Page 60 - Protestant Missionary Activity in the Arabian Gulf

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institution in many ways. All the missionaries spoke Arabic.

Many of them wore Arab dress when touring, ate Arab food with

gusto, and observed Arab customs and courtesies. Thirdly,

the Mission in as much as it did have a national affiliation

had an American one, and America had been the most even-

handed of the western powers at least until 1947. It was

Woodrow Wilson who had stood up for the principle of self-

determination at the Paris Peace Conference in 1919. Thus

it is not entirely surprising for us to read such glowing

tributes to the missionaries as those made in 1927 by the

Arab weekly, Al-Faiha*. printed in Damascus (whilst Syrian
■
nationalists were bitterly opposing the French):

"These are the Americans in Kuwait. They landed
!
in this place in answer to the request of its ruler
and they established two hospitals in it. In these they
relieve the pains of the sick and by the hands of their
physicians prevent the tears of the afflicted.
'
These are the ones who forsook their own country for
5*8 a land strange to them in language, social standing
and in religion, in order that they might serve man
without all blemish and self interest. These are the
ones who represent the true American spirit in Kuwait." 112

The Suez Crisis of 1956, however, brought the con­

frontation between the Arab nationalists and the West to a

head. In Bahrain as elsewhere throughout the Arab world there

were riots and protests against the British and French mil­

itary intervention. Most of the foreigners were evacuated

from Bahrain. The only ones to remain were British govern­

ment officials and the American Mission personnel. Through­

out the crisis the Mission continued to operate all its sta­

tions as before and was accepted as a neutral and a friend