Page 280 - The Arabian Gulf States_Neat

218 THE LEGAL STATUS OF THE ARABIAN GULF STATES
Jaluwi, Bin Saud's Viceroy in the Hasa, and many of the Dhahirah tribes
were paying tribute . . .l
St J. B. Philby refers, in his account about his exploration of the
Empty Quarter, to an interview which he had with one of the Saudi
tax-collectors in the district of Buraimi. He describes this district as
‘a Wahhabi centre of long standing'.2 In December 1946, Wilfred
Thesiger visited the district. He gives the following account about a
conversation which he had with one of the Shaikhs of the tribes:
Here we met a Rashidi Shaikh. ... We heard from him that many of
the Murra, Manasir, and Awamir were assembled in Dhafra and Rabadh
for the yearly assessment of taxes. This was unwelcome news. If we encoun­
tered any tax collectors we should probably be taken to Hufuf to explain
ourselves, since we were here without the permission of Ibn Saud . . .3
4. In August 1952 Saudi Arabia sent an official, with a contingent
of 40 men, to the Buraimi district to take up his position as a governor
of Buraimi under the authority of the Saudi Amir of Hasa.4 The
Saudi governor remained in the district until October 1955, when the
Saudi contingent was forced to leave Buraimi by the British-officered
Trucial Oman Levies (Scouts).5
Treaties relevant to the dispute
In this section reference will be made to some of the important pro­
visions of the treaties which have relevance to this dispute because
they either {a) define a boundary line which leaves the disputed areas
on one side of the line or the other, or (b) relate to some of the legal
questions raised in this dispute.
(i) Anglo-Ottoman Draft Convention on the Arabian Gulf Area, 29 July
1913*
This Convention constituted a settlement of outstanding issues be­
tween the Ottoman and the British Governments in relation to their
respective spheres of influence in the Arabian Gulf area. After long
negotiations, the two parties, Ibrahim Hakki Pasha on behalf of
Turkey and Sir Edward Grey on behalf of Britain, agreed on signing
a first draft convention, referred to as ‘the Persian Gulf Convention,
July 29, 1913’. Provisions were made for the ratification of the con­
vention within a period of three months; but for some reason the date
for ratification was extended to 31 October 1914. As a result of the
1 Thomas, B., Alarms and Excursions in Arabia (1931), pp. 173-4.
1 Philby, H. St J. B., The Empty Quarter (1933), p. 28.
3 Thesiger, W. P., Geographical Journal, 111 (1948), pp. 6-7, as quoted in Saudi
Memorial, J, p. 358. _
‘ See above, p. 202. ‘ See above, p. 205.
« French text in Gooch, G. P., and Temperlcy, H., British Documents on the
Origins of the War, 1898-1914, vol. 10 (ii) (1938), pp. 190-4. English text m
Hurewitz, I, op. cit., pp. 269-72.