I was the host and I said that if it was his religion that made him say such things, my religion prescribed as an absolute sacred ritual smoking cigars and drinking alcohol before, after and if need be during, all meals and the intervals between them. Complete surrender. 1945, 17 February, Lake Fayyum, Egypt (Gilbert, Life, 825)
Abdul Aziz ibn Saud (1876-1953). When told that the King could not allow drinking or smoking in his presence, WSC replied thusly. More seriously, Churchill asked the King's assistance, "to promote a definite and lasting settlement between the jews and Arabs" in Palestine, through a Middle East Federation headed by Ibn Saud, in which Jewish Palestine would be an integral independent part.
