مجموعة ١٧٠/٣٠ "مسألة ملكية جزيرتي البيّنة." [و‎‎٦‎٠] (٢٥٩/١٢٢)

..—
CONFIDENTIAL.
Military Branch,
Admiralty,
S.W.l.
8 th November, 1939.
Dear Peel,
✓
1. Your letter to Eyres No.P.Z.4125/39 dated July 8 th,
concerning the ownership of the disputed islands lying between
territory of the Sheikh of Bahrein and the mainland of Saudi Arabia.
2. Although there appears to be little doubt that the Sheikh
of Bahrein has a far better claim to these islands on prescriptive
grounds, and that such a claim would take precedence over the Saudi
claim on the basis of geographical propinquity, we agree with the
Foreign Office that it is highly desirable that Saudi Arabia and
Bahrein should reach some such agreement as that suggested in the
Political Agent*s express letter of the 29th May, since the
allocation of the islands to either of these claimants would not
settle the wider problem of the division of the sea bed between
Bahrein and Hasa for the purposes of winning oil.
3. We feel, therefore, that it would be best to take up the
suggestion already made by the Saudi Authorities, that the whole
area should be divided up between them and Bahrein by an agreed
line. Whether or not we make the first proposal or persuade them
to do so is a matter of tactics but the Political Agent’s proposed
line appears to us likely to prove satisfactory as a working
arrangement if it were acceptable to both sides.
4. The Foreign Office would seem to be strictly correct in
saying that there is no recognised principle on which such a line
should be based, since for the most part, it would traverse the
high seas. With regard to Straits less than 6 miles wide however.
His Majesty’s G-overnment in reply to the League Questionnaire of
R.T. Peel, Esq., C.B.E., M.C.,
India Office, r
S.W.l.
1930 .
RECo. POL. OEPt
-9NOV1939
INDIA OFFICE