Page 152 - Records of Bahrain (7) (ii)_Neat

542 Records of Bahrain
(A^ FWC

BRITISH RESIDENCY,
CONFIDENTIAL BAHRAIN,
’59/27/53) 23rd April, 1953. CT

f.~ Ai»n ("i

I am afraid thoro ih^no prospoct of an oarly
settlement of the present trouble over Zubarah which
I reported in my letter 1009/6/53 of the 20th March.
Little had a diocusoion lasting several hours with
Salman who refused to admit that he had boon in the
wrong and gave no definite promise that he would give
us notice in future of any intention of despatching
peoplo to Zubarah, though I think it probable that
if we insist he will give such notice. Meanwhile ho
is bombarding us with letters demanding the immediate
withdrawal of the post of four policemen which All
has established in a tent near the fort at Zubarah,
2, Ewart-BiggB made several offorts to persuade All
to Y/ithdraw this post and I went over to Dohah and
saw the latter mysolf on the 22nd April, He says it
is not possible for him to withdraw the post as it is
a matter of honour. He is, we know, under the strong
pressure of his father and relations to retain it. He
was nearly persuaded to remove the post at one time
but unfortunately somebody brought to his notice a map
published with the Bahrain Government Education
Department*o Annual Report last year in which a sub­
I stantial slice of the western coast of Qatar including
Zubarah is included in -the area described as "Bahrain
and it8 Dependencies".
3. It is possible that All may bo porouadod to change
his mind in a month or tv/o*s time but I rather doubt
it, Moanwhile v/e will do our best to dissuade Salman
from taking any drastic'; action. This is likely to be'
difficult and I fear that he may v/ork himself up to
such a state over the whole matter that he will with­
draw his acceptance of Her Majesty*s invitation to
attend the Coronation, He is already much upset because
All'8 son, Ahmed, and Abdullah Darwish have booked
passages from Beirut to Venice on the same boat as him­
self.

D. M. Ross, Esq.,
Eastern Department,
Foreign Office, S.V/, 1.

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