مجموعة ٦ / ٦٧ (١) "حدود جنوب شرق الجزيرة العربية وقطر". [ظ‎‎٢‎٧‎٨] (٧٩٤/٥٦١)

Sir Gr.
Clayton to
F.O., 6.6.27,
P. 3269/27.
Jedda to
F.O.,
26.1.27,
P. 494/27.
206. Ibn Saud raised no objection to the draft Article, subject to the
substitution of the words “ maintain friendly relations with ” for the words^
“ to refrain from all aggression or interference with,” and the omission of thel*
words “or under the protection of the Government of His Britannic Majesty.”
His grounds were that the earlier wording was not compatible with his dignity
as an independent Ruler, aod more particularly that the term interference
seemed to him to be capable of too wide an interpretation. The terms of the
Article as finally agreed were as follows :—
“His Majesty the King of the Hedjaz and of Nejd and its Dependencies
undertakes to maintain friendly and peaceful relations with the territories
of Koweit and Bahrain, and with the Sheikhs of Qatar and the Oman Coast
who are in special treaty relations with His Britannic Majesty’s
Government.”
Anglo-Turkish Conventions of 1913-1914 not communicated to Ibn Saud in 1927.
207. It may be recorded in this connection, as a point of some importance,
that Ibn Saud, in connection with the discussions which culminated in the Treaty
of Jedda, asked for a statement of the treaty engagements of H.M. Government
with the rulers whose special treaty relations with them he undertook under
Article 6 of that treaty to respect. The list of engagements with which he was
furnished did not contain the Anglo-Turkish Conventions of 1913-14.
Ibn Saud informed that H.M. Government continue to regard the Blue Line of
the Anglo-Turkish Convention of 1913 as binding on him.
208. It is unnecessary to examine in any detail the events between the Treaty
of Jedda and 1934. Towards the end of' 1933 the question of the continental
boundaries of Saudi Arabia was raised in an active form by the application of
the Anglo-Persian Oil Company to be allowed to negotiate for an oil concession
in Qatar on behalf of the Iraq Petroleum Company, and by uncertainties as to
the Eastern boundary which had been set by Ibn Saud to the oil concession he
had granted in respect of Hasa. In connection with this, the Sheikh of Qatar
and the United States Government were officially informed in the spring of 1934
that H.M. Government regarded the Blue Line of the 1913 Convention (para. 150
above) as the eastern boundary of Nejd, and as a matter of courtesy the Saudi
Government were informed that, enquiry as to the boundary position having been
made by the United States Embassy at Angora, a communication in this sense
had been made to them. Ibn Saud subsequently intimated that he did not accept
the Blue Line as binding upon him, and that he preferred ancestral claims to the
territory to the east of it. It is now accepted that the question of his eastern
continental boundary is one on which further discussion will be necessary in the
near future between him and H.M. Government.
f If ..
VI. -Conclusion.
209. The history of the relations of the Wahabi Amirs with Trucial Oman,
Muscat and with the British Government is given in detail above. It may be
convenient, in conclusion, briefly to summarise the position and to touch upon
certain of the more important general questions bearing on the difficulties which
have arisen in connection wffth the Blue Line and the claims made in that
connection by Ibn Saud.
I.—General Historical Survey.
210. It will be seen that the Wahabi sect originated in Nejd in the early
part of the eighteenth century; that by the end of the eighteenth century it had
conquered Nejd and Hasa; and that between 1800 and 1818 it established a
commanding influence in the hinterland of Trucial Oman, the headquarters of
its agent being in forts built by the Wahabis at the oasis of Baraimi—a strategical
point of first importance on the borders of Trucial Oman and the Muscat
Sultanate. The Wahabi influence came to an end, and Baraimi was lost, with
the defeat of the Wahabis of Nejd and Hasa by the Egyptians and the capture
and execution of the Wahabi Amir in 1818.