153 5. This particular question is perhaps the concern of the Foreign Office rather than the Ministry of Civil Aviation and for this reason I am copying this letter to the Political Resident in the PersianGulf. I feel however that theMinistry has an obligation to raise this matter with the Foreign office without delay whether or not the Iraqis are aware of the Near East activities at Sharjah. From an operational point of view, not being concerned with Near East payload, problems I see no reason why their Skymasters should not Bombay - Abadan - Lydda, thus avoiding possible trouble and violation of the Bermuda Agreement by calling at our airfields in the Gulf.8 It is clear from this communication that Mr Desmond Morton,** who was working for the Ministry of Civil Aviation, London, was the person in charge of the arrangements relating to transporting the Jewish emigres from Hong Kong to Palestine via Sharjah. In his 9 November 1950 report, Mr Hay revealed that Desmond Morton brought waves of Jewish emigrees by air, from Hong King to Israel via Sharjah.9 On 27 December 1950, Hay sent a letter to the British Foreign Ministry, London, about the Sharjah flights. He stated: “ 2. I have had no reports of any agitation on the Trucial Coast as a result of the passage of Jews through Sharjah and I do not think that for the present there is any real danger of ‘an attack by armed tribesmen’ on the lines feared by Barnard, though I am asking Pelly to get Michell *** to confirm this. 3. I agree, however, that it is possible that a stream of Soviet agents may be reaching Palestine by this route, though I am doubtful if there is any action we can take locally to stop this. We could, I think, obtain lists of passenger’s passing through Sharjah by N.E.A.T. aircraft with details of the travel documents held by them. Please let me 8 B.L./F.O.371/93158, CAA/72/23. 9 Ibid., B.L./F.O.371/93158, CAA/72/23. GA95/2. THE SONGS OF THE CITY ** Desmond Morton servit dans le renseignement militaire britannique jusqu’en 1940, ensuite il fut l’assistant personnel de Churchill jusqu’en 1949. Après, il travailla pour les Nations Unies en tant que représentant britannique aux affaires des réfugiés et des émigrés jusqu’en 1940, puis il passa au ministère de l’aviation civile à Londres. *** Le Dr Harry Mitchell était à Sharjah pour succéder à Patrick Stobart aux responsabilités d’officier politique.
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