'File 1/A/38 II Negotiations with Bin Saud re: Eastern boundary of Saudi Arabia with Qatar & Trucial Oman.' [‎96r] (196/472)

THIS DOCUMENT IS THE PROPERTY OF HIS BRITANNIC MAJESTY’S GOVERNMENT
[456 c—3]
EASTERN (Arabia). July 3 , 1935.
CONI IDEN UAL. Section 3.
”[ E 4111/77/91]
Fuad Bey Hamza to Mr. Rendel.—(Received July 3 .)
Saudi Arabian Legation, London,
Dear Mr. Rendel, July 2, 1935.
I AM very sorry that I was unable to prepare the note I promised you in the
course of our conversation on the 25th June on the subject of the line of frontiers
in Eastern and Southern Arabia before receiving your letter dated the 27th June.
This delay was caused by unavoidable reasons of which you are no doubt aware.
2 . I would like to explain most emphatically and sincerely that the line
of frontiers given in the note which I had the pleasure to present to Sir Andrew
Ryan in Jedda on the 3rd April, 1935 (29th Thil Hijja, 1353), was defined after
the most careful investigation into the actual situation at the present moment
and after the following important factors have been taken into consideration : —
(1) The fact that both Governments (the British and the Saudi Arabian) have
agreed to put aside the legal question so long as it was possible to
reach an honourable agreement, as it was preferable to try to draw a
new line for the frontiers which would be acceptable to all parties
concerned and which would safeguard the permanent common
interests.
(2) The fact that the Government of His Majesty King Abdul Aziz did
not adopt the wide principle which was the basis of her relations with
the tribes of the desert which had declared their allegiance and
submission to His Majesty the King as the tribes of Da-akeih, viz.,
A1 Manahil, Ahl Kathir and Ahl Mahra—and most of the tribes of
A1 Manasir, A1 Darn’, A1 ’Awamir, Beni Ghafir and others, but were
content to mention the natural boundaries which were at the same time
generally recognised by the tribes inhabitating the desert as belonging
to the tribes on whose members and lands His Majesty's Government
has exercised direct influence for a long period, during which their
ordinary members and their sheikhs were actually in His Majesty’s
service and His Majesty’s regular army.
(3) His Majesty’s Government’s realisation of the extreme difficulties which
may arise as a result of an unjust delineation of the frontiers and
particularly the great resentment which the tribes may feel if they
were abandoned after having rendered loyal allegiance and submission
all these long years and after having built their hopes for the future
on the continuity of the system of government devised for them and
His Majesty’s Government’s wish to keep its promise and fulfil its
obligations and responsibility towards its subjects and its neighbours.
3. Having outlined to you these fundamental points, I would like to point
out that the line of the frontiers which I presented to Sir Andrew Ryan does
not contain any exaggeration nor does it leave any room for bargaining or
discussion. As I have pointed out above, due note was taken in delineating this
line, of the tribal considerations which are generally admitted by the Bedouin
population and more especially by those of them who are neutral and are therefore
not interested in proving somebody’s claim or refuting it.
4. You will no doubt remember what I told you in our last two meetings,
that His Majesty’s Government fully appreciating the position delegated to me
the task of checking the official data concerning the frontiers by taking the
evidence of certain neutral persons among the experts of the desert. As a result
I became convinced that the line referred to above does not exceed the true state
of affairs and that the wells of Banaiyan, Sufuq, Battha and Bataihin belong
to the Ahl Murra.
5 . I would like to explain to you now certain details concerning the places
and wells belonging to the tribes which would make it easier to understand.