Page 190 - Arabia the Gulf and the West

Sorcerers' Apprentices 187

system. Shaikh Abdullah agreed to observe all the undertakings given earlier
by the Trucial Shaikhs to abstain from piracy, the slave trade and maritime
warfare. He also undertook to abide by the exclusive agreements concerning
relations with foreign powers and the non-alienation of territory. In return, he

was assured of British protection against attacks upon his territory or subjects
by sea, and of the good offices of the British government in the event of an
attack upon Qatar by land, on condition that such an attack was not provoked
by aggressive acts on his part or that of his subjects.
Shaikh Abdullah awarded an oil concession of seventy-five years’ duration to
the Iraq Petroleum Company in May 1935. The southern boundary of the oil

concession was not stipulated, since the landward frontiers of Qatar had never
been defined. A month earlier, however, as we have seen in an earlier chapter,
Ibn Saud had claimed a frontier with Qatar which, if conceded, would have
placed both Khaur al-Udaid and the Jabal Nakhsh, the southern end of the
Dukhan range of hills (which was considered to be a promising oil structure),
in Saudi territory. It would also cut off Qatar from Abu Dhabi by interposing a
wedge of Saudi territory between them. For these reasons, as we have seen, the
British government rejected Ibn Saud’s claim and proposed instead a frontier
further south which would leave Jabal Nakhsh to Qatar and Khaur al-Udaid to

Abu Dhabi.
When the onset of war in 1939 brought the frontier negotiations to a
temporary halt, Shaikh Abdullah ibn Jasim was greatly relieved. He had no
wish to antagonize Ibn Saud, partly out of fear, partly out of religious senti­
ment (he and many of the Al Thani followed the Wahhabi practice of Islam),
and partly because of his family connexions and political links with the Al

Saud, which served to strengthen him against his adversaries, the shaikhs of
Bahrain and Abu Dhabi. At the same time, however, he was most reluctant
either to give up potentially oil-bearing territory or to abandon the claim to
Khaur al-Udaid, which over the years had become a matter of honour to his
family. Though Jabal Nakhsh, in fact, never proved to be oil-bearing, oil was
struck on the Dukhan structure in December 1939. Further development of
the field was delayed by the war, and it was not until 1949 that the first oil was
exported. Not entirely coincidentally, negotiations were resumed that year to

determine the frontier of Saudi Arabia with Qatar, Abu Dhabi and Oman. The
Saudi government again preferred a claim to Qatar which embraced a substan­
tial slice of territory at the base of the peninsula. There was reason to doubt,
however, that the Saudis were much in earnest in advancing the claim, other
than to secure control of Khaur al-Udaid.
Shaikh Abdullah ibn Jasim, now well advanced in years, abdicated circa

1950 (accounts vary as to whether he actually gave up power in I949or I95i)in
favour of his son, Ali. Shaikh Ali, in turn, abdicated in i960 in favour of his
son, Ahmad. Five years later, Shaikh Ahmad ibn Ali reached what was for all
practical purposes a definitive agreement on his border with Saudi Arabia. In