ABSTRACT
Muhammad Sadr's newly formed government faced a difficult task in calming down the population of Baghdad and finding at least partial solutions to several urgent domestic issues: continuing unrest, food shortages and their deleterious effects on public order, and a financial crisis which affected the functioning of the administration. The January 1948 riots caused great panic in the palace. A new wave of severe riots began on 23 March and worsened over subsequent weeks, following the news of a treaty between Britain and Transjordan. The British strongly urged the Regent 'Abd al-Ilah to persuade the government to take stringent measures to restore order and to halt the anti-British demonstrations. Until the winter of 1948, Regent 'Abd al-Ilah had displayed no great interest in the Palestine question. In March-April 1948, however, a change took place in the Regent's attitude and he became the most active Iraqi politician with regard to Palestine.
