New issue of Great Arab Revolt’s mouthpiece reprinted

AMMAN — The Jordan Times distributes on Monday the 23rd issue of Al Qibla newspaper, the mouthpiece of the Great Arab Revolt.

The four-page newspaper dedicates its editorial, undersigned by Chief Editor Fuad Al Khatib, to the allegiance paid in the previous month to King Hussein Bin Ali, who declared Hijaz a Kingdom after he launched the revolt in June 1916.

The paper says that the Arabs were “extremely happy” that they had a new entity after a long time of foreign rule of Arab lands.

The edition, published in early November 1916, also includes an article republished from the Egypt-based Muqattam newspaper, in which the paper quoted a source saying that Russia came to the understanding that the revolt against the Turks was legitimate and that the Arabs had no other choice. Therefore, Russian leaders issued orders to their soldiers to discriminate between Arab and Turkish soldiers when they are captivated in the war, the paper said.

Al Qibla also covers in this issue the news of the revolution and details of the daily life in Hijaz, including a gesture by King Hussein to extend loans worth 25,000 pounds to bail out stumbling businessmen in his young kingdom. 

The paper, which stopped printing in 1924, includes in the issue at-a-glance news of other local, regional and international developments.

The distribution of Al Qibla by The Jordan Times and other local dailies is part of celebrations of the centennial of the Great Arab Revolt.