ABSTRACT
As Prime Minister from December 1938 to March 1940, and as Foreign Minister from then until January 1941, Nuri al-Sa'id pursued a policy in which the Palestine question was of great significance. By contributing to a solution of the Palestine question, Nuri hoped not only to defuse a time bomb in Anglo-Iraqi relations, but to create a political lever to be applied to the creation of an Arab Federation in the Fertile Crescent. Ibn Sa'ud perceived the ambitions of Hashimite Iraq and Transjordan in Syria and Palestine as a threat to the future of his state and dynasty. The invitations to the Arab states to participate in it were tantamount to official British recognition that they were parties to the Palestine conflict. Nuri's failure led him to a complex political move intended to make the opponents of his pro-British policy face realities by forcing them to take overall responsibility for Iraqi policy.
