'Field notes: Mesopotamia. General Staff, India. February, 1917.' [‎8r] (22/350)

In 1914 this and other points of variance were on the point of
being amicably settled.
Al Hasa.
South of Kuwait we come to the so-called “ Turkish ” pro
vince of Al Hasa. This comprises the fertile district of Al Hasa
proper, with its port of ’Oqair, the coast town and district of
Qatif, and tire fortified port of Al Bida’ (Dohah) on the eastern
shore of the Qatar peninsula. It thus stretches from Kuwait
south-east towards the country of the trucial Chiefs, and inland
to the frontiers of Najd, and is often all described by the name of
Al Hasa.
Recent History and Present Politics.
Turkish rule in Hasa, which had extended without interrup
tion for 42 years from the occupation of Midhat Pasha An Ottoman title used after the names of certain provincial governors, high-ranking officials and military commanders. in 1871,
was ended in 1913 by Bin Sa’ud, Amir of Najd, who on May 5th
seized Hofuf without much fighting, and soon afterwards took
Qatif. The Turkish garrison withdrew first to Oqair, then to
Bahrein, whence, with the troops from Qatif, it finally sailed to
Basrah. Amirs were appointed by Bin Sa’ud in Hofuf and Qatif,
and at a meeting at Oqair with Captain Shakespear, the British
Political Agent A mid-ranking political representative (equivalent to a Consul) from the diplomatic corps of the Government of India or one of its subordinate provincial governments, in charge of a Political Agency. from Kuwait, in 1913, the Amir announced that
these officials were instructed to help and protect British sub
jects in consultation with the Agent. In June 1914 Bin Sa’ud
accepted the title of Wali of Najd and Hasa from the Ottoman
Government, but he continued to invite closer relations with
the Indian Government, and on Captain Shakespear’s appoint
ment as Political Officer in Najd, later in the same year, he re
ceived the British representative with cordiality. On the
outbreak of the European War, he opposed Bin Rashid, who
had espoused Turkish interests in Arabia, and fought a drawn
battle with him near Majma in Sadair, in March 1915; but in
the summer of the same year a formal peace was concluded
between the two Amirs. Bin Sa’ud can summon to his standard
the ’Ajman, Beni Khalid, and Beni Hajar, and to his control
over these tribes is due the improvement in the security of the
Hasa province and the caravan routes by which it is approached.
The hostility of the Bedouin to the Turks had been such that the
sovereignty of the Sultan extended no further than the effective