Page 134 - Bahrain Gov Annual Reports (II)_Neat

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was unfortunate, the former although a respectable person was illiterate and of no
political or social importance, the latter was* notoriously persona non grata in
Bahrain. After the first meeting, with the concurrence of both parties, the Advisor
to the Bahrain Government took part in the negotiations. Conversations, which
were hold on two or three days every week, lasted until the end of June. Although
the Bahrain representatives made every effort to reach an agreement, short of
entiroly withdrawing their claim, tho negotiations were a complete failure/
Towards the end of June His Highness Shaikh Hamad proposed that his
representatives should meet some of the senior members of Shaikh Abdulla’s family
in order to discuss the matter. It was arranged that tho Bahrain delegates should
meet Shaikh Abdulla’s brother and son at Ghareyah on the north coast of Qatar.
Tho negotiations in Bahrain were terminated, by the Qatar representatives
who refused to inform their principal of the last suggestions made by Bahrain. Tho
final meeting in Bahrain ended in atmosphere of bitter acrimony.
The Bahrain representatives, accompanied by the Adviser, who abstained
from taking part in the actual discussions, arrived at Ghareyah at the end of June
and remained there for about five days. The Bahrain party, which included some
of the young Shaikhs and about thirty retainers and servants, remained most of the
time in their launches only coming ashore for meetings. The Qatar Shaikhs
took this opportunity of staging a deliberate demonstration of force by concent­
rating large numbers of armed Bedu, on the shore who were brought to the place in
motor lorries. This action did not make for the success of the negotiations which
ended in failure.
On the way back from Ghareyah, while passing the north coast of Qatar,
the Bahrain launches anchored some distance out at sea and watched fighting taking
place on the shore between the Qatar forces and the Naim. In the fighting which
ensued there were about a dozen casulties on each side, among the Naim Arabs who
were killed were several of the personal retainers of the Ruler of Bahrain who
belonged to the Naira tribe and had their families in Qatar and lived sometimes in
Bahrain and sometimes in Qatar. Eventually the Naim surrendered and handed
over a number of their rifles. As soon as the Qatar forces had withdrawn, the whole
Naim tribe with their tents, families and flocks, moved over to Bahrain where
they were generously received. Later a number of them crossed from Bahrain to
Saoudi Arabia where they found better grazing for their camels and sheep than in
Bahrain. Those of them who owned houses and property in Muharraq and Halat
al Naim remained in Bahrain.
The Government of Bahrain then terminated all intercourse with Qatar and
apart from authorised messengers there has been no intercourse between the two
states since the final events described in this note.
Zubara, the subject of this quarrel, is a place of no apparent value, The
town is entirely in ruins, the fort is rapidly crumbling to pieces, there is no waiter
except a few wells which frequently become dry and the land is barren and salty.
The few villages within the Zubara area are miserable groups of mud huts inhabited
by almost starving Arabs. The Khalifah, and the Arabs of Bahrain, however,
regard Zubara as their ancestral home, which in fact it is, they remember that their
ancestors and the early Khalifah Shaikhs built Zubara and are buried there and
they remember its ancient glories, although during recent years visits to Zubara by
the Khalifah Shaikhs have been rare, yet they resent the claim of Qatar that Bahrain
has no rights over Zubara. That the reason of the quarrel is a matter of princip e
and sentiment makes it all the more difficult to arrive at an understanding.