Notes on the Proposal to create a Buffer State in the Wadi Sirhan between Trans-Jordania and Nejd. Rivál Claims to the Wadi Sirhan. The long struggle in the past between the Ruweilah and Shammar tribes for the possession of Jauf and the Wadi Sirhan has left both sides with equally good claims to the district. Nuri Shalaan, the present paramount chief of the Ruweilah, occupied Jauf in 1910, but was ejected in 1920 by Ibn Saud, who had meanwhile conquered the Shammar and brought them under his authority. Nuri Shalaan himself now resides in Syria but his agents represent him in Kaf and the surrounding district and collect taxes on his behalf. He has acknowledged the Amir Abdullah's authority, but at the same time is reported to have acknowledged himself as a subject of Ibn Saud. As a result Abdullah claims the Wadi Sirhan for Trans Jordania, while Ibn Saud claims it for Nejd both on behalf of the Shammar and also by right of conquest, while if the above report is correct he could also put forward the plea of recognition by Nuri Shalaan as a third claim. The economical and political importance of the Wadi Sirhan. The Wadi Sirhan is chiefly important as the corridor between Central Arabia and Palestine, Syria and the Mediterranean to the North-West. Large numbers of caravans to and from Nejd travel over this route. Nejd is a great inland state with no seaport of its own and very few good communications to the sea, or to neighbouring countries. Merchandise entering or leaving Nejd in any direction is liable to the taxation of the one or more small neighbouring states through which it has to pass before reaching its destination. Ibn
