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in the desert or among the tribes and protesting against the grant of an oil
concession before the boundaries between his territory and Qatar had been fixed.
VC 1lo st0P a.ny operations which the company started before this was
done.t Soon after this the Saudi Ministry of Foreign Affairs protested to His
Majesty s Legation at Jedda and staled that Qatar was included in the concession
granted by Ibn Saud to the Standard Oil Company of California.(M) A reply was
sent to the Saudi Arabian Government protesting at their direct correspondence
with Abdullah and informing them that His Majesty’s Government had formally
assured the Shaikh of Qatar of their protection against any interference with his
territorial rights. The question of the boundary was also discussed.("a) Abdullah
was informed of the action taken. The Saudi Arabian Government replied denying
that they were under any obligation not to correspond with the Gulf Rulers and
otherwise reserving their rights.C')
49. The Saudis did not implement their threat to interfere with oil operations
in Qatar and there is no record of any other such interference until early in 1949
when parties from the Arabian American Oil Company visited the southern part
of the peninsula.("') It is possible that in the meanwhile Saudi tax-collectors may
have visited Qatar as they did Abu Dhabi (Chapter 5, paragraph 94), but in 1949 it
was reported that they had not done so for five years.(Hh) The subsequent incursion
of parties from the Arabian American Oil Company into Abu Dhabi territory
led to the reopening of the dispute over the south-eastern boundary of Saudi
Arabia.
50. The history of this dispute has been traced in the chapter on the Trucial
States (Chapter 5, paragraphs 95-103). Ali was unwilling to send any representative
to Jedda to assist the British representatives in the negotiations which took place
there in October 1949 and stated that he left the conduct of his case entirely in the
hands of His Majesty’s Government. He did after some show of reluctance attend
the conference at Dammam in January and February 1952 and stated his claim
(paragraph 23 above). The Saudis neither accepted nor rejected it, and generally
speaking the attitude both of Ali and the Saudis was then and has been since that
their mutual relations are so good that no dispute can possibly exist. At the end of
1952 when Ali was asked to agree to the reference of the dispute to arbitration he
replied that he did not welcome the proposal because he could accept no
intermediary between himself and Ibn Saud other than Her Majesty’s Government
and because he believed that Ibn Saud would not deny him his full claim whilst
arbitration might bring him less.C5) Ali visited Ibn Saud immediately after the
Dammam conference and again at the end of 1952. He denied that he discussed the
boundary question with him but it seems possible that an understanding on the
subject exists and that the Saudis will not commit themselves until their boundary
with Abu Dhabi is fixed.
51. The attitude of Abdullah towards Ibn Saud during the earlier portion of
the period under review was one of veneration combined with fear. The fear seems
now to have disappeared and relations between Ali and the Saudis have during
recent years been marked by great cordiality on both sides. The Adviser reported
that Ali had told him after his return from Riyadh in January 1953 that the Saudis
had talked to him about financing a railway line to link the existing Saudi railway
with Umm Sa’id.f0) At the same time the Adviser expressed the opinion that if
Her Majesty’s Government pressed Ali too hard on the question of allowances
(paragraph 11 above) or other matters he might even think of federation with
Saudi Arabia.
(c) Persia
52 Persia refuses to recognise Qatar as an independent State and treats any

1,7\ p r toFO 157/9/49 of March 24, 1949 (E4430/1535/91 of 1949).
£. pf. » £8: 157/90/49 of July 4. .949 (E9035/.08./25 of m%
$ ^f™F.OR 1946/82/5foflDb^| 1953 (EA 1944/6 of 1953,.