited an Arab aid mission to visit Sharja. The British countered by closing all airports in the Trucial States for “urgent repairs,” dispatched frigates to cruise offshore and head off unwelcome visitors.

At the same time, the Sharja royal family was assembled by the British and reportedly shown photographs of the Sheik engaging in what were described as “indecent acts.” In addition, 35 cases of Scotch whisky were conveniently found in his palace cellar, thus proving him a bad Moslem as well as an indiscreet amorist. The royal family got the message. Denouncing his “flagrant misbehavior,” it deposed Sakr, installing his pro-British cousin, Khaled bin Hamad al-Kasimi, 35, in his place. The unhappy Sakr, flown into exile by the R.A.F., was greeted in Cairo as a hero of the Arab cause.

-So called from the still-valid 1853 treaty by which the seven sheikdoms agreed to observe a permanent truce among themselves, empowered Britain to enforce it.