'الملف 10/3 IV الامتياز النفطي بقطر' [و‎أ‎‎١‎٥] (٥٣٤/٤٨)

' A
5.
line" vjould cut off a very long and very narrow strip of
coast to the west of Salwa Bay from the rest of Hasa, and
that a far more satisfactory and reasonable line could be
drawn from the southern end of the Bahr-as-Salwa in a
southerly direction, which would in fact start from much
the same point as a line drawn across the base of the
Peninsula. This would much reduce the extent of the
uncertain area and might offer the possibility of various
eventual compromises for the northern end of the line,
which we could perhaps discuss at Tuesday's meeting.
Incidentally it may be worth considering having the Bahr-
as-Salwa re -surveyed, so that we may know exactly where
it does in fact end. But this is perhaps mainly a point
for the Service departments.
8. In the circumstances described above our present
attitude therefore is that we should, not only firmly make
cur stand on the "blue line" at the outset, but that we
should put forward a positive claim, preferably on behall
of the Sheikh of Qatar, to the territory extending light up
to the northern portion of it. If this seems likely to
lead to serious difficulty,we could eventually compromise
by agreeing to some line running south from the head of
Salwa Bay. Meanwhile, the view of my higher authorities
here is that everything points to our having to make a
very early communication about these frontiers, not only to
the Americans,as proposed in our letter No.E.1806/1206/91
referred to above, but also to Ibn Saud himself, ii we are
to avoid a great deal of trouble later on.
9. I am sending a copy of this letter to Hind.
Yours ever,
GEORGE RENDEL.