HIGHLIGHTED VERSION
The highlighted versions of Qatar's Memorial and
Counter-Memorial are designed to assist the Court in
determining which passages of those pleadings are no
longer relied upon by Qatar because they depend solely
upon documentary annexes which Qatar has pledged
itself to disregard (See Qatar's Reply, para. 1.12)
COUNTER-MEMORIAL SUBMITTED BY THE STATE OF QATAR
(MERITS)
VOLUME 1
31 DECEMBER 1997
Table of Content(PDF file 334Kb)
PART I - INTRODUCTION
Chapter I The Main Elements of the Case at the Present Stage of the
Proceedings
PART II -HE H ISTORICAL ANDG EOGRAPHICAL BACKGROUND TO THE
D ISPUTE
Chapter II Misstatements and Omissions in Bahrain's Presentation of
the Historical and Geographical Background
PART III -HE HAWAR ISLANDS AND OTHER TERRITORIAL Q UESTIONS
Chapter III The Hawar Islands
Chapter IV Janan Island
Chapter V Zubarah
P ARTIV - MARITIME DELIMITATION
Chapter VI General Assessment of Bahrain's Position
Chapter VII The Single Maritime Boundary in the Southern Sector
Chapter VIII The Single Maritime Boundary in the Northern Sector
PART V - UBMISSIONS
__________
TABLE OF CONTENTS
PREFACE xiii
PART 1 INTRODUCTION 1
CHAPTER I THE MAIN ELEMENTS OF THE CASE AT THE PRESENT STAGE OF
THE PROCEEDINGS 1
Section 1. Summary of the central elements of the case 1
A. Territorial questions 1
1. The Hawar islands 1
2. Janan island 33. Zubarah 3
B. Maritime delimitation 4
Section 2. Bahrain's litigation strategy 7
A.. Observations on Bahrain's presentation of its case 7
B. Observations on Bahrain's historical perspective of the disputes 9
C. The violations by Bahrain of the status quo commitments 11
Section 3. Structure of Qatar's Counter-Memorial 11
PART 11 THE HISTORICAL AND GEOGRAPHICAL BACKGROUND TO THE
DISPUTE 13
CHAPTER 11 MISSTATEMENTS AND OMISSIONS IN BAHRAIN'S
PRESENTATION OF THE HISTORICAL AND GEOGRAPHICAL BACKGROUND
13
Section 1. Development of AI-Thani authority over the entire peninsula 13
A. The international context in the area 14
1. The Wahhabi presence in Qatar and Bahrain 14
2. The Ottoman presence in Hasa and Qatar 15
3. The British presence in the Gulf 16
4. The Persian claim to sovereignty over Bahrain 16
B. The internal context: existence of a tribal system 16
1. Qatar 18
2. Bahrain 20
C. Establishment by the AI-Thani of authority and control over Qatar 21
1. The policy of the AI-Thani 21
2. The establishment and consolidation of AI-Thani authority 22
a) General authority prior to the Ottoman presence 22
b) General authority following arrival of the Ottomans in 1871 24
c) AI-Thani authority on the Hawar islands 29
d) AI-Thani authority in and around Zubarah 29
e) AI-Thani authority in the south-west of Qatar 31
f) AI-Thani authority in the interior 31
D. The absence of AI-Khalifah authority in Qatar 33
Section 2. The myth of Bahrain's maritime supremacy and the failure of its expansionist
policies 38
A. Zakhnuniya island 39
B. The Lubainah islands 40
C. Fasht Bu Saafa 41
PART 111 THE HAWAR ISLANDS AND OTHER TERRITORIAL QUESTIONS 43
CHAPTER 111 THE HAWAR ISLANDS 43
Section 1. Introduction 43
Section 2. Qatari title to the Hawar islands prior to 1936 and its recognition by third States 45
A. Events leading up to the Agreements of 1868 and British recognition of the separate
identities of Qatar and Bahrain 50
B. Events of 1867 and 1868 51
C. Payment of "tribute 57
D. Anglo-Ottoman Convention of 1913 59
E. British-Qatar Treaty of 3 November 1916 62
F. Other evidence of British recognition 65
G. Regional recognition 66
Section 3. Bahrain's illegal occupation of the main Hawar island 67
Section 4. Bahrain's failure to mention the crucial events of 1936 when Bahrain first formallyasserted a claim to the Hawar islands and the British Government made a "provisional
decision" in Bahrain's favour 72
A. The first formal Bahrain claim to the Hawar islands of 28 April 1936 72
B. Attitude of the oil companies in the 1930s 75
C. British knowledge of Qatar's title to the Hawar islands 77
D. Chronology of significant events relating to Hawar:1933-1936 79
E. The map attached to the Qatar oil concession of 1935 84
Section 5. Activities of Bahrain in or in relation to the Hawar islands cannot be invoked to
establish title if they were motivated by an intent to deceive or occurred after the dispute
between Bahrain and Qatar on this issue had become apparent 87
A. Bahrain's "evidence" in relation to Hawar 87
B. Status and allegiance of the Dowasir 87
C. The relevance of the date of the first formal claim by Bahrain to the Hawar islands 95
Section 6. Inadequacy of Bahrain's evidence to sustain a claim of title to the Hawar islands
prior to 1936 98
A. Bahrain's contentions as to the Dowasir tribe are without any substance 99
B. Bahrain's other grounds in support of its claim to the Hawar islands are equally without
substance 105
1. The 1878 Ottoman map 106
2. The Zakhnuniya parallel 106
3. The Brucks survey 107
4. The shipwrecked Ottoman soldiers of 1873 108
5. The Ruler of Bahrain's jurisdiction to serve summons on inhabitants of Hawar islands 108
6. Bahrain's post-1936 evidence 109
Section 7. The British decision of 11 July 1939 111
A. Bahrain's account of events omits many significant facts and embodies a number of
misleading statements 112
B. The true significance of Annex 292 to the Bahrain Memorial 113
C. Miscellaneous Bahraini arguments 118
1. Fishing 120
2. Pearling 121
3. Animal husbandry 124
4. Gypsum quarrying 125
5. Permanent settlement 126
6. Acts of administration or authority 127
7. Status quo 128
8. General traverse 128
D. Further evidence of pre-judgment by the British authorities in the Gulf 129
E. The decision of 11 July 1939 is not resjudicata 131
Section 8. Qatar has never acquiesced in Bahrain's de facto control of the Hawar islands 136
CHAPTER IV JANAN ISLAND 143
Section 1. The geography 143
Section 2. Bahrain's claim is unfounded 144
CHAPTER V ZUBARAH 149
Section 1. Introduction 149
Section 2. The history corrected: Qatar's title to Zubarah 151
A. Early history 151
B. The period from 1868-1937 151
1. British rejection of Bahrain's claim to Zubarah at its inception 151
2. Bahrain claim of resistance to Ottornan/Al-Thani control of Zubarah 1553. Bahrain's "claim" relating to Zubarah and concern for the security of Bahrain 160
4. Recognition of Zubarah as part of Qatar 164
5. Zubarah and the discovery of oil 167
6. The events of 1937 172
C. The period after 1937
Section 3. Bahrain has no legal basis for its claim to sovereignty over Zubarah 178
A. Absence of acts of sovereignty performed by Bahrain in or in relation to Zubarah 178
B. There is no factual or legal basis for Bahrain's argument based on the supposed allegiance
of the Naim 178
1. The lack of foundation of the allegiance argument in fact and in law 179
a) The links of allegiance of the Naim towards the Ruler of Bahrain are not proved 179
b) The territory claimed by Bahrain was not occupied permanently or regularly by the Naim
181
c) The territory claimed by Bahrain was frequented by sections of the Naim tribe other than
the Al-Jabr182
2. The absence of any legal basis for the Bahraini claim to sovereignty over Zubarah 183
PART IV MARITIME DELIMITATION 187
CHAPTER VI GENERAL ASSESSMENT OF BAHRAIN'S POSITION 187
Section 1. Main points of agreement and disagreement between the Parties 187
A. Points of agreement between the Parties 187
B. Points of disagreement between the Parties 188
Section 2. Bahrain's sovereignty argument 189
A. The falsity of Bahrain's argumentation concerning acquisition of rights over maritime
features 189
B. The so-called evidence of Bahraini "acts of sovereignty 191
1. Erection of beacons or cairns 191
2. Activities of oil companies operating in Bahrain 192
3. Aids to fishermen provided by the Bahrain Government 193
4. Exclusive use of fashts by Bahraini boats 194
5. Navigational safety and police 195
Section 3. The Bahrain claim relating to pearling and fishing 195
A. Pearl fishing 195
B. Swimming fish 199
Section 4. The Bahraini claim to archipelagic status 201
A. The extraordinary presentation of the Bahraini claim 201
B. The concept of a geographical archipelago 203
C. Irrelevance of any Bahraini archipelagic claim for the present maritime delimitation 206
D. Irrelevance of archipelagic baselines in State practice 206
Section 5. The division of the relevant maritime area into two sectors 208
A. The artificial character of the Bahraini dividing line between the two sectors 208
1. The distortion by Bahrain of the geographical relationship between the two States 209
2. The treatment of what Bahrain terms "insular and other legally relevant maritime features"
211
a) Features recognised as being low-tide elevations are not the relevant Bahraini coast 212
b) Qit'at Jaradah is a low-tide elevation 213
B. The reasons for the choice of the notional line joining points MQ and RK as defined by
Qatar 216
1. The actual coast of the two States 216
2. The northernmost points of the two opposite coasts 217
a) The northernmost point of the coast of Qatar 217b) The northernmost point of the coast of Bahrain 218
3. The resulting line dividing the relevant maritime area into two sectors 218
C. The southern and the northern limits of the relevant maritime area and existing
delimitations with third States 219
1. The agreed northern limit resulting from delimitation agreements with Iran 219
2. Inconsistency in the Bahraini treatment of delimitation with Saudi Arabia in the south 219
CHAPTER VII THE SINGLE MARITIME BOUNDARY IN THE SOUTHERN
SECTOR 221
Section 1. Geographical characteristics 221
Section 2. Historical circumstances 224
A. The silence of Bahrain concerning the 1947 line 224
B. The relevance of the pre-existing sea-bed dividing line 225
1 . The taking into account of a pre-existing delimitation in the drawing of an all-purpose
maritime boundary 225
2. The precedent of the maritime delimitation between Venezuela and Trinidad and Tobago,
an archipelagic State 227
Section 3. The maritime boundary in the southern sector 227.
A. Mainland-to-mainland delimitation: general considerations 228
1. The rationale of using the mainland coasts in a territorial sea delimitation between States
having opposite coasts 228
2. The consequences 230
B. Application of the mainland-to-mainland method in the present case 231
1. The provisional median line 231
a) The provisional median line cannot be drawn from the baselines claimed by Bahrain 232
(i) Basepoints used for delimitation purposes 233
(ii) The Court's task is not "to split the difference" between the two extreme claims 236
b) The drawing of the provisional median line from relevant points on the two mainland
coasts 237
2. The adjustment of the median line 237
C. The taking into account of the 1947 line 239
CHAPTER VIII THE SINGLE MARITIME BOUNDARY IN THE NORTHERN
SECTOR 243
Section 1. General remarks.
A. The omissions in the Bahrain Memorial 243
B. The clearly inequitable nature of the maritime boundary claimed by Bahrain in the northern
sector 244
Section 2. Points of agreement between the Parties in the northern sector 246
A. The Parties' agreement as to the nature of the dividing line to be determined by the Court
246
B. The Parties' agreement to take into consideration the delimitation agreements with Iran 247
C. The partial agreement of the Parties as to the law applicable to the present dispute 249
Section 3. The maritime boundary claimed by Bahrain in the northern sector fails to take
"geographical realities" into account 252
A. Bahrain has wrongly characterised the delimitation to be performed in the northern sector
253
B. The course of Bahrain's line in the northern sector takes no account of the disparity or
disproportion between the lengths of the relevant coasts of the Parties 256
1. Bahrain's silence with respect to coastal geography 256
2. Bahrain's use of general economic considerations that have consistently been rejected by
the jurisprudence 257a) Disparity of natural resources 257
b) Traditional fishing activities 259
c) The role of present-day or recent fishing activities 260
C. The line drawn by Bahrain takes no account of the maritime projection of Qatar in the
northern sector and ignores the principle of non-encroachment 262
Section 4. There is no legal basis for the single maritime boundary claimed by Bahrain in the
northern sector 266
A. Unacceptability of the first section, OQR, because of the disproportionate effect of Dibal
as a basepoint for the closing line used for the construction of Bahrain's equidistance line 266
1. Dibal falls within the category of low-tide elevations 267
2. Dibal has no maritime areas of its own, and cannot be used for purposes of calculating the
outer limit of Bahrain's territorial waters 267
3. Dibal cannot be an appropriate basepoint for the equitable delimitation of the maritime
areas between Qatar and Bahrain in the northern sector 273
a) First reason: Dibal is not an integral part of Bahrain's coastline 274
b) Second reason: Dibal is only a "minor geographical feature 274
B. The unjustified corrections made by Bahrain to section RSTUZ of its equidistance line 275
1 . Pearl fishing on the banks claimed by Bahrain came to an end long ago 277
2. Bahrain cannot claim to have exercised in the past exclusive rights over the pearling banks
that it claims in the present dispute 278
a) Bahrain does not prove that it exercised exclusive rights over the pearling banks that it
claims in the northern sector 279
b) Bahrain's claim that it exercised exclusive rights over the pearling banks is contrary to the
traditional customary law in the region 282
(i) The principle of common ownership of the pearling banks and pearl fisheries by the tribes
and sheikhs on the Arabian side of the Gulf 282
(ii) Consequences of the principle of exclusive common ownership of the pearling banks and
pearl fisheries by the tribes and sheikhs on the Arabian side of the Gulf 284
3. Bahrain's alleged historic rights to pearling banks are not special or relevant circumstances
288
a) The Ruler of Bahrain's argument, in his 1961 Memorandum, that "Bahrain's historic rights
to the pearling banks" were a "special circumstance" within the meaning of Article 6 of the
1958 Convention on the continental shelf 289
b) Bahrain's argument that Mahrain's historic rights to the pearling banks" are special or
relevant circumstances within the meaning of customary international law 291
Section 5. Qatar's line in the northern sector leads to an equitable result 294
A. Qatar's line is in conformity with customary international law 296
1. Compliance with the principle of non-encroachment 296
2. Compliance with the principle that "equity does not necessarily imply equality 297
B. The aposteriori verification of the equitable nature of Qatar's line, by the test of
proportionality 298
Section 6. Conclusion 300
PART V SUBMISSIONS 303
LIST OF MAPS 305
LIST OF DOCUMENTARY ANNEXES 307
Volume 2 307
Volume 3 315
Volume 4 319
LIST OF APPENDICES 325
Volume 5 325Volume 6 325
PREFACE
For the sake of convenience, a list of the main abbreviations used from time to time in Qatar's
Counter-Memorial and its Documentary Annexes and Appendices is set forth below.
RQ Ruler of Qatar
RB Ruler of Bahrain
PRPG Political Resident in the Persian Gulf, sometimes referred to simply as the Political
Resident
PAB Political Agent, Bahrain
PAQ Political Agent, Qatar
ABG Adviser to the Bahrain Government
IO India Office
FO Foreign Office
IOR India Office Records
BAPCO Bahrain Petroleum Company
PCL Petroleum Concessions Limited
EGS Eastern and General Syndicate Ltd.
APOC Anglo-Persian Oil Company
QM Memorial of the State of Qatar
BM Memorial of the State of Bahrain
QMJA Memorial of the State of Qatar on Questions of Jurisdiction and Admissibility
Where reference is made in this Counter-Memorial to Archives of the State of Qatar, the
documents are from the Archives of the Diwan Amiri of the State of Qatar.
__________
PART II
THE HISTORICAL AND GEOGRAPHICAL BACKGROUND TO THE DISPUTE
CHAPTER II
MISSTATEMENTS AND OMISSIONS IN BAHRAIN'S PRESENTATION OF THE
HISTORICAL AND GEOGRAPHICAL BACKGROUND
2.1 In this Chapter, Qatar will confine itself to drawing attention to some significant
misstatements and omissions in Bahrain's presentation of the historical and geographical
background.
Section 1. Development of Al-Thani authority over the entire peninsula
2.2 One of the most flagrant false assertions contained in the Bahrain Memorial is that by
1916 the authority and control of the Rulers of Qatar did not extend much beyond Doha, and
that it was not until the 1930s that their "expansion" reached the Zubarah regionally
falsely, Bahrain alleges that the authority of the Rulers of Qatar never extended to the Hawar
2
islands . On the basis of these assertions, Bahrain claims that it was only as the authority of
the Rulers of Qatar gradually expanded that the authority of the Rulers of Bahrain within the
peninsula contracted .2.3 Qatar will demonstrate in the present section that, contrary to Bahrain's assertions, the
Rulers of Qatar exercised their authority and control in and over Qatar on different occasions
during the second half of the 19 century, and that at least by the 1870s their authority and
control covered the whole peninsula including the Hawar islands and Zubarah. Conversely, it
will be seen that far from exercising authority over Qatar, the Rulers of Bahrain were at many
times unable even to exercise effective authority in and over Bahrain.
A. The international context in the area
2.4 In its Memorial, Bahrain has of course completely failed to acknowledge the influence
that was exercised in the area by powers other than the Al-Khalifah. As will be seen below,
various foreign powers from time to time exercised such influence.
1. The Wahhabi presence in Qatar and Bahrain
2.5 In 1795 the Wahhabis defeated the Beni Khalid tribe who had been occupying the Hasa
region. Following that victory, and with the assistance of the Al-Naim and other tribesmen,
they besieged Zubarah and various other localities in the north of Qatar . By 1802-1803 they
had nomi5ally subjected all the inhabitants of the Arab shore of the Gulf from Basra to
Muscat .
2.6 The W6hhabis also turned their attention to Bahrain, demanding in particular the payment
of zakat , and their influence was extended over Bahrain from 1803 to 1809, culminating in a
period of strict Wahhabi control in 1810-1811 . After a confused period of twenty years
marked by attacks on Bahrain by Muscat, the Wahhabis again obtained the submission of the
8
Sheikhs of Bahrain in 1830 . Thereafter, they continued to play a role in Bahrain's affairs,
notably by intervening in the struggles for power that took place between rival Bahraini
Sheikhs during the period from 1840 to 1860 . 9
10 11
2.7 Meanwhile, on at least two occasions, in 1835 and again in 1851 , the people of Qatar
took advantage of the Wahhabis' presence to oppose the attempts of the Sheikhs of Bahrain to
exercise authority over them. It is important to note that at one time between 1852 and 1866
12
the Wahhabi Amir had a representative at Doha .
2. The Ottoman presence in Hasa and Qatar
13
2.8 The Ottomans undertook surveys in the region in the 1860s and early 1870s , and were
present in Hasa uninterruptedly from 1871 until 1915. As has already been noted, at the same
time they also established a presence in Qatar at the invitation of Sheikh Jassim, the son of
Sheik14Mohamed bin Thani, and a Turkish garrison was installed in Bida from January
1872 .
2.9 Hasa and Qatar were thus included in the administrative system of the Ottoman Empire,
and the sanjak or sub-province of Nejd and Hasa included the kaza or district of Qatar. I15
turn, the kaza of Qatar included the nahiyesi or sub-districts of Zubarah and Odeid .
2.10 In 1876, Sheik16Jassim bin Mohamed bin Thani was appointed kaimakam or governor of
the kaza of Qatar . Although the Turks were nominally in control of the whole peninsula, it
was Sheikh Jassim who wielded the real power in Qatar during the Turkish period . As will17
be seen below, the nominal Turkish authority together with the exercise of power by SheikhJassim prevented any third parties - notably Britain and the Bahraini sheikhs - from exercising
any form of authority in the peninsula during the period from 1871 to 1915 18.
3. The British presence in the Gulf
2.11 The British began entering into treaties with the local sheikhly powers from 1820
onwards . Although ostensibly for the purpose of preventing piracy and protecting trade
routes, these treaties allowed the British to increase their influence in the internal affairs of
some of the local sheikhs, as was notably true in the case of Bahrain. As from 1871 onwards,
the British adopted a "hands off" policy with respect to the Ottoman presence in Qatar, there
being a tacit understanding that they would not interfere in Qatar, provided that the Ottomans
would not interfere in Bahrain.
4. The Persian claim to sovereignty over Bahrain
2.12 In 1622 the Persians had expelled the Portuguese from Bahrain and held possession until
1783. From 1843 the Persian Government renewed its claim to sovereignty over Bahrain . In 20
response, the British decided to resist by force any attempt of the Persian Government to
establish troops on the island of Bahrain and refused to recognize its claims. However, the
Persian claim was renewed regularly, in particular in 1869, when the British deposed the
Ruler of Bahrain, and again in the 1920s. This claim was dropped only in 1970, one year prior
to the end of the British presence in Bahrain in 1971.
B. The internal context: existence of a tribal system
2.13 For purposes of the following discussion, it is helpful to bear in mind the fact that until
1923 for Bahrain and after World War II for Qatar, the type of government was "traditional",
as opposed to the "modern" type, which was characterised by the establishment of modern
administration along with greater British involvement in the domestic affairs of each country.
2.14 Thus, in the 19 thcentury neither Bahrain nor Qatar could be considered as States in the
modern sense of the word. At that time there were only tribal chiefs who endeavoured to
consolidate their position by developing their relations with other tribes and controlling the
trade networks. The functioning of this tribal system has been described as follows:
"As long as [the individual bedouin] is with his tribe, he must conform to certain rules, and he
takes part in all its deliberations, but he can at any time withdraw from its authority, if he
finds his opinions in a minority or his independence hampered.
...
The individual then is the basis, from which one should start in a review of the political
system of the desert... he is free of all control, whether from tax-gatherer or policeman, and he
is obliged to contribute nothing, not even his services in time of war, to his neighbours. It is
however immensely to his advantage to yield a little of this absolute independence, for the
sake of protection, for he cannot practically live alone, or he would be pillaged by the men of
other tribes, who have a natural right to despoil him.
...The system of government is a simple one. Each tribe or section of a tribe is under the
nominal rule of a sheykh, chosen by vote; and there is no qualification required either in the
electors or the elected. Common prejudice, nevertheless, is in favour of the supreme power
being entrusted to members of certain families; and the sheykh is usually chosen out of these.
A certain amount of wealth is necessary too in a sheykh, for on him the principal burden of
hospitality falls; and the qualities for governing, which seem to be hereditary everywhere, are
fully recognised as such in the Desert...
...
Each tribe, in fact, is a separate nation with its own rights of peace and war, and its own
political independence" .21
2.15 It should however be borne in mind that it was difficult for outsiders to determine what
the true situation was on the ground. This has been highlighted by the Gazetteer of Arabian
Tribes, which tells the story of Arabia's tribes from the mid-nineteenth century to the mid-
twentieth century:
"A word of caution, however. Few tribespeople could read or write before the 1950s. Most of
the written records come from European travellers, British administrators and oil company
employees - outsiders. These outsiders were not always told the truth. 'Front men' were
appointed by tribes to deal with these new power claimants, while real power remained
inviolate and hidden...
To compound the problem, European officials, with their preconceived cultural attitudes and
over-respect for hierarchies tended to assume that tribal structures were permanent. In reality
structures changed all the time, depending on the ever-changing relationship between shaikhs
and tribespeople. Sections turned into independent tribes at times of weak centralised
authority, and confederations turned into single units at times of strong leadership...
Most of the Europeans in Arabia were unable to penetrate into the true tribal society: either
because, like the travellers and explorers, they were more interested in places than people; or
because, like the policeman and the administrator, they constantly sought to impose their
concept (and convenient hierarchy) on the tribe" . 22
1. Qatar
2.16 Until the development of oil in relatively recent times, the tribes in Qatar could be
divided into two groups. One was composed of the settled tribes (hadar), concentrated in
towns and villages along the coast, and the other of nomadic tribes (bedu) living in tents.
Some of the latter were partially nomadic, others primarily nomadic. They frequented mainly
23
the interior of Qatar, but also the borderlands and the coastal sides of the peninsula .
2.17 There is no substance whatsoever in the Bahraini arguments that Al-Thani authority in
Qatar in the nineteenth century and up until the 1930s was confined to a small area around
Doha, and that the interior of Qatar was essentially uninhabited. In fact, the extent of Al-
Thani authority with respect to the tribes living permanently or temporarily in Qatar may have
varied from time to time, but there is no doubt that it extended in some measure to the tribes
or tribal elements listed in footnote 23; there is equally no doubt that the interior of Qatar was
the preserve of most of the bedouin tribes referred to in that footnote.2.18 The tribal situation in Qatar has been described as follows as far as the bedouins were
concerned:
"The principal bedouin tribes that migrated to Qatar from Hasa were the Murrah and the
Ajman. Those that came from Trucial Oman were the Manasir; and the Naim, the other
important tribe, fluctuated between Bahrain and Trucial Oman. The pattern of the migratory
population of Qatar could thus be seen as almost mosaical in the power structure of the
peninsula; their vicissitudes caused considerable apprehension in the coastal towns and
villages, Doha being the most prominent. The Bani Hajir, for example, who were allied by
religion to the Wahhabis, paid the latter zakat, and at the same time received gifts from the
ruler of Qatar. The role of the bedouin in the political evolution of Qatar cannot be
underestimated, since they could hold most of the settled places at their mercy. The Murrah
were perhaps the most feared of all the tribes, with the Bani Hajir coming a close second" . 24
25
2.19 As will be seen in greater detail below , as time went by the Al-Thani fthily, a division
of the Maadhid tribe, who already dominated Doha by the end of the 18 century, became
progressively recognised as rulers of Qatar:
"Towards the end of the nineteenth century, the Al-Thani grew to prominence as the leading
family of Qatar. As their relationship with first the Ottomans and later the British government
of India developed, their position was given an added acknowledgement of authority...
...
The ruler governed in a paternal fashion. He was the sole source of power, and conducted all
the administration of Qatar himself. No government services or departments existed until very
recently. Although he governed with absolute authority, he would often consult his majlis
(assembly of notables) on matters of unusual importance. He was supposed to remain
accessible to his people since they had recourse to no one else for their petitions and
problems. He also had to reassure his people of his protection, particularly from the inland
bedouins, and often paid the latter large subsidies to obtain this security" 26.
2. Bahrain
2.20 Before 1923, the populations who were actually under the control of the Sheikh of
Bahrain or the Al-Khalifah family lived in the north (Manama, Muharraq) and centre (Rifa')
of Bahrain. Outside these areas, the Sheikh had more tenuous relations with the tribes.
2.21 The general administration of Bahrain under the rule of Isa bin Ali (1869-1932) has been
described as follows:
"The Government of Bahrain is of a loose and ill-organised character. It is ruled by a Shaikh -
at present Isa bin-Ali - who, with the assistance of a Wazir or principal adviser, disposes of
matters of political or general importance and personally governs, unless when absent on
sporting expeditions to the mainland, the island of Muharraq and the part of Bahrain Island
which is adjacent to Manamah. During four months in the hot weather the Shaikh has his seat
at Manamah: his headquarters during the rest of the year are at Muharraq Town, but he
indulges in frequent journeys. A brother, sons, nephews and other near relations hold fiefs in
various places, of which they have almost independent possession for life; upon these estates
they collect taxes for their own behoof and exercise magisterial and seignorial jurisdiction.The most important semi-independent holding of this sort at the present time is in the hands of
the Shaikh's brother Khalid; it includes the islands of Sitrah and Nabi Salih, as well as all the
villages on the east side of Bahrain Island to the 27uth of Khor-al-Kabb and the inland
villages of Rifa-ash-Sharqi and Rifa-al-Gharbi" .
This citation demonstrates that in the 19 century the Sheikhs of Bahrain were far from
exercising control over the whole of Bahrain. In addition, it may be noted that no mention is
made of any control that the Al-Khalifah sheikhs might have had over the towns of Zellaq and
Budaiya, on the west coast of Bahrain, which were held by the Dowasir tribe . 28
C. Establishment by the Al-Thani of authority and control over Qatar
1. The policy of the Al-Thani
2.22 As Qatar has already shown in its Memorial, by the 1850s Mohamed bin Thani, the
Sheikh of Bida, had established himself as the paramount sheikh in Qatar and had even
entered into relations with the Wahhabi Amir for the purpose of protecting his territories . At 29
that time, Qatar was far from being closely controlled by the Sheikhs of Bahrain, who
maintained a claim to authority over the territory, and on several occasions the Qatari tribes
30
revolted against attempts to impose Bahraini authority over them .
2.23 As has also been seen, the separation of Qatar from Bahrain was formally recognised by
the British in 1868 31. Thereafter, Sheikh Mohamed bin Thani and, particularly, his son Sheikh
Jassim, undertook a policy of consolidation of their rule over the whole of Qatar, relying on
the tribal system and often playing off against each other the various foreign powers in the
area. This policy has been described as follows:
"For the next forty years [following the Ottoman occupation of Hasa], Qasim (sometimes
referred to as Jassim) bin Muhammad had to balance the power of the Ottomans against the
growing British fears of Ottoman encroachment on their interests in the Gulf... Although the
results sometimes left Qasim in a precarious and vulnerable position, his tenacity ultimately
32
brought rewards to Qatar and the Al-Thani" .
2. The establishment and consolidation of Al-Thani authority
a) General authority prior to the Ottoman presence
33
2.24 The origins of the Al-Thani family have been described as follows:
"Somewhere towards the end of the seventeenth century the Ma'adid (which included the
forebears of the Al Thani Family) and the closely related Al Bu Kawara migrated from
Ashayqir in Washm first to Jabrin, from where they migrated onwards to al-Sikak/Sakak and
to Salwa near the base of the Qatar Peninsula; the Ma'adid initially settled in the former and
the Al Bu Kawara in the latter. They soon moved on to the prospering north, the Ma'adid
grouping settling in the Zubara area and nearby Ruways (then the Jalahima 'capital') and the
Al Bu Kawara towards the north-east, where they started to develop a fairly important
settlement at Fuwayrit in the vicinity of the Musallam centre at al-Huwayla... settlement in the
north-eastern corner of Qatar was intensifying when the Al Khalifa moved to Bahrain, and it
was to Fuwayrit that the eponymous Thani (b. Muhammad b. Thamir b. 'Ali) moved when the
34
Zubara area was ruined" .2.25 Mohamed bin Thani subsequently left Fuwayrat and settled in Doha, of which he became
the governing sheikh, rising to the position of paramount sheikh of Qatar by the 1850s . In 35
his Narrative of a Year's Journey through Central and Eastern Arabia (1862-63), written at a
time when the Sheikhs of Bahrain still claimed nominal authority over Qatar, Palgrave
reported that:
"Ebn-Thanee, the governor of Bedaa', is indeed generally acknowledged for head of the entire
province, which is itself dependent on the Sultan of 'Oman; yet the Bedaa' resident has in
matter of fact very little authority over the other villages, where everyone settles his affairs
with his own local chief, and Ebn-Thanee is for those around only a sort of collector-in-chief,
or general revenue-gatherer [for the Al-Thani family], whose occupation is to look after and
to bring in the annual tribute on the pearl fishery. Mohammed-el-Khaleefah has also a sort of
control or presidential authority in Katar, but its only exercise in the hands of this worthy
seems to be that of choosing now and then a pretty girl... on whom to bestow the brief
honours of matrimony for a fortnight or a month at furthest, with a retiring pension
afterwards" 3.
37
2.26 Thus, even prior to the events of 1867 and 1868 , Mohamed bin Thani was governor of
Bida and acknowledged as head of the entire province of Qatar. When in 1868 the British
entered into agreements with Sheikh Ali bin Khalifah and Sheikh Mohamed bin Thani,
respectively, Sheikh Mohamed bin Thani's position as Chief of Qatar gained formal
recognition:
"After... the devastation of Doha and... Wakrah in 1867, the British decided to resort to
Draconian measures to impose peace in the region. They forced out the ruler of Bahrain,
Muhammad b. Khalifah, and replaced him with his more docile brother, Ali; and, in
September 1868, they sent the Political Agent in the Gulf, Colonel Pelly, to Qatar to hold
direct talks with the local people. Even at the time the visit must have been seen as an historic
occasion. For it signalled the ending of Britain's treatment of Qatar as a dependency of
Bahrain and the first recognition of Qatar as a place in its own right. For the Al-Thani, too,
the meeting was historic since it was Shaikh Muhammad b. Thani who received the Resident
on behalf of 'all the shaikhs and tribes of Guttar' and who signed a Treaty of Maritime Peace
precluding further involvement in the feuds of the Khalifah family..." 3.
2.27 A further point with regard to the 1868 Agreements has become significant only because
of Bahrain's continual insistence in its Memorial that any reference to "Qatar" until
comparatively modern times simply meant Doha and that thus even when reference was
made, for example, to Mohamed bin Thani "of Guttur", this in no way implied that his
authority extended beyond Doha. In this respect it should be noted that the Agreement signed
with Mohamed bin Thani made a clear distinction bet39en the two, Mohamed bin Thani "of
Guttur" promising "to return to Dawka [Doha]" .
b) General authority following arrival of the Ottomans in 1871
2.28 It will be remembered that in 1871-1872 the Ottoman40had entered Qatar and established
a garrison at Bida at the invitation of Sheikh Jassim . They had also prepared maps which
showed the boundary between Qatar and Bahrain and which were seen and apparently
approved by the British authorities . For Sheikh Jassim, the Ottoman presence had the
desired effect of preventing outside intervention, notably by Britain, Bahrain and the
Wahhabis, in the area thus demarcated by the Ottomans as comprising Qatar, i.e., the wholepeninsula and adjoining islands . Indeed, as will be seen in more detail below, although the
Ottomans did not establish a permanent garrison in Qatar elsewhere than in Doha, they were
well aware of the extent of the territory forming the kaza of 43tar, and did from time to time
go to other parts of the peninsula and to the Hawar islands .
2.29 The Ottoman presence did little to change the political situation in Qatar, in particular
insofar as the status of the Al-Thani sheikhs was concerned. Lorimer commented as follows:
"Except in the internal affairs of Qatar, especially the administration of the chief town and its
immediate environs, little or no change was produced by the presence of a Turkish post at
Dohah; tribal relations generally continued on the same footing as formerly and the Al-Thani
44
Shaikhs of Dohah were still the principal factor in politics" .
Indeed, far from diminishing Al-Thani authority, the Ottoman presence helped consolidate it,
in particular by the appointment of Sheikh Jassim as kaimakam of the kaza of Qatar in 1876,
and as Ottoman governor of Doha in 1879. Conversely, the appointment as kaimakam of
Sheikh Jassim, who wielded the real power in the country, helped the Ottomans assert their
nominal authority over the whole peninsula despite their limited physical presence.
2.30 Thus, although the Ottomans' only garrison in Qatar was at Doha, they were able, via the
authority personally exercised by Sheikh Jassim, their kaimakam, to claim jurisdiction over all
the areas where he exercised such authority and, while the British from time to time purported
to deny Ottoman jurisdiction over the whole of Qatar, they asserted neither their own nor
Bahrain's jurisdiction over the place, thereby tacitly acknowledging both the Ottoman
presence and the control of the Al-Thani sheikhs in Qatar.
2.31 The British attitude may be seen in a letter of 28 August 1873 from Colonel Ross, the
British Political Resident, according to which, although the matter of sovereignty over Qatar
had apparently never been formally decided, the Turkish authorities had established an
influence over the Qatar coast as far as the Odeid boundary - in other words, from the south-
west of the Qatar45eninsula (in the vicinity of Dawhat Salwa) as far as the extreme south-east
of the peninsula . In a subsequent letter Colonel Ross again pointed out that "Since the
Turkish occupation of El Hassa, the whole line of coast as far as Odayd has fallen under
Turkish influence" 46.
2.32 Indeed, in a Government of India memorandum on Ottoman jurisdiction along the
Arabian coast of the Gulf, dated 22 May 1879, reference was made to a note of 28 July 1871
from the Foreign Secretary, Mr. Aitchison, according to which:
"It is a matter of absolute indifference whether these quasi-independent tribes are sovereign or
absolutely controlled by Turkey... There is nothing... in our maritime position to call for our
interference on land... I think it would be rather an advantage than otherwise to establish a
firm Turkish rule along the coast" .47
2.33 Again, in a letter from the India Office of 17 September 1879, the following is stated:
"Provided, however, that no obstacles be interposed to any operations which may be
necessary to preserve the peace of the seas and to punish marauders, and that no interference
is attempted either with Bahrein, or the trucial Chiefs from Odeid to Ras-el-Khymah, or withMuscat, Lord Cranbrook does not consider that exception need be taken to the proceedings of
the Turks at any point of the coast north of Odeid.
In expressing this opinion, his Lordship does not forget that the Government of India would
restrain the Porte from extending its influence beyond Ojair; but, subject to the conditions
above stated, Lord Cranbrook does not see any sufficient reason for objecting to the
establishment of such relations between the Turkish authorities in El Hassa and the tribes of
the Guttur peninsula to the north of Odeid, as may be agreeable to the parties concerned" . 48
The India Office noted that Colonel Ross had concluded in 1879 that:
"The Turkish Government may... with some reason argue that their present actual position on
this coast does involve, constructively, domination over the entire tract lying between Ojair
and El Bidaa. Such a claim would, of course, be affected by the existence of any British rights
or obligations on the coast referred to. But it is not held that the British Government has
engagements, as concerns this particular tract, of a nature to constitute an obligation to oppose
the full establishment of Turkish authority therein; nor has it seemed probable that opposition
would be offered on other grounds. We have, in fact, rather prepared the way for recognition
of the eventual establishment of Turkish rule by gradually withdrawing from active
supervision and control over this portion of the mainland coast" . 49
2.34 Alongside nominal Ottoman control, the British also recognised Sheikh Jassim's
authority, holding him responsible for maintaining order in Qatar and preventing piracy from
Qatari ports. In this connection Bahrain has not failed to point out that on one occasion Sheikh
Jassim disclaimed this responsibility when he was requested by the British to keep order
50
along the whole coastline of Qatar . However, it has been suggested that this disclaimer was
merely a part of Sheikh Jassim's policy of playing off the great powers against each other:
"This particular statement could have been made to avoid responsibility for reported cases of
piracy in Qatar that the British representative was investigating, for there is no doubt that it
was during the Ottoman period that Qasim extended the authority of the Al-Thani throughout
the peninsula of Qatar. Three factors combined to enable this to take place. The first and most
important of these was the complexity of Anglo-Ottoman relations. While the British
Government never officially accepted the Porte's claim of sovereignty over Qatar, it avoided
any possibility of jeopardising its delicate relations with the Ottomans at a time when British
policy was to maintain the territorial integrity of the Ottoman Empire in order to preserve the
balance of power in Europe. The 'vexed question' of Qatar, as it was referred to by Foreign
Office officials, conflicted with another, equally important, aspect of British policy: the
maintenance of the Gulf as a British lake which provided a vital link in the route to India. This
clash of interests was reflected in the opposing attitudes towards Qatar of the Foreign Office
in London and the Government of India in Delhi ... The resulting situation was a curiously
nebulous attitude on the part of British officials: while never actually accepting the de jure
rule of the Porte in Qatar, they tacitly acknowledged the de facto situation, consequently
steering clear of any embarrassing confrontation, an attitude echoed by the Ottomans who
repeatedly claimed sovereignty over both Bahrain and Qatar.
The second factor was the personality and character of Qasim himself. A headstrong,
sometimes rash man, he also displayed great tenacity and courage. While it is doubtful that he
was aware of the many aspects of Anglo-Ottoman relations, he seemed to know intuitively the
value of setting off the two powers against each other. His actions often had him walking atightrope, but he finally emerged in a far more powerful position than the one he had inherited
from his father.
The third factor was the numerous claims made by the Al-Khalifah for sovereignty over
Zubarah. These claims led to armed clashes in which Britain and the Porte became involved.
Both powers, however, sought to avoid the very real dangers of direct confrontation by
51
reaching compromises" .
2.35 British reports on the status and position of Sheikh Jassim and his sons were issued in the
period 1902-1904. On 7 March 1902 the Political Resident wrote that:
"Sheikh Jasim lives in the interior of Katr...
It would be possible to arrange that Sheikh Ahmad should be interviewed at some place in
52
Katr, say, at Zobara, where an interview could be held without interference" ,
and on 26 April the Political Resident stated that if he
"... may be authorised to enter into an agreement with the Chief of Katar whereby his
independence is recognized and a promise of protection from interference by other Powers
given to him, on the condition that he is responsible for the maintenance of order in Katar and
for the prevention of piracies by sea, most satisfactory results may be expected to follow...
53
Sheikh Jasim is the actual Chief so far as the tribes are concerned ...".
2.36 As has already been seen, a Convention was signed by the British and the Ottomans in
1913 . While Bahrain contends that "what was at issue in the relevant part of the Anglo-
Ottoman negotiatio55 was the future of the Ottoman province of 'Qatr', in other words Doha
and its environs" , it is in fact quite clear, as will be seen below, that the negotiations for the
Convention concerned the whole geographical entity of Qatar . 56
57
2.37 Again, when it comes to discuss the 1916 Anglo-Qatari Treaty , which was entered into
following the final departure of the Ottomans, Bahrain once again asserts that in signing this
Treaty the British formally recognised the exercise of authority by the Al-Thani "in the area
around Doha Town" and no further . In this connection, Bahrain persists in referring to the
"Ottoman administrative unit of Qatar", ignoring both the fact that such administrative unit
extended much further than Doha and its environs, and also the fact that Qatar had been
clearly understood by both the British and the Turks in 1913 (and indeed much earlier) as
comprising the whole peninsula. Further, the text of the 1916 Treaty itself speaks of the Ruler
of Qatar's "territories", "frontiers" and "ports", elements which are clearly inconsistent with
Bahrain's proposition that Al-Thani rule was recognised only over a few square kilometres;
and it may also be noted that, like the Agreement of 12 September 1868, the Treaty refers to
both Al Bidaa and Qatar, a clear indication that the two are not synonymous 59.
2.38 As Qatar will now show, in addition to the general assertion and recognition of Al-Thani
authority over the whole of Qatar, there were, contrary to Bahrain's repeated contention, many
instances of effective exercise of Al-Thani authority elsewhere than in Doha.
c) Al -Thani authority on the Hawar islands2.39 As has already been seen, when the Ottomans performed their surveys and drew up maps
on the basis of those surveys in the 1860s, showing the boundary between Qatar and Bahrain,
60
the Hawar islands were always included as part of Qatar . Indeed, Qatar has provided
evidence that by the time of the Ottoman arrival in Qatar, the Hawar islands were recognised
by third parties and by the fishermen who visited them as being under Al-Thani control . 61
2.40 Once the Ottomans had established their presence in Qatar at the invi tation of Sheikh
62
Jassim, they raised their flag on Hawar, without any objection from the British . They
subsequently undertook further surveys and, in particular, produced maps of the various
dwellings on Hawar . On several occasions following the arrival of the Ottomans, Sheikh
Jassim's banner was raised on the main Hawar island, and a representative was sent to collect
64
levies from the fishermen who used the place, on behalf of Sheikh Jassim . The Al-Thani
continued to exercise their authority on Hawar following the departure of the Ottomans, and
on several occasions Sheikh Hamad bin Abdulla himself, Sheikh Jassim's grandson, visited
the islands .
d) Al-Thani authority in and around Zubarah
2.41 A full rebuttal of Bahrain's arguments relating to Zubarah is contained in Chapter V
below. In the present section, Qatar's intention is simply to highlight a few omissions of
which Bahrain is guilty in its attempt to show that the Al-Thani did not exercise any authority
in the "Zubarah region".
2.42 A first omission relates to the events which occurred in 1874, when several hundred Beni
Hajir bedouins attempted to seize boats from the villagers of northern Qatar with which to
attack Bahrain, in sympathy with the Al-Khalifah dissident Nasir bin Mubarak, and
encouraged by the Ottomans. However, the Beni Hajir were prevented from obtaining boats
by the intervention of Mohamed bin Thani 66, a fact which Bahrain has failed to mention.
2.43 Significantly, Bahrain has also omitted from its Memorial any explanation of the events
which took place in Zubarah four years later. Thus, although it mentions the destruction of the
town of Zubarah in 1878, it fails to mention that prior to this destruction the British had
complained to the Turks about disorders and piratical activities occurring in and around
Zubarah and requested that they take action against the place, but that before the Turks could
67
do so, Sheikh Jassim had taken the necessary action himself . This event is further evidence
that Sheikh Jassim, rather than the Turks, was the effective power in Qatar at the time, and
that his authority extended to Zubarah.
2.44 Bahrain's assertion that the Al-Thani did not exercise any authority in the Zubarah region
is again belied by the events of 1895. In that year, 1500 members of the Al bin Ali tribe
moved over to Qatar from Bahrain to settle at Zubarah, with the support and encouragement
of Sheikh Jassim and the Turks. Panic mounted in Bahrain because it was feared that Zubarah
would be used as a base for attacking the island. As a preventive measure to protect Bahrain,
the British destroyed forty-four native craft assembled at Zubarah. Thereafter the British
imposed upon Sheikh Jassim the payment of a fine, and when Sheikh Jassim refused to pay
this fine his fleet was also destroyed by the British. Nevertheless, these events served to
consolidate yet further the authority of the Al-Thani in Zubarah:
"But the defeat held unexpected gains. The British Government realised how close they had
come to an armed conflict with the Ottomans, and wanted to make sure there would be norepetition of events. The Resident was consequently instructed to warn the ruler of Bahrain
against interfering in the affairs of Qatar. This was, of course, an implicit recognition of the
rights of the Al-Thani in Zubarah. At almost the same time, but without the knowledge of the
warning to Bahrain, Qasim sought to strengthen his hold on the town. He was successful in
influencing those members of the Naim tribe who still lived in Zubarah to transfer their
allegiance from the Al-Khalifah to the Al-Thani" . 68
e) Al-Thani authority in the south-west of Qatar
2.45 By 1905 it was clear that the Al-Thani had also established their authority in the south-
west of the peninsula. When in the summer of that year the son of the Wahhabi Amir visited
"districts adjoining Qatar", including the wells of Araiq a few miles to the north-east of the
foot of Dawhat Salwah, he was warned by Sheikh Ahmad, Sheikh Jassim's brother, not to
cross the border of Qatar .69
2.46 The Al-Thani were also active in imposing order among the Bedouin on their
southwestern border. In April 1905 Sheikh Ahmad led a raid of Al Murra and Al
Makhadhdhaba (Beni Hajir) against the Ajman, Amayir and Al Muhammad (Beni Hajir) in
the Jafura desert 7. In July 1906 Sheikh Abdullah bin Jassim led raids against bedouin near
Salwa and Sufayra, and Sheikh Jassim arrested Manasir robbers who had attack71 the mail
convoy on the darb al-sa'i (the route from Doha to al-Hasa) near Salwa . In the same year the
long-standing feud between Qatar and the Ajman was brought to a conclusion by the
restoration of captured camels to Qatar, and friendly alliances were concluded between
72
Sheikh Jassim and the Chiefs of the Al Murra (Ibn Shuraym) and Beni Hajir (Ibn Shafi) . In
1909 there were further Bedouin raids about Hasa and southwestern Qatar and Sheikh Jassim
sent Sheikh Abdullah to retaliate against the Ajman . 73
f) Al-Thani authority in the interior
2.47 Al-Thani authority in the interior of the peninsula rested on the careful management of
alliances with semi-nomadic bedouin tribes.
2.48 In 1875 it was reported that Sheikh Jassim subsidised and maintained the Beni Hajir as
almost a standing army: 200 armed Beni Hajir tribesmen were then living semi-permanently
in Doha while a further 300 camped close to the town 7. Because of the close association of
the Beni Hajir with Nasir bin Mubarak, a dissident member of the Al-Khalifah family, the
British tended always to view Sheikh Jassim's support for them in terms of a threat to
Bahrain, but in fact there was very little to indicate that Jassim was ever seriously interested in
invading Bahrain; rather, his concern was with the unity of Qatar 75.
2.49 Fears of an impending attack on Doha by the Abu Dhabi forces in 1881 caused a general
mobilisation in Qatar, demonstrating the strength and breadth of support for Sheikh Jassim in
the face of an outside enemy. About 4000 men came to his aid from Fuwayrit, Khawr Shaqiq,
Wakra, and the Al-Naim and Qubaysat tribes:
"They say even the Persians in El Bidaa went to his assistance and had a separate standard.
The Al Bookoowarah and Amamerah [from Fuwayrat, but who were visiting Bahrain]
proceeded most quickly from Bahrain also to assist him" . 762.50 In 1891 an open rift developed between Sheikh Jassim and the Turks over the Turkish
plan to establish a customs post at Doha and to appoint a Turkish assistant kaimakam. In order
to deal with the problem, the Vali of Basra arrived at Doha in February 1893, travelling
overland accompanied by Turkish cavalry and troops. Sheikh Jassim, who was camping in the
interior, refused to meet him but sent his brother Ahmad to negotiate. Ahmad was seized by
the Turks, who sent a force to Wajba to compel Jassim's attendance. However, these troops
were ambushed by Sheikh Jassim's bedouin army on 3 April 1893 and a large number were
killed. A second battle took place about two weeks later in which many lives were lost on
both sides . The consequences of these events have been described as follows:
"Qasim's popularity and reputation in Qatar as a man of valour and strength grew further
when the Ottomans had no choice but to grant him a full pardon. His authority was
completely established, and although he chose to live in semi-retirement for the rest of his
life, no one ever questioned his position as ruler. His brother, and later his sons, deputised for
him in all matters that concerned relations with the Turks, but his decisions remained the most
important. He had obviously done much for Qatar besides giving it a more independent status;
he had also contributed to the beginning of its development as a state, instituting several
social and economic measures to unify Qatar. Once his position was more secure throughout 78
the peninsula, for example, he constructed roads to connect the main towns of Qatar" .
D. The absence of Al-Khalifah authority in Qatar
2.51 In order to build up its fanciful image of the Al-Khalifah family's power, Bahrain
conveniently forgets many events that occurred during the 19 and early 20 centuries. For
example, no mention is made in Bahrain's Memorial of the period from 1783 to 1820, when
Muscat, the Wahhabis and Persia all vied for control over the island of Bahrain, and when the
Al-Khalifah from time to time acknowledged their submission to one or other of these
powers 79. Nor is any mention made of the later attempts on Bahrain by Muscat, the Wahhabis
and the Egyptians which were rebuffed only because of intervention by the British who,
following signature of the 182080eneral Treaty of Peace, took action each time in order to
preserve peace in the region . Similarly, Bahrain makes no reference to its acknowledgement
of Egyptian supremacy in 1839 and its payment of tribute to the Egyptians in that year . 81
Bahrain further ignores the numerous internal conflicts by which the Al-Khalifah family was
riven, in particular during the period from 1840 to 1860, when the two co-rulers were 82
constantly vying with each other and expelled each other in turn from the country . Bahrain
also chooses to mention neither the various inroads into the Qatar peninsula by the Wahhabis
and Muscat, nor the use of Qatar territory by Rahmah bin Jaber, a dissident member of the Al-
Utub tribe, for his attacks on Bahrain, nor the fact that exiled members of the Al-Khalifah
family also used Qatar as a foreign base for preparing to retake Muharraq.
2.52 It is therefore hardly surprising that Bahrain provides no evidence whatsoever for its
sweeping statement that "the territorial extent of the authority held by the Al-Khalifa over the
inhabited section of the Qatar Peninsula encompassed both the Zubarah region and the region
around Doha Town as well as all the territory in between" . This statement simply takes no
account of the facts set out above nor of the various uprisings by Qatari tribes against the Al-
84
Khalifah, and it conflicts with the realities of tribal life at the time in the peninsula .
2.53 In fact, Al-Khalifah influence in Qatar dwindled progressively from the time they moved
their headquarters to Bahrain in 1783 : 85"From the 1780s to the mid 1800s, the Al Khalifas became involved in a complex struggle to
maintain control of both Bahrain and Qatar. The Al Khalifas faced a steadily greater challenge
from the Al Thanis, a tribe that had lived in Qatar for nearly 200 years and had migrated from
the Najd in the Arabian Peninsula. The Al Thanis... emerged as the leading family in eastern
and southern Qatar in the 1850s, after the Al Khalifas migrated to Bahrain and began to
compete with Al Khalifas for control over the Qatari peninsula.
This struggle occurred at a time when the Britis86 Turks, Omanis, Iranians and other Arab
families were competing to control the Gulf" .
2.54 In its Memorial Bahrain seeks to reduce the events of 1867 and 1868, referred to above 87,
to a rebellion by tribal chiefs in Doha and its environs against the level of taxation imposed by
Bahrain. It also seeks to give the impression that this rebellion was repressed by the British,
who compelled the rebellious tribal chiefs to recognise the authority of the Ruler of Bahrain . 88
2.55 In fact, the true story, as explained in greater detail below, is quite different . Far from
simply lending assistance to Bahrain in order to compel a few unruly tribesmen from the
Doha area to acknowledge their submission to Al-Khalifah authority, Britain's first move was
to take punitive measures against Bahrain. It deposed Mohamed bin Khalifah as Ruler of
Bahrain and established Ali bin Khalifah as Ruler in his place, signing an agreement with the
latter on 6 September 1868 whereby he undertook to hand over all war vessels, to pay a heavy
fine, to make over Mohamed bin Khalifah to the British if he returned to Bahrain, and in
general to preserve the peace at sea. This can hardly be construed as British support for Al-
Khalifah authority in Qatar.
2.56 It was only after this first Agreement had been secured that the Political Resident moved
on to Qatar to sign an Agreement with Mohamed bin Thani, described as the "Chief of
Guttur". That Agreement neither states nor implies any acknowledgment by Mohamed bin
Thani of any Bahraini authority either over himself or over any part of the territory of Qatar.
2.57 Despite this recognition of Al-Thani authority in Qatar and the corresponding absence of
Al-Khalifah authority, the Al-Khalifah continued after 1868 to raise claims with regard to
Zubarah. As will be seen below, such claims were always rejected by the British . 90
2.58 Furt91rmore, Zubarah was destroyed in 1878. With regard to the events that occurred in
that year , an author much relied on by Bahrain has written as follows:
"... in 1878 Zubarah was finally destroyed by the Al-Thani Shaykh of Dohah, who thereby
confirmed his control over the whole of the Qatar peninsula" . 92
In other words, any residual connection that the Sheikhs of Bahrain might have had with the
peninsula disappeared after the events of 1878.
2.59 Indeed, Al-Khalifah control even over Bahrain itself was much more tenuous than
Bahrain would have the Court believe:
"The Al Khalifas maintained their rule over Bahrain from 1783-1861 - although they
sporadically acknowledged the authority of Iran, Muhammed Ali, the Ottoman Empire, and
even the Wahhabi Emirs of the Najd, when the Al Khalifas found this to be politically
expedient or useful as a way of avoiding attack. On several occasions, the Al Khalifas paidfealty to several outside states at once - balancing the power of one state against another until
the complex power struggles in the Gulf again allowed the Al Khalifas to assert their
93
independence" .
2.60 Bahrain is thus clearly exaggerating when it asserts before the Court that it has been
recognised as a sovereign entity since 1820. Although it may be said that the 1820 Treaty with
Britain laid down the initial foundations of the State of Bahrain, this hardly amounted to
sovereignty:
"Britain's involvement in local political affairs and her decision in 1820 to style herself
policeman of the Gulf opened a new phase in the history of the area, altering the formal
authority system. Whoever was granted the right to negotiate and sign a treaty with British
imperial authorities was likewise accorded a 'legitimate' right to the territory he, or his tribe,
happened to occupy at that time. It was through this series of treaties concluded in the
nineteenth century that the initial foundations of the small but sovereign states of the
contemporary Gulf were laid" . 94
2.61 In addition, it is to be recalled that following their arrival in Bahrain in 1783, the Al-
Khalifah divided into two factions: the Al-Salman branch at Manama and the Al-Abdullah at
Muharraq, each retaining a separate tribal administration . From that period up to 1846, when
the Al-Salman branch of the Al-Khalifah defeated the Al-Abdullah to become the sole rulers
of Bahrain, there was often civil strife between the two factions; and even after 1846, various 96
claims to Bahrain continued to be advanced by the Wahhabis, the Turks and the Persians .
The British took this opportunity to place Bahrain under their protection and from then on
intervened from time to time in its internal affairs. Thus, for example, in 1868 they deposed
97
Mohamed bin Khalifah as Ruler and replaced him with Ali bin Khalifah . In 1869 Ali was
killed in battle against an invasion force organised by Mohamed bin Khalifah, who had been
joined by Mohamed bin Abdullah, a relative from the Al-Abdullah branch who until then had
been ruling in Rifa town. Mohamed bin Abdullah took power shortly afterwards, only to be
deposed two months later by the British, who replaced him by Isa bin Ali 98. Isa bin Ali
99
himself was in turn forced by the British to abdicate in 1923 .
2.62 As to the territorial extent of Al-Khalifah authority, this was limited even on the main
island of Bahrain itself. Once the Al-Khalifah had arrived in Bahrain they occupied Manama,
Muharraq and Rifa', then they seized the palm-groves, located in the north of Bahrain island,
which were held by the Baharnah and Huwalah populations. These cultivated areas were
limited to the northern and western strips of the main island of Bahrain.
2.63 On the other hand, the Al-Khalifah at no time had any effective control over autonomous
tribal groupings engaged in fishing and pearling activities:
"Whereas palm cultivation was directly controlled by Al-Khalifa shaikhs of different orders,
pearl production fell almost entirely into the hands of enterprising Arab tribesmen. Each
group of them was an autonomous unit governed by a tribal chief or chiefs assisted by a
council composed of fellow tribesmen and other intimates. Within their domain, tribal chiefs
and councils ruled as sovereigns, maintaining order, settling disputes, holding court, and
resolving conflicts. Short of tax collection, their autonomy was no different from that of the
ruler and other Al-Khalifa shaikhs, each within his own estate or domain...
...Pearl production fell almost entirely into the hands of tribal settlements scattered along the
coastline in the northern half of the island... Each of these tribes had roots, alliances, and tribal
followings on the mainland, either in Qatar or in central Arabia. The power and influence
these tribes or segments of tribes exerted in Bahrain, and the autonomy they exercised, were
dependent upon the entire tribal power structure of the Gulf and Arabia. Al-Dawasir of
Budayya and Zallaq, for example, were the most powerful, influential, and autonomous of all
tribal groups because they were relatively numerous, wealthy, and, above all, able to mobilize
a wide variety of tribal alliances on the mainland. Other tribes exercised autonomy as granted
them by the Al-Khalifa ruler...
Within their settlements, tribal chiefs exercised complete autonomy
... Tribes or segments of tribes resisted interference in their affairs and considered it a
limitation of sovereignty. They dealt with the regime as sovereigns and threatened to
'emigrate' en mass from Bahrain at the slightest hint of intrusion or limitation of their freedom
of action. This was what happened with the Bin Ali tribe in 1895 after an irreconcilable
conflict with Al-Khalifa over a petty affair of invasion of100ivacy, and with Al-Dawasir in
1923 when their freedom of operation was restricted..." .
Section 2. The myth of Bahrain's maritime supremacy and the failure of its expansionist
policies
2.64 Among the major misstatements and omissions in Bahrain's presentation of the historical
background there must be included the fantasy of Bahrain's supremacy over the seas and
Bahrain's telling silence as to the failures of its expansionist policy.
2.65 Indeed, looking at the history of Bahrain one is struck by the fact that this small island in
the Gulf was, just like any other territorial entity in the area - no less but no more -
legitimately encouraging its fishermen to exploit the natural resources of the Gulf (fish and
pearls). It will be recalled that pearling banks were considered to be the common property of
the tribes bordering the Gulf and that members of those tribes traditionally enjoyed freedom
of fishing for swimming fish in the waters of the Gulf. But unlike other territorial entities in
the Gulf, Bahrain sought to invoke this feature of its economic life as a device for territorial
expansionism by always using the same argument. This was that it had acquired sovereignty
over islands or shoals in consequence of the use of these geographical features by members of
local tribes who were allegedly Bahraini subjects. In a word, it tried to utilise the private
economic activities of individuals it claimed to be its subjects as a basis of title to acquire
sovereignty over such features.
2.66 What the Bahrain Memorial carefully conceals is that this policy was based on the
arguments presently raised with Qatar as regards maritime features off the east coast of
Bahrain; and that the policy had completely failed in the context of the resolution of earlier
disputes between Bahrain and Saudi Arabia (or the Ottoman Empire) over the legal status of
similar features. Qatar will illustrate this by three examples: Zakhnuniya, the Lubainah islands
and Fasht Bu Saafa 10.
A. Zakhnuniya island
2.67 Zakhnuniya island (Jezirat Zakhnuniyah) is situated close to the mainland of what is now
Saudi Arabia; it lies immediately off the southern Hasa coast near the entry of the DawhatSalwa. It was claimed in 1909-1910 by the Ruler of Bahrain on the basis of exercise of
jurisdiction (which was not evidenced), building of a fort (which by then was in ruins) fifty
years previously, and use of the island by alleged Bahraini fishermen (Dowasir tribesmen).
2.68 The Hasa coast was at the time in the hands of the Ottoman Empire. The Ottoman
authorities based their own claim to Zakhnuniya exclusively on proximity to the mainland.
They never tried to justify their claim by any act of jurisdiction or occupation.
2.69 The validity of the Ottoman position was finally acknowledged by the British
Government when the Anglo-Ottoman Convention was concluded on 29 July 1913. Article 11
of that Convention reads as follows:
"The Ottoman sancak of Najd... ends in the south of the Gulf facing the island of al-
Zakhnuniyah which belongs to the said sancak" 102.
The Ruler of Bahrain was paid £1,000 in compensation for the waiver of his claim. Ultimately
Zakhnuniya was to become part of the territory of Saudi Arabia.
2.70 It will be seen therefore that this instance, far from reinforcing the claim of Bahrain to
Hawar, as argued by Bahrain in its Memorial 103, substantially weakens it. It shows that the use
of an island for fishing purposes - an activity which was open to all the tribes in the Gulf - by
some Dowasir tribesmen (whose allegiance to Bahrain was in any event doubtful) was
incapable of displacing and overriding the prior sovereign rights of the State to which the
island was closer.
B. The Lubainah islands
2.71 The Lubainah islands consist of two small rocky islets: a southern one, Lubainah al-
Saghirah or Bain-al-Saghir (lying between Bahrain and the Hasa coast at 26°10'16" N,
50°18'40" E within the territorial waters of the Bahraini island Umm Na'san) and a northern
one, Lubainah al-Kabirah or Bain-al-Kabir (lying nearer to the Hasa coast than to Bahrain at
26°15'08" N, 50°19'00" E).
2.72 Both islets were from time to time claimed by Bahrain on the following grounds: ancient
occupation, levy of taxes on all boats collecting turtleshell from the islands, a private sale
deed in respect of a part of the sea including these islets, the marking of the islets with
beacons and the fact that Article 13 of the above-mentioned Anglo-Turkish Convention of 29
July 1913 recognised Bahrain's sovereignty over both islets.
2.73 This claim was disputed however by the Saudi Government. Saudi Arabia, having been
in occupation of the Hasa coast since the beginning of 1913, considered that the Ottoman
Empire had no right to disclaim title to a territory which was no longer under its control and,
in any case, the Saudi Government never accepted that Saudi Arabia was bound by the 1913
Convention as a successor State. Saudi Arabia also denounced the evident weakness of the
other Bahraini arguments. Although from time to time it referred to use of the islets by its
own fishermen, Saudi Arabia essentially invoked proximity to support its claim to the
northern islet.
2.74 The solution eventually agreed upon between Saudi Arabia and Bahrain in their
Agreement of 22 February 1958 was the sharing of the islets: Lubainah al-Saghirah forBahrain and Lubainah al-Kabirah for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The text is essentially
declaratory in character. The solution was based on the proximity principle, Saudi Arabia
being given the islet closer to the mainland and Bahrain the one closer to its own shores. The
usual expansionist arguments of Bahrain were therefore totally disregarded.
C. Fasht Bu Saafa
2.75 Fasht Bu Saafa is located at approximately 26°58' N - 50°23' E10. This feature was
claimed by Bahrain during the negotiations with Saudi Arabia on the delimitation of their
respective continental shelves, on the following grounds: erection of beacon lights, erection of
markers, pearl fisheries and oil drilling by BAPCO.
2.76 Saudi Arabia, for its part, relied largely on the proximity principle, arguing that its
sovereignty extended to the places in dispute lying nearer to its own shores than to Bahrain's.
Saudi Arabia maintained with great tenacity all along its preference for attribution of islands
or shoals to the State to whose shores they lay closer.
2.77 The final settlement reached by the Agreement of 22 February 1958 relied on the
modified equidistance principle without taking into account the economic arguments
advanced by Bahrain. Saudi Arabia accepted to share the revenues obtained by the
Government in the area called the Fasht Bu Saafa hexagon, but it was specifically stated in
Article 2 of the Agreement that: "It is understood that this shall not impair the right of
sover105nty and administration of the Saudi Arabian Government in the above-mentioned
area" .
PART II THE HISTORICAL AND GEOGRAPHICAL BACKGROUND TO THE
DISPUTE 13
CHAPTER II MISSTATEMENTS AND OMISSIONS IN BAHRAIN'S
PRESENTATION OF THE HISTORICAL AND GEOGRAPHICAL
BACKGROUND 13
Section 1. Development of Al-Thani authority over the entire peninsula 13
A. The international context in the area 14
1. The Wahhabi presence in Qatar and Bahrain 14
2. The Ottoman presence in Hasa and Qatar 15
3. The British presence in the Gulf 16
4. The Persian claim to sovereignty over Bahrain 16
B. The internal context: existence of a tribal system 16
1. Qatar 18
2. Bahrain 20 C. Establishment by the Al-Thani of authority and control over Qatar 20
1. The policy of the Al-Thani 21
2. The establishment and consolidation of Al-Thani authority 22
a) General authority prior to the Ottoman presence 22
b) General authority following arrival of the Ottomans in 1871 23
c) Al-Thani authority on the Hawar islands 29
d) Al-Thani authority in and around Zubarah 29
e) Al-Thani authority in the south-west of Qatar 31
f) Al-Thani authority in the interior 31
D. The absence of Al-Khalifah authority in Qatar 33
Section 2. The myth of Bahrain's maritime supremacy and the failure of its
expansionist policies 37
A. Zakhnuniya island 39
B. The Lubainah islands 39
C. Fasht Bu Saafa 41
1 See, for example, BM, paras. 23-24.
2 See, for example, BM, para. 342.
3 See, BM, para. 64.
4 See, A.M.A. Hakima, History of Eastern Arabia, 1750-1800, Beirut, 1965, QCM, Annex
II.72, Vol. 2, p. 391; see, also, Z.M. Al Rashid, Su'udi Relations with Eastern Arabia and
'Uman (1800-1871), London, 1981, QCM, Annex II.69, Vol. 2, p. 377, at p. 379.
5 See, R.H. Thomas (ed.), Arabian Gulf Intelligence, Selections from the Records of the
Bombay Government, New Series, No. XXIV, 1856, QCM, Annex II.79, Vol. 2, p. 429.
6 See, J.B. Kelly, Eastern Arabian Frontiers, London, 1964, QCM, Annex II.73, Vol. 2,
p. 395.
7 See, J.G. Lorimer, Gazetteer of the Persian Gulf, Oman and Central Arabia, 1908 and 1915,
QM, Annex II.5, Vol. 3, pp. 249-250.
8 See, ibid., p. 263.9 See, QM, paras. 3.26, et seq.
10 See, Lorimer, op. cit., QM, Annex II.5, Vol. 3, p. 201.
11 See, ibid., p. 207.
12 Ibid.
13 See, QM, paras. 5.15, et seq. and QM, Annexes II.30, Vol. 5, p. 91, and III.7-III.10, III.14-
III.16 and III.19-III.20, Vol. 6, pp. 37, 41, 45, 51, 69, 75, 81, 93 and 99.
14 See, QM, paras. 3.43-3.44.
15 BM, para. 65; see, also, BM, Annex 66, Vol. 2, p. 279.
16 Lorimer, op. cit., QM, Annex II.5, Vol. 3, p. 211.
17 See, paras. 2.28, et seq., below.
18 See, paras. 2.30, et seq., below.
19 See, QM, paras. 3.6, et seq.
20 For an account of the Persian claim, see the "Memorandum on the separate Claims of
Turkey and Persia to Sovereignty over the Island of Bahrein" by E. Hertslet, which describes
Bahrain as "a small group of islands, three in number", QCM, Annex II.4, Vol. 2, p. 13. See,
also, the two Iranian maps depicting the extent of Bahrain, which are being deposited with the
Registry, pursuant to Article 50, paragraph 2 of the Rules of Court.
21 R. Trench (ed.), Gazetteer of Arabian Tribes, Archive Editions, 1996, QCM, Annex II.80,
Vol. 2, p. 433, at pp. 437-443.
22 Ibid., at pp. 435-436.
23 The earliest source of information on t ribes in Qatar is to be found in Annex II.13 to
Qatar's Memorial (Vol. 5, p. 5), which dates from 1638. In that document, the inhabitants of
Zubarah are listed as the Naim, Musallam, Twar, Hawajer, Beduins, Lisaud, freemen and
slaves. A further source is a letter of 1858 to Sheikh Zayed Bin Khalifah Al Bin Yas of Abu
Dhabi signed by three chiefs of tribes in Qatar and their Sheikh, Mohamed Bin Thani, where
it is indicated that Qatar extends in the south up to Al-Sila and beyond for the distance of half
a day's walk, and that the tribes living in Qatar included the Al-Bin-Hajer, Al-Moslamani,
Hassan Bin Bakheet, Al-Mizaree, Al-Rawashid, Al-Maharbah, Hawamil, Mroor and Qamzan
(QM, Annex II.18, Vol. 5, p. 37). Ten years later, the 13 September 1868 undertaking by
various chiefs of Qatar to pay the Chief of Bahrain an annual sum of money for payment on to
the Wahhabis, cited at page 55 of Bahrain's Memorial, refers to the Mahanda, Al Bu Aainen,
Nayim, Al Bu Kuwara, Keleb, Sudan, Maadhid, Mussallam and Amamera tribes (BM,
Annex 13, Vol. 2, p. 159). A report dated 16 August 1873 mentions the Chibisa, Maranareh,
Saleh, Hamadal and Naim tribes, all of whom are said to be living in Zubarah (QCM,
Annex II.2, Vol. 2, p. 5). In Lorimer's Gazetteer (QM, Annex II.4, Vol. 3, pp. 137-139), the
tribes and communities mentioned as being in Qatar are as follows: Al-Bu-Ainain, Al-Bin-Ali, Amamarah, Arabs of Najd, Baharinah, Baqaqalah, Dawasir, Hamaidat, Huwalah,
Khalaifat, Kibisah, Al-Bu-Kawarah, Maadhid, Madhahakah, Mahandah, Mananaah, Al-Bin-
Maqla, Al-Musallam, Negroes (free), Negroes (slaves, but not living in their masters' houses),
Negroes (slaves, living with their owners), Persians, Sadah, Sudan, Sulutah, Bani Yas of the
Al-Bu Falasah and Qubaisat sections. In the Handbook of Arabia of 1916 (QCM, Annex
II.68, Vol. 2, p. 373), the population of Qatar was said to fall into some 25 groups of which
the most numerous were as follows: Al bu 'Ainein, a clan of the Al Subaih sub-tribe of the
Beni Khalid, Al Bin 'Ali, Huwalah, Khaleifat, Al Bu Kuwarah, Ma'adhid, Mahandah, Sulutah,
negro slaves, free negroes, Arabs from Nejd, Baharinah, Persians, Beni Hajar, Ka'ban, Na'im,
Al Murrah, Manasir and 'Ajman.
24 R.S. Zahlan, The Creation of Qatar, London, 1979, QCM, Annex II.82, Vol. 2, p. 449, at
p. 452.
25 See, paras. 2.22, et seq., below.
26 Zahlan, op. cit., QCM, Annex II.82, Vol. 2, p. 449, at pp. 453-455.
27 Lorimer, op. cit., QM, Annex II.3, Vol. 3, p. 102.
28 See, also, paras. 3.82, et seq., below.
29 See, QM, para. 3.22 and QM, Annexes II.17 and II.18, Vol. 5, p. 33 and p. 37.
30 See, QM, paras. 3.19, et seq. and 3.30, et seq.
31 See, QM, para. 5.6; see, also, paras. 2.26 and 3.20, et seq., below.
32 Zahlan, op. cit., QCM, Annex II.82, Vol. 2, p. 449, at p. 461.
33 Bahrain asserts that the Al-Thani were of the Al bin Ali tribe (BM, para. 131) and that the
Al bin Ali remained loyal subjects of the Al-Khalifah after helping them to conquer Bahrain,
that however some of them fell out with the Ruler of Bahrain during a dynastic struggle, and
at some point thereafter, the Al-Thani family began to exercise influence in Doha as its
principal pearl merchants and tax collectors (BM, para. 132). In truth, the Al-Thani tribe is a
branch of the Al-Maadid: "According to Lorimer ... he belonged to the Maadhid section of the
Bani Tamim tribe consisting of the descendants of the eponymous Maadhid b. Musharraf,
overlord of the Jabrin oasis in central Arabia" (A. de L. Rush, Ruling Families of Arabia,
Qatar: The Ruling Family of Al-Thani, QCM, Annex II.77, Vol. 2, p. 421).
34 J.C. Wilkinson, Arabia's Frontiers: The Story of Britain's Boundary Drawing in the
Desert, 1991, QCM, Annex II.81, Vol. 2, p. 445.
35 See , QM, Annexes II.17 and II.18, Vol. 5, p. 33 and p. 37.
36 W.G. Palgrave, Narrative of a Year's Journey through Central and Eastern Arabia (1862-
63), London, 1865, QCM, Annex II.75, Vol. 2, p. 413.
37 See, QM, paras. 3.30, et seq.38 A. de L. Rush, op. cit., QCM, Annex II.77, Vol. 2, p. 421, at p. 424; emphasis added; see,
also, paras. 3.20, et seq., below.
39 QM, Annex II.28, Vol. 5, p. 83.
40 See, QM, paras. 3.43, et seq.
41 See, QM, paras. 5.15, et seq.
42 See, ibid., and paras. 2.8, et seq., above.
43 See, paras. 2.8, et seq., above, and 2.36, et seq., 2.39, et seq. and 3.40, et seq., below.
44 Lorimer, op. cit., QM, Annex II.5, Vol. 3, p. 210.
45 QCM, Annex II.3, Vol. 2, p. 11.
46 BM, Annex 20, Vol. 2, p. 174.
47 QCM, Annex II.1, Vol. 2, p. 1.
48 QCM, Annex II.8, Vol. 2, p. 35.
49 QCM, Annex II.7, Vol. 2, p. 27.
50 See, BM, para. 133.
51 Zahlan, op. cit., QCM, Annex II.82, Vol. 2, pp. 449, at pp. 462-463.
52 QCM, Annex II.13, Vol. 2, p. 71.
53 Saldanha, The Persian Gulf Précis, QM, Annex II.8, Vol. 4, pp. 235-236.
54 See, QM, paras. 3.55, et seq. and paras. 5.42, et seq.
55 BM, para. 194.
56 See, paras. 3.40, et seq., below.
57 BM, Annex 84, Vol. 3, p. 512.
58 See, BM, para. 221.
59 For a discussion of the 1916 Treaty, see, also, paras. 3.44-3.45, below.
60 QM, Annexes II.21-II.24 and II.30-II.35, Vol. 5, pp. 51, 55, 59, 65, 91, 95, 101, 105, 109
and 113.
61 QM, Annexes III.13, III.15, III.18 and III.21, Vol. 6, pp. 65, 75, 89 and 103.62 QM, Annex III.26, Vol. 6, p. 129.
63 See, Map No. 1, facing this page. See, also, QM, Annex III.37, Vol. 6, p. 173.
64 QM, Annexes III.36 and III.39-III.40, Vol. 6, pp. 169, 181 and 185.
65 QM, Annexes III.82, Vol. 6, p. 421 and III.175, Vol. 7, p. 385.
66 Saldanha, op. cit., QM, Annex II.7, Vol. 4, p. 59; see, also, para. 5.17 (1), below.
67 Saldanha, op. cit., QM, Annex II.7, Vol. 4, p. 62; see, also, para. 5.17 (2), below.
68 Zahlan, op. cit., QCM, Annex II.82, Vol. 2, p. 449, at pp. 465-466.
69 See, Lorimer, op. cit., QM, Annex II.5, Vol. 3, p. 242.
70 See, QCM, Annex II.15, Vol. 2, p. 83.
71 See, QCM, Annex II.16, Vol. 2, p. 93.
72 See, QCM, Annex II.17, Vol. 2, p. 103.
73 See, QCM, Annex II.18, Vol. 2, p. 113.
74 Saldanha, op. cit., QM, Annex II.8, Vol. 4, p. 197, and QCM, Annex II.9, Vol. 2, p. 43.
75 QCM, Annexes II.9 and II.14, Vol. 2, p. 43 and p. 75.
76 QCM, Annex II.11, Vol. 2, p. 59; see, also, QCM, Annex II.10, Vol. 2, p. 55.
77 Saldanha, op. cit., QM, Annex II.8, Vol. 4, p. 224.
78 Zahlan, op. cit., QCM, Annex II.82, Vol. 2, p. 449, at p. 469.
79 See, QM, para. 3.24 and Lorimer, op. cit., QM, Annex II.5, Vol. 3, pp. 247-255; see, also,
paras. 2.6 and 2.12, above.
80 See, QM, para. 3.25 and Lorimer, op. cit., QM, Annex II.5, Vol. 3, pp. 255-266.
81 See, QM, para. 3.25 and Lorimer, op. cit., QM, Annex II.5, Vol. 3, pp. 268-273.
82 See, QM, para. 3.26 and Lorimer, op. cit., QM, Annex II.5, Vol. 3, pp. 206 and 276-286.
83 BM, para. 121.
84 See, paras. 2.7 and 2.14, above.
85 See, QM, paras. 3.19, et seq.86 A.H. Cordesman, Bahrain, Oman, Qatar and the U.A.E. Challenges of Security, Boulder,
1997, QCM, Annex II.70, Vol. 2, p. 381.
87 See, para. 2.26, above.
88 See, BM, para. 127.
89 See, paras. 3.20, et seq., below.
90 See, paras. 5.14, et seq., below.
91 See, para. 5.17 (2), below.
92 K. Ferdinand, Bedouins of Qatar, London, 1993, QCM, Annex II.71, Vol. 2, p. 385.
93 Cordesman, op. cit., QCM, Annex II.70, Vol. 2, p. 381.
94 F.I. Khuri, Tribe and State in Bahrain, Chicago, 1980, QCM, Annex II.74, Vol. 2, p. 399,
at p. 401.
95 See, ibid., p. 402.
96 See, ibid., p. 403.
97 See, ibid., p. 404.
98 See, ibid., p. 405.
99 See, ibid., p. 411.
100 Ibid., pp. 406-407 and 408-410. These comments appear to apply to a period up until
1923.
101 See, also, QCM, Appendix 2, Vol. 5, p. 145. These features are shown on Map No. 2,
facing this page.
102 QM, Annex III.58, Vol. 6, p. 273.
103 BM, paras. 426, et seq.
104 See, QCM, Annex II.76, Vol. 2, p. 417.
105 QM, Annex IV.262, Vol. 12, p. 95.
__________
PART III THE HAWAR ISLANDS AND OTHER TERRITORIAL QUESTIONS
CHAPTER III
THE HAWAR ISLANDS
Section 1. Introduction
3.1 Qatar has already shown in its Memorial that it has original title to the Hawar islands, and
has described the various events indicating clearly consolidation of this title through its
recognition and confirmation by countries in the region including Bahrain itself, by the
Ottomans, and also by the British, certainly up to 1936 when Bahrain made a claim to the
Hawar islands soon after oil became a significant feature in the Gulf area . Qatar has also
shown how the British gave unjustified credence to this claim, and has set out2compelling
reasons why the British decision of 11 July 1939 is fundamentally flawed .
3.2 Bahrain, however, as shown above , has chosen to build up a fanciful image of the
Bahrain ruling family exercising "authority and control" not only over the Bahrain islands but
over the entire Qatar peninsula, its adjoining islands as well as "all the waters" between the
main Bahrain island to the west and the Zubarah coast and Hawar islands to the east . Bahrain
further claims that even after 1871, when the Ottomans arrived in Qatar, the authority of the
Al-Khalifah5Chiefs receded only from around Doha on the eastern coast of Qatar but not from
elsewhere . Bahrain in fact carries these fanciful assertions to the extreme in claiming that
despite the provisions of the Agreements of 1868, of the Anglo-Ottoman Convention of 1913
and the British-Qatar Treaty of 1916, there was no effective political entity called "Qatar" . 6
3.3 With regard to the Hawar islands, Bahrain claims to show that its title to these islands was
confirmed by the British "adjudication" of 1939, which it contends is res judicata. It further
claims that in any event, it has continuously exercised more than the appropriate level of
7
occupation and administration required by international law .
3.4 Qatar in its Memorial has already given compelling reasons for its submission that the
British decision of July 1939 to the effect that the Hawar islands belonged to Bahrain is
wrong and must be disregard9d. It will show later in this chapter how the plea of res judicata
is unavailable to Bahrain .
3.5 Bahrain's other assertion in support of its alleged title - that it has exercised "control and
authority" over the Qatar peninsula and the adjoining islands - is a remarkable and deliberate
attempt at distortion of the historical facts and is dealt with more fully elsewhere in this
Counter-Memorial . 10
3.6 Qatar has shown that the Al-Thani Chiefs had already established their influence and
authority in Qatar at least by the middle of the 19th century. After a flagrant breach of the
maritime peace following upon Bahrain's attempt to suppress by force an agitation in Qatar in
1867, the Al-Khalifah Chief of Bahrain and the Al-Thani Chief of Qatar were prevailed upon
to enter into separate Agreements with the British in 1868, undertaking to maintain the
maritime peace. Qatar will elaborate and explain in the next Section some of the well
documented historical facts and events leading up to the Agreements of 1868, the scope of
these Agreements and their significance for Qatar's title to the peninsula and the Hawar
11
islands . It will be shown that there is no substance in Bahrain's contention that theformalisation, at the time of the 1868 Agreements, of the arrangements for the payment of
tribute by the Qatar Chiefs to the Chief of Bahrain confirmed him as the sovereign authority
on the peninsula; the proposed payments had no effect on Qatar's title since they were for
onward transmission to the Wahhabi Amir and were in any event stopped altogether after
1871. The significance of the Anglo-Ottoman Convention of 1913 and the scope and intent of
some of the provisions of the Treaty of 1916 between Qatar and Britain as well as some other
facts will also be considered to show how Qatar's title to the peninsula and its adjoining
islands has been sustained over a long period . 12
Section 2. Qatari title to the Hawar islands prior to 1936 and its recognition by third
States
3.7 The Court will recollect that Qatar has submitted in its Memorial detailed evidence of the
territorial integrity of Qatar and its long-standing sovereignty over the Hawar islands . Such
evidence includes, apart from the Agreements of 1868:
- numerous Ottoman documents and maps showing the extent of the respective territories of
Qatar and Bahrain that clearly show the Hawar islands as part of Qatar,
- express recognition of Qatar's title to the Hawar islands by local rulers including the Rulers
of Abu Dhabi, Dubai and Saudi Arabia,
- similar recognition by Bahrain itself (with its Ruler seeking Qatari permission for Bahrainis
to enter Hawar),
- evidence from British archives and documents including Lorimer's description of the Hawar
islands as part of Qatar,
- recognition of the territories of Qatar (obviously understood to include the Hawar islands)
by the Anglo-Ottoman Convention of 1913,
- the description of the Hawar islands as part of Qatar in the British Admiralty Survey of
1915,
- the British-Qatar Treaty of 1916,
- numerous maps from renowned publishing houses in Europe similarly showing the Hawar
islands as part of Qatar,
- and a number of other documents in the British records which show that the Hawar islands
were always regarded by the British as part of Qatar right up until 1936.
3.8 There is additional evidence showing the Hawar islands as part of Qatar in a map
compiled after a geological survey of Qatar was carried out at the instance of the Anglo-
Persian Oil Company (APOC) in 1933 14.
3.9 An aerial reconnaissance by the Royal Air Force prior to the 1935 British assurance of
protection of Qatar territories against aggression from land is further evidence of this fact. It is
of particular significance that not only did the survey report cover Hawar and have a
photograph of Hawar attached to it , but that the British Political Agent in Bahrain, Lt. Col.Loch, accompanied the RAF team and in his letter dated 12 May 1934 reporting on the
17
reconnaissance of Qatar spoke about the flight having "proceeded over Hawar Island..." .
3.10 As indicated above, Bahrain has sought to challenge Qatar's title and assert its ownership
over the Hawar islands on two main grounds. Bahrain claims, firstly, that "the historical
genesis of Bahrain's title to the Hawar Islands is Bahrain's original dominan18 and authority
over all the territories in the Gulf of Bahrain and the Qatar peninsula" . It attempts to
demonstrate on the other hand that the Al-Thani Chiefs of Qatar had only a restricted area of
influence on the south-east coast of Qatar peninsula in and around Doha and that the land and
the waters as well as islands to the west of that area were somehow under Bahrain's "authority
and control"; and that Bahrain's authority met no opposition "whatsoever in the Qatar
peninsula" . Bahrain contends, secondly, that the Dowasir tribe who were "subjects" of the
Rulers of Bahrain had occupied the Hawar islands "on behalf of the Ruler of Bahrain" for
20
some 200 years and that this evidenced Bahrain's sovereignty over the island . While this
contention and certain other grounds mentioned by Bahrain are dealt with later in this
Chapter, it would be useful to begin by showing the lack of any historical or other factual or
legal basis for the first main contention put forward to support Bahrain's claim to the Hawar
islands based on its alleged "dominance and authority" over the whole of the Qatar peninsula.
Qatar will show that there has in fact been no such "dominance and authority" and that any
political connection between Bahrain and the peninsula as well as its adjoining islands ended
well over a century ago.
3.11 Qatar has shown in its Memorial the limited nature of Utubi presence on the Qatar
peninsula (near Zubarah) from 1766 to 1783 when the Al-Khalifah moved their headquarters
to Bahrain . There is hardly any evidence of the involvement of the Al-Khalifah Chiefs in the
territories of Qatar thereafter except for occasions when some members of the Al-Kh22ifah
family took refuge in the vicinity of Zubarah following internecine conflicts . As noted in
Chapter II above, by 1809 the Wahhabis had brought Qatar under their rule and Bahrain itself
succumbed to the powerful Wahhabi influence which was then directed from Zubarah in
23
Qatar ; and in 1810 the Wahhabi Governorship of Qatif, Qatar and Bahrain was instituted,
with its headquarters in Bahrain. As shown above, Wahhabi power and influence in the area
continued intermittently until 1860 . Furthermore, in the years following 1811, Rahmah bin
Jabr (whose hatred for the Utub of Bahrain was well known), in association with others,
including at times the Ruler of Muscat, engaged in various skirmishes with the Al-Khalifah
Sheikhs mainly from Qatar where "to the present day the western and northern coasts of Qatar
are dotted with the remains of forts attributed to Rahmah" 25.
3.12 When the Bahrain Sheikhs signed the General Treaty of Peace of 1820, the 26itish
appeared to think that the provisions of the Treaty also applied to Qatar . This in fact was
found not to be so. The provisions of the Treaty required ships belonging to the friendly Arab
signatories to fly a prescribed flag and carry a register signed by the Chief (Articles 3 and 5),
which had to be produced if a British vessel met them. However, upon a visit to Al Bida in
1823, the British Political Resident found that "the people seemed to know very little of the
conditions of the Treaty, and had neither flag nor register" for their boats 27. In fact, Bahrain, at
that period, far from being capable of exercising authority over extensive territories, was itself
described as a very weak and strife-torn entity 2.
3.13 Accordingly, Bahrain was itself constantly threatened from within, or under the control
or influence of, or threatened by, other powers in the area.3.14 It is instructive to note the view expressed by the First Assistant Resident in the Persian
Gulf in 1873, referring obviously to the period prior to 1868, when he stated:
"From what I have heard whilst living in Bahrein, I should say that some years ago the Naim,
together with many other of the Guttur tribes, were in certain ways dependencies of Bahrein;
but the amount of authority exercised by the rulers of Bahrein over Guttur seems to have
varied in proportion to the power of coercion those rulers possessed; if the Chief of Bahrein
29
was strong the tribes acknowledged his supremacy; if he was weak they denied it" .
Lorimer also states that the Sheikh of Bahrain's "suzerainty" over Qatar by the middle of the
19 century was more apparent than real . 30
3.15 Moreover, it is clear that around this time, such activities in Qatar as the Al-Khalifah
were able to engage in were of an oppressive nature and were leading to protests and
agitation. Mohamed bin Thani, in his capacity as Chief of the people of Qatar, in a
communication of 7 November 1854 to Imam Sayed Saeed, stated inter alia:
"We inform you, may your honour be sustained, that Al-Bida is all right, through your
prayers; and that the Al-Khalifah have been oppressing people a lot. You may not care about
the people of a country if it does not belong to you. We are awaiting release from grief
through Allah's assistance and yours"31.
32
3.16 As already described in Qatar's Memorial and also hereafter, Bahrain's activities in the
area led a few years later to the British efforts to discipline the Bahraini Sheikhs through the
signing of "the Friendly Convention" between them and the British Political Resident on
31 May 1861. As has also been shown, friction between Bahrain and Qatar had become
endemic in the first half of the 19th century and culminated in Bahraini attacks on Qatar in
1867 which were regarded by the British as a violation of the 1861 Convention 33. It is to the
background to the events of 1867 and 1868, and the events themselves, that this narrative will
now turn to show their particular significance for the territorial integrity of Qatar and its title
to the entire peninsula as well as the adjoining islands.
A. Events leading up to the Agreements of 1868 and British recognition of the separate
identities of Qatar and Bahrain
3.17 It was following the conclusion of the 1820 Treaty that the British, going beyond their
avowed intent of simply protecting maritime trade, began to take a particular interest in
Bahrain and to defend it against claims by foreign powers, notably Egypt in 1839, Persia in
1843, the Ottomans in 1847 and the Wahhabis in 1853 34.
3.18 In its Memorial Bahrain has referred only in passing to the Friendly Convention of 1861
between Britain and the then Ruler of Bahrain, Sheikh Mohamed bin Khalifah . Yet this35
Convention is a significant part of the background. It was concluded as a result of Bahrain's
blockade of Wahhabi ports in that year, which Britain viewed as a violation by Bahrain of its
treaty obligations to keep the maritime peace. By this Convention, the Ruler of Bahrain bound
himself, his heirs and successors to abstain from all maritime aggressions of every
description. In exchange, he was promised British support in the maintenance of the security
of his own possessions against similar aggressions by the Chiefs and tribes of the Gulf. In
particular, the Ruler undertook, in the event of aggression against himself, his territories or
subjects, that no act of aggression or retaliation would be committed at sea on other tribes byBahrainis or in the name of Bahrain, without the consent of the Resident or the British
Government. He also undertook to afford full redress for all maritime offences which could be
charged against his subjects or himself.
3.19 The 1861 Convention is thus further evidence of Britain's growing interest and
intervention in the activities of Bahrain. In the present case it is particularly significant, since
its violation by Bahrain was to lead to the conclusion of the various 1868 Agreements,
whereby the British first formally recognised the separate identity of Qatar under the rule of
Mohamed bin Thani.
B. Events of 1867 and 1868
3.20 Bahrain's account in its Memorial of the events of 1867 and 1868, while acknowledging
that the Al-Thani family had attained predominant influence in Qatar by 1868 , attempts to
show that the entire episode ended in the British taking steps to discipline the Al-Thani and
Qatar rather than Bahrain and in fact confirmed the Ruler of Bahrain as the sovereign
37
authority on the peninsula . It will now be shown, by reference to contemporaneous
documentation, that the opposite was in fact the case.
3.21 It is particularly revealing to begin by referring to the letter of 7 December 1867 from Lt.
Col. Lewis Pelly, British Political Resident in the Gulf, in which he reports the 1867 Bahraini
attacks on Qatar to the Government of Bombay:
"It appears that the Chief of the Bahrain Islands, claiming sovereignty over the region of
Gattar on the neighbouring Main Land of Arabia, plotted an attack on the inhabitants of that
region; and secured the aid of the Abuthaby Chief in making the attac38.. The combined
Chiefs then plundered the towns of al-Wakrah and Al Biddah..." .
3.22 The British regarded this outrage as a violation of the 1861 Convention and a challenge
to their effectiveness in maintaining maritime peace in the Gulf area . In addition, there was
regional condemnation of Bahrain's action. Pelly, writing again on 4 April 1868 to the
Government of Bombay, stated:
"3. The recent proceedings of the Chief of Bahrain in regard to Kuttur have already been
reported and since that date both the Sultan of Muscat and the Wahabee Lieutenant have
complained to me against this flagrant breach of the peace at sea.
4. Government will observe that the writing of the Bahrain Chief is remarkably polite, but his
actions, as enumerated in a long series of reports from my predecessors and self show that he
40
is one of the most troublesome and least reliable subscribers to the Maritime Truce" .
3.23 Another communication of 23 April 1868 from Capt. A. Cotton Way, First Assistant
Resident in the Persian Gulf, to the Resident, Lt. Col. Lewis Pelly, made a fuller report of the
1867 outrage and recorded, inter alia:
"4. One Ali bin Shamir al Naimi of the Bedouins of Guttar having been seized and sent to
Bahrein by Sheikh Ahmed bin Mahomed bin Sulman, the representative of the Chief of
Bahrein on the Guttar coast for going to his tribes, the naims of Wakra, the naims and the
people of Biddah, Doha and Dougha [Doughaih?] combined and demanded his release. This 41
demand was refused, and they then determined to turn Sheikh Ahmed out of Wakra" .3.24 Sheikh Ahmed, hearing of their determination, fled Qatar and reported what had
occurred to the Chief of Bahrain, who then invited Sheikh Jassim bin Mohamed of Qatar to
Bahrain for a meeting but on his arrival imprisoned him. There then followed the attacks by
Bahrain across the sea (with help from Abu Dhabi) during which the towns of Wakra, Biddah, 42
Doha and Dougha were given up to plunder and the inhabitants of five tribes were scattered .
However in the following year (1868), the Qatar tribes organised a retaliatory attack, and
nearly succeeded in surprising the island of Bahrain.
3.25 Subsequently, peace was restored when the Bahrain Sheikh's son who had been captured
by the Qataris was released after the Bahrain Sheikh undertook "to refrain for the future from
injuring Guttur". Reporting to the Government of Bombay on 22 June 1868, the Political
Resident observed:
"The root and promoter of these disturbances is Shaikh Mohammed bin Khalifah, the Head
Shaikh or Chief of Bahrain, whose proceedings have formed the subject of reiterated
complaint from successive British Residents during the past quarter of a century. On this
subject, I would refer to my letters now noted, and almost endless previous correspondence
scattered through the records of this office..." .3
3.26 Since these incidents were viewed as a serious challenge to the British ability to maintain
the maritime peace, C. M. Aitchison, then Officiating Secretary to the Government of India,
stated in a telegram to the Government of Bombay on behalf of the Viceroy and Governor-
General in Council that:
"It is not a matter of surprise that... the Guttar tribes should have risen and retaliated on
Bahrain. Our interference to prevent aggressions, such as those perpetrated by Bahrain and
Aboothabee, is not a matter of policy merely but of express obligation. The British
Government is bound, on information of an act of aggression by sea, to forthwith take the
44
necessary steps for obtaining reparation for the injury inflicted..." .
3.27 After being duly instructed to take strong action, on 2 September 1868 Pelly served a
notice on Mohamed bin Khalifah, Sheikh of Bahrain, and while demanding compensation of
300,000 dollars for Qatari losses and compliance with other terms of the notice, stated inter
alia:
"It is with great regret that the Viceroy of India finds you increasingly determined and on a
large scale to disturb the Maritime peace of the Gulf in violation of the written engagements
into which you have entered.
... You proceeded with an armed force and plundered and devastated the Guttur towns,
carrying off with you the principal Chief of Guttur. A retaliatory attack being made you
fought at sea and then again despatched your brother to attack the Guttur coast.
...
It is my painful duty to add that if you refuse or hesitate to comply with these demands they
will be enforced..." 4.
3.28 It was against this background that Pelly thereafter proceeded to Bahrain and Qatar and
secured acceptance of the Agreements of September 1868 by Chief Ali bin Khalifah(recognised as the new Chief of Bahrain in place of Mohamed bin Khalifah who was thereby
46
deposed) and Mohamed bin Thani, "the most influential man in the whole promontory" ,
requiring Bahrain to pay compensation and both Chiefs to maintain the maritime peace, thus
effectively prohibiting them from interfering with each other's territories across the sea that
separates these territories. Pelly also reported that by way of further action against the Chief
of Bahrain, they had "destroyed both fort an47cannon and burnt [his] three war crafts, lying
immediately under the walls of the Fort" .
3.29 As for the agreements themselves, while there were four of them in total, Bahrain has
48
chosen to concentrate on one of the least significant - the undertaking of 13 49ptember 1868
- while hardly mentioning the main Agreements signed on 6 September and 12 September
1868 respectively by Sheikh Ali bin Khalifah of Bahrain and Sheikh Mohamed bin Thani of
Qatar and failing even to exhibit the Agreement of 6 September signed by the Sheikh of
51
Bahrain . Bahrain appears to hope that in doing so, it will convince the Court that the whole
purpose of the British in 1868 was, to use Bahrain's words, to compel the rebellious tribal
chiefs "to return to the Bahraini fold" and to "formally express their recognition of the
authority of the Ruler of Bahrain" . But it will be seen from the account given above that it
was Bahrain that was disciplined by the British action. Furthermore, the British perception of
these events was obvious; as a result of the Agreements of 1868, the territories of Qatar and
Bahrain were to remain separated without interference from one or the other and their
integrity respected. The Political Resident's letter of 11 September 1868 to Mohamed bin
Thani requests him to "continue towards Sheikh Ali bin53halifeh the peaceful relations
formerly subsisting between Bahrain and Guttar" . Not only are Bahrain and Qatar
distinguished here as separate entities, but there is no hint of any subordination of the latter to
the former or vice versa. Similarly, the Agreement itself neither states nor implies any
acknowledgment by Mohamed bin Thani of any Bahraini authority either over himself or over
any part of the territory of Qatar. On the contrary, the provisions of the Agreement which, for
obvious reasons, are not mentioned by Bahrain show that Mohamed bin Thani was recognised
as being on an equal footing with the Chief of Bahrain, and not as a subordinate in a
hierarchical relationship.
3.30 Some fifty years later, Lorimer, writing his well-known account of these events also
confirmed this position and stated:
"In 1868 direct negotiations took place between the British Government and the tribal Shaikhs
of Qatar; and, in the result, the interest of the Shaikh of Bahrain in Qatar was limited to the
receipt of tributes probably on behalf of the Wahhabi Government of Najd. In 1872, the Turks
established a garrison in Dohah; and with the cessation of the Wahhabi Zakat t54 political
connection, such as it was, between Bahrain and Qatar came to an end".
In fact, in the same work, Lorimer describes the boundaries of Qatar as follows:
"Boundaries.- On the east, north and west Qatar is surrounded by the sea. The southern
boundary is somewhat indeterminate..." . 55
Similarly, in a report of 1905, Captain Prideaux noted:
"... we recognize that our interests in the Katr Peninsula are purely confined to the
maintenance of order along its coasts and on the adjacent seas..." 5.3.31 It is accordingly Qatar's submission that one of the major objects of the Agreements of
1868 was to protect the territorial integrity of Qatar and its coasts, including its adjoining
islands, against attacks from across the sea. The British action in enforcing separation of the
two entities, together with the written engagements in 1868 by the Chiefs of Qatar and
Bahrain not to commit a breach of the maritime peace also amounted to British recognition of
the separate identities and the integrity of the territories of Qatar and Bahrain . As this
recognition was in the context of the maintenance of maritime peace, it clearly covered the
coasts and the islands adjoining mainland Qatar and therefore the Hawar islands, most of
which lie within Qatar's territorial waters. A contrary view would deprive the 1868
Agreements of any meaning or purpose.
3.32 This British recognition was reiterated on numerous occasions over the next seventy
years or so, in the context of the repeated British denials of Bahrain's alleged claims to
Zubarah on the mainland of Qatar. The British therefore refused to allow any Bahraini
interference across the sea on the mainland and in fact made such non-interference a condition
for British protection of Bahrain which the Ruler expressly accepted 58.
3.33 A final word must be said about Bahrain's insistence that the 1868 Agreements did not
59
constitute treaties between Britain and sovereign political entities . Whatever Bahrain might
argue with respect to the lack of formalities, it is clear that these Agreements - at least those of
6 and 12 September with Ali bin Khalifah and Mohamed bin Thani, respectively, and that of
16 September with the Ruler of Abu Dhabi - were considered by all concerned as binding
treaties. Thus, not only were they included by Aitchison in his Collection of Treaties,
60
Engagements and Sanads , published under the authority of the British Government of India,
but the Agreement of 12 September 1868 was confirmed by the Treaty signed in 1916
between the British Government and the Ruler of Qatar . 61
C. Payment of "tribute"
3.34 Before leaving the events of 1868 and British recognition of the separate identities of
Qatar and Bahrain, it would be appropriate to deal here with Bahrain's contention that the
formalisation in September 1868 of the tribute payable by the tribes of the Qatar peninsula to
the Chief of Bahrain confirmed him as the sovereign authority on the peninsula. This
contention is clearly wrong, having regard to the content of the two main Agreements signed
almost simultaneously between the British and Ali bin Khalifah and Mohamed bin Thani,
respectively. In fact the 13 September undertaking is ancillary to those Agreements and, while
it contemplated the payment of certain sums of money to the Chief of Bahrain by Mohamed
bin Thani on behalf of Qatari tribes, it had no effect on the independence of Qatar vis-à-vis
Bahrain. The significance of this so-called formalisation of the tribute payable to the Chief of
Bahrain came up for consideration upon the arrival of the Ottomans in Qatar in 1871, i.e.
3 years after the 1868 Agreements, when Ibn Saud appears to have demanded these payments
from the Ottomans who in turn addressed an inquiry in this regard to the British. In dealing
with the Turkish inquiry, the Political Resident, Colonel Pelly, referring to the events of 1867
and 1868, informed the Government of Bombay that at the time:
"Government, as Arbitrators of the Maritime Peace, intervened; and in settling affairs,
arranged that, in view to preventing collision between Guttur and Bahrain, and in view to
further precluding the possibility of future uncertainty as to whether the Annual Tribute
falling on Guttur had or had not been duly paid - such Tribute should be paid through the
Residency.7. In the present year, however, and having regard to the distracted condition of Guttur
consequent on the Turkish Invasion of the Arab Coast, I refrained from demanding the
Tribute.
8. Had I demanded and received it - It would have been handed over by this Residency to the
Chief of Bahrain who would have transmitted it as a portion of the Tribute which he pays to
whomever he may acknowledge as Imam of the Wahabees..." . 62
3.35 Based on the above, in a report of 28 October 1871 from the Political Department to
C.M. Aitchison, Secretary to the Government of India, Foreign Department, it was stated inter
alia:
"... it is shown that the arrangement as to the tribute payable by Guttur to Bahrain is to be
considered not to affect the independence of Guttur in relation to Bahrain but is to be
considered a fixed contribution by Guttur and Bahrain combined in view to securing their
frontiers from molesta63on by the Naim and Wahabee Tribes more particularly during the
Pearl diving season" .
3.36 These documents show the true nature of the "tribute" payable. It will be apparent that
the arrangement for the payment of the tribute by the tribes of Qatar in 1868 to the Chief of
Bahrain for onward transmission to the Wahhabi Amir could not and did not involve any
question of recognition of Bahraini sovereignty over Qatar or, for that matter, of the Wahhabi
Amir's sovereignty over either Bahrain or Qatar.
3.37 Despite the position described above, the issue of tribute was sought to be revived by the
Ruler of Bahrain at the time of the British negotiations with the Ottomans in 1913. Bahrain
claims that when the 1913 Anglo-Ottoman Convention (referred to below) was being
negotiated:
"the Ruler of Bahrain reopened with Britain the question of his right to levy tribute from
'Qatar' in accordance with the terms of the 1868 document...",
but goes on to state:
"... There is no record of Britain's ultimate view of the matter..." 6.
3.38 In fact Bahrain should have been aware that the Government of India gave the following
instructions to the Political Resident on 31 July 1913:
"I am directed to invite a reference to your telegram... in which you report that the Shaikh of
Bahrain is contemplating the possibility of reviving his claim to levy tribute on the Shaikhs of
El Katar.
2. This claim which was previously only exercised for two years and has not been enforced
since 1870, in view of article 10 of the draft Anglo-Turkish Convention and in particular of
the following sentence: - 'Le Gouvernement de sa Majesté Britannique déclare qu'il ne
permettra pas au cheikh de Bahreine de s'immiscer dans les affaires intérieures d'El Katr', is
one which is clearly inadmissible.3. I am to request therefore that you will firmly resist any such interference should it be
65
attempted" .
3.39 The documents quoted above thus clearly demonstrate that the payment of tribute carried
no implication that Bahrain had sovereignty over any part of Qatar.
D. Anglo-Ottoman Convention of 1913
3.40 Bahrain's treatment of the Anglo-Ottoman Convention of 1913 is similar to its
treatment of the 1868 Agreements. Here again, Bahrain practically ignores the main text of
the Convention, which it dismisses as an unratified treaty, only to concentrate on an ancillary
document, the secret declaration whereby the Ottomans undertook to pay £1000 to the Ruler
of Bahrain in compensation for his renunciation of all claim to Zakhnuniya . Of the
substance of the Convention itself, all Bahrain can say is that "what was at issue in the
relevant part of the Anglo-Ottoman negotiations 68s the future of the Ottoman province of
'Qatr', in other words Doha and its environs" .
3.41 The historical facts show that the "Ottoman province of 'Qatr'" encompassed much more
than just "Doha and its environs" 69. That the Anglo-Ottoman negotiations concerned the
whole peninsula is also evident from the text of the Convention itself which, even though
unratified, is nevertheless of considerable evidentiary value. In fact the artificiality of
Bahrain's continued insistence on the alleged limited extent of Al-Thani authority becomes
ever more evident as one reads the Convention. Article 11 was also mentioned in the Anglo-
70
Turkish Treaty of 1914 which was ratified , and contains no fewer than three references to
the peninsula of al-Qatar. It is therefore quite clear that what was at stake here was the whole
peninsula, without excluding the adjoining Hawar islands. It may be noted that Article 11
expressly recognises the continuity of Al-Thani rule over the whole peninsula when it
provides that "the peninsula will be governed as in the past by the shaykh Jasim-bin-Sami
[sic] and his successors". Finally, it may also be noted that the Ruler of Bahrain was to be
prevented from interfering in the "internal affairs of al-Qatar", which in the context can only
be understood to mean that he was to be excluded from the affairs of the entire peninsula
including its coasts.
3.42 The Court will recollect that the British Political Agent in Bahrain, Major Prideaux, had
visited Zakhnuniya and the Hawar islands in March 1909 when there was some apprehension
as to Ottoman designs with respect to these islands. Major Prideaux was anxious that the
Ruler of Bahrain should lay claim to both Zakhnuniya and the Hawar islands to enable the
British to counter the Ottoman designs. However, the Ruler of Bahrain immediately thereafter
made a claim in writing to the island of Zakhnuniya but not to the Hawar islands 71. It was for
this reason that four years later, Article 12 of the Anglo-Ottoman Convention of 1913 made a
special provision to the effect that the inhabitants of Bahrain would be allowed to visit
Zakhnuniya for fishing purposes during the winter, and Bahrain renounced any other claims
to that island against a payment made to it by the Ottomans 7. At the same time, in terms of
Article 13, the British secured renunciation of all Ottoman claims to the islands of Bahrain
including the two islets of Lubainah al-Saghirah and Lubainah al-Kabirah as well as Ottoman
recognition of the independence of Bahrain. The British Government for its part al73 declared
that it had "no intention of annexing the islands of Bahrayn to its territories" . However,
while such specific provisions were made regarding Bahrain and the islands it claimed, no
reference or provision was made in respect of any Bahraini claim or potential claim to the
74
Hawar islands . This was obviously because the Hawar islands were recognised and treatedas being part of the territories of Qatar in which the British undertook under Article 11 of the
Convention not to allow any "interference of the shaykh of Bahrayn".
3.43 There is other clear evidence demonstrating that the British regarded the 1913
Convention as reinforcing the independence and integrity of the territories of Qatar. This is
apparent from the British attitude and action following the death of Sheikh Jassim in 1913.
When the Viceroy communicated to the India Office news of the death of Sheikh Jassim on
75
17 July , the India Office proposed to the Foreign Office that the Political Resident (Cox)
should be given the following instructions:
"the new Sheikh &, if necessary, Bin Saud, sd. be informed that H.M.G. will allow no outside
interference in the affairs of Katr. It sd. be made clear to the latter that any attempt to interfere
will be forcibly resisted, while the former might be told that he has nothing to fear from the
Turks" .6
This proposal was clearly based upon the policy recorded in a Minute of the India Office of
12 August referring to the death of Sheikh Jassim and the "possibility that the Peninsula will
be occupied by Bin Saud" stating, inter alia:
"This must be nipped in the bud. We are bound by our agreement not to allow the Sheikh of
Bahrein to annex El Katr - and a fortiori not Bin Saud, a Turkish rebel. Moreover we have not
succeeded in getting the Turks out of El Katr (on pap77, at all events) for the sole purpose of
letting some one else in, without our permission" .
Again, after Bin Saud had occupied Hasa and sought assurances from the British of
78
continuing good relations , the Viceroy advised London in his communication of
5 September 1913, that he had authorised Cox to reply to Bin Saud, inter alia, as follows:
"'Meanwhile I have my Government's authority to assure you that, provided you undertake on
your part to abstain from all action calculated to disturb the status quo, or to create unrest
amongst Arab principalities whose rulers are in relations with His Majesty's Government,
including principality of Qatr, independence of which under the government of the late
Sheikh Jasim and his successors of the Bin Thani has been recently recognised by British and
Turkish Governments, the British Government will continue to maintain friendly relations
79
which have been sustained in the past'" .
E. British-Qatar Treaty of 3 November 1916
3.44 Bahrain contends that there is nothing to indicate that for the purposes of the 1916
80
British-Qatar Treaty the entire peninsula was regarded as part of Al-Thani territories ; it
further contends that the Ruler of Bahrain continued to exercise authority over the Zubarah
region . Bahrain thus takes the position that part of the peninsula (and the adjoining Hawar
islands) continued to remain under its authority. That this contention is wholly without
substance will be apparent from the following:
(1) A particularly striking example of Bahrain's efforts to distort the presentation of historical
facts by using selective quotations and deliberately ignoring other materials is the reference to
certain events of 1903-04 when the British were considering whether it would be appropriate
to offer protection to the Al-Thani Sheikhs in return for making them responsible for
maintaining peace amongst the inhabitants of Qatar and preventing any piracies off the Qataricoast. Bahrain reproduces a passage recording the opinion of one British official (Mr. Gaskin)
to the effect that he "thought the influence of the Thani family was likely to decrease in
82
Katar..." but neglects to point out the opinion of his superior, Colonel Kemball, on the next
page to the effect that he was "inclined to doubt if it is the case that the influence of the Thani
family in Katar is rapidly waning..." . Bahrain also fails to cite the formal view expressed to
the Foreign Office in March 1904 by the Government of India that the Al-Thani Ruler's
"authority is sufficiently established among the tribes to justify the conclusion of an
84
Agreement with him, should it be thought advisable on grounds of policy" .
It is also of interest to note that in his historical account of Qatar, Lorimer observes:
"In November 1905, through a visit by Captain Prideaux, Political Agent in Bahrain, much
light was cast upon the administrative position in Qatar. It appeared that Shaikh Jasim, though
for five or six years he had been living in retirement at Lusail and had nominally abdicated
both the Qaim-Maqamship and the chiefship, was still in reality ruler of Dohah and all its
dependencies, and that nothing of importance was done in Qatar without his being
85
consulted" .
(2) Article 11 of the Anglo-Ottoman Convention of 1913 which provided that the "peninsula"
of Qatar would "be governed as in the past by shaykh Jasim-bin-Sami [sic] and his
86
successors" clearly records and is evidence of the British understanding that the Al-Thani
ruled the entire peninsula and its adjoining islands (as no exceptions were made).
(3) Before entering into the 1916 Treaty, the British undertook a careful examination to assure
themselves that they would be entering into an arrangement with an authority with whom an
effective Treaty could be entered into. Thus, in a communication of 22 August 1914 from
Major Knox (the officiating Political Resident) to the Government of India, it was stated:
"With reference to your telegram No. 436-S., dated 18th July 1914, regarding Qatar, I have
the honour to state that reports from the Political Agent, Bahrain, confirm my first impression
that there are no Shai87s except the Al Thani family with whom it would be worthwhile
concluding a treaty" .
(4) By then, the British had repeatedly refused to recognise any Bahraini rights over any part
of the Qatar peninsula and had in fact made it a condition of providing British protection for
Bahrain that the Ruler of Bahrain must refrain from any interference in mainland Qatar, a
condition that the Ruler had accepted.
(5) The provisions of the Treaty itself (as did those of the Agreements of 1868) obviously
covered the whole peninsula and the adjoining islands. Article 3 placed an obligation upon the 88
Ruler of Qatar to forbid the import and sale of arms "into my territories and port of Qatar" .
Article 4 prohibited the Ruler without British consent from ceding to any other power or its
subjects "land either on lease, sale, transfer, gift, or in any other way whatsoever". Article 5
containing a prohibition against the grant of pearl fishery concessions or other monopolies,
concessions or cable landing rights as well as the requirement in Article 6 not to charge
custom duty on British goods at a rate higher than on Qatari subjects, all clearly applied to the
entire peninsula of Qatar, its coasts, and its adjoining islands. Most significantly, the
obligation of the British Government under Article 10 to protect the Ruler and his subjects
and territory "from all aggression by sea" must necessarily cover the whole peninsula and the
adjoining islands including the Hawar islands just as much as did the Agreements of 1868.3.45 In this context it is also instructive to refer to a report which gives a clear indication of
the British understanding of both the Anglo-Ottoman Convention of 1913 and the British-
Qatar Treaty of 1916 and states inter alia:
"1. ... The status of the Peninsula formed the subject of lengthy discussion in the period prior
to 1908...
2. The vexed question of the status of El Katr was finally disposed of in the Anglo-Turkish
negotiations of 1912-14. Under the unratified Anglo-Turkish Convention of 29th July 1913,
the Ottoman Government renounced all rights to the Peninsula, which was, as in the past, to
continue to be governed by the Sheikhs of the Thani family, while His Majesty's Government
engaged not to permit the Sheikh of Bahrein to interfere in the internal affairs of El Katr, to
threaten its autonomy or to annex it. A supplementary article reserved the rights of the
inhabitants of Bahrein to visit the island of Zakhnuniyah for fishing purposes, as in the past . 89
3. A new situation arose with the conquest of Hasa by Ibn Saud in the course of 1913. El Katr,
like the Oman coast, formed, in his view, part of his ancestral domains, to which he could
therefore prefer a claim as of right. But the Amir was warned at the end of the year that non-
interference with El Katr was a condition of the maintenance of friendly relations with His
Majesty's Government, and no difficulty in consequence arose. The conclusion of a formal
treaty between El Katr and His Majesty's Government, which, other considerations apart, was
in the immediately pre-war period of much importance in connection with the arms traffic,
was postponed until the final ratification of the Anglo-Turkish Convention, and so had not
been disposed of on the outbreak of the European War.
...
6. ... Lengthy negotiation proved necessary before a satisfactory agreement could be reached,
and it was not until 3rd November 1916 that a treaty was finally concluded between the
Sheikh and His Majesty's Government. The treaty... secured to the Sheikh the advantages
conferred under the Trucial treaties on the Sheikhs of Trucial Oman, while imposing on him
the obligations in regard to piracy, the slave traffic, the arms traffic, the grant of concessions,
the cession, sale, gift, lease or transfer of territory to other Powers, and the maintenance of
relations with foreign Powers already accepted by those Chiefs...
7. The one respect of importance in which the treaty went beyond the normal type of Trucial
treaty was that it contained an undertaking that the good offices of His Majesty's Government
should be granted to the Sheikh in the event o90unprovoked aggression against him by land
within the territories of Katr (Article XI)" .
This report therefore clearly recorded the British and Turkish position recognising Qatar as
constituting the whole peninsula and its adjoining islands inc91ding the Hawar islands and not
just "the area around Doha Town" as claimed by Bahrain .
F. Other evidence of British recognition
3.46 As already shown in Qatar's Memorial, the geographical dictionary of the Gulf Region
92
compiled by Lorimer in 1908 had listed the Hawar islands under Qatar . Furthermore, his
description at that time of the Sheikhdom of Bahrain is shown as consisting of islands that do
not include the Hawar islands. Prideaux (who participated actively in the preparation ofLorimer's compilation) had failed in an attempt in 1909 to instigate the Ruler of Bahrain to
claim Hawar so as to protect the island from Turkish designs. A survey by the Admiralty War
Staff (Intelligenc93Division) of 1915 had also included Hawar in the description of the
territory of Qatar . The conclusion must therefore follow that the British at the time of
signature of the 1913 Anglo-Ottoman Convention and the British-Qatar Treaty of 1916
recognised the Hawar islands as included in the territories of Qatar. This position was more
expressly considered and reiterated in subsequent years on a number of occasions:
- a British India Office report of 1928,
- an India Office letter of 3 May 1933,
- a map requested by the Secretary of State for India and supplied by the Political Resident on
4 August 1933 showing that Bahrain's territories did not include the Hawar islands,
- the acting Political Resident (Loch)'s telegram to the Secretary of State for India of 31 July
1933 that "Hawar Island is clearly not one of the Bahrain group" with which the India Office
agreed,
- the R.A.F. report of 1934,
- and the APOC-Qatar Concession Agreement of 1935,
94
all of which have been described in some detail in Qatar's Memori95 and to some of which
further reference is made in Section 4 of this Chapter below .
G. Regional recognition
3.47 Qatar has cited numerous documents in its Memorial showing that a number of rulers in
the Gulf region, including in particular the Ruler of Abu Dhabi, Sheikh Zayed bin Khalifah,
repeatedly acknowledged Qatar's sovereignty over the Hawar islands and, upon inquiries from
96
Ottoman Valis, informed them accordingly . Even the Ruler of Bahrain openly th
acknowledged Qatar's authority and control over Hawar in the early years of the 20
century 97.
3.48 It is most significant that Bahrain does not even suggest in its Memorial that there was
any recognition of its claimed ownership of Hawar by any other ruler in the Gulf region.
Section 3. Bahrain's illegal occupation of the main Hawar island
3.49 Qatar has already shown in its Memorial that once oil became a significant feature in the
Gulf area, the Ruler of Bahrain began to implement well-laid plans to maximise the territory
over which he could claim sovereign rights and thereby grant valuable concessions . To this8
end, Belgrave and others had already been engaged in activities from 1930 onwards with a
view to eventually advancing a Bahraini claim to the Hawar islands. These activities involved,
inter alia, the tendering of evidence of doubtful value designed to support the claim. Bahrain
first formally made its claim to the Hawar islands by a letter from Belgrave to the British
Political Agent on 28 April 1936, expressly making reference to the negotiations for an oil
99
concession . A major and glaring omission in Bahrain's Memorial is any reference to this
express and sudden claim and the "provisional" British decision of July 1936 that theseislands belonged to Bahrain, a decision in total contradiction of the position taken by the
British on numerous occasions prior to 1936. This deliberate omission is the subject of a
100
detailed examination in the next Section .
3.50 Qatar has already submitted in its Memorial that when Bahrain came seriously to press
its claim to the Hawar islands, it did so through a clandestine occupation by moving a garrison
to the main island; and that this occupation took place some time after Bahrain had made a
101
written claim to the Hawar islands on 28 April 1936 . Bahrain's aggression and hostile
occupation of the main Hawar island, being illegal, cannot therefore sustain its claim to
sovereignty over the islands.
3.51 As already shown in Qatar's Memorial, the negotiations in respect of a new concession 102
covering Bahrain's unallotted or additional area were undertaken between 1928 and 1933 .
The negotiations for the unallotted area were suspended in the second half of 1933 at the
request of BAPCO which had sought an extension of its 1925 exploration concession. The
negotiations were then resumed in 1936. It was at this stage that Belgrave addressed his letter
on 28 April 1936 containing the Ruler of Bahrain's first formal claim to the Hawar islands.
3.52 It would seem likely that Bahrain's illegal and clandestine occupation of the main Hawar
island took place shortly after the Zubarah incident of 1937 which so upset the Ruler of
Bahrain, and which also resulted in the suspension of the oil negotiations over the "additional
area" of Bahrain not covered by BAPCO's existing concession. At this stage, the Ruler of
Bahrain and Belgrave were already aware that Britain had provisionally decided in favour of
the Bahrain claim to the Hawar islands, and obviously decided to occupy the islands. Thus,
Bahrain itself now admits that after the Zubarah incident in 1937:
"Bahrain increased its military presence on the Hawar Islands and constructed a police fort
there" 10.
3.53 In fact the evidence shows that Bahrain did not merely "increase its military presence"
but illegally occupied the main Hawar island. Bahrain took a number of other steps to
establish control over the islands that the Ruler of Qatar later characterised as aggression in
his letter of protest of 27 May 1938 104. The evidence of the occupation of the main Hawar
island by Bahrain in 1937 includes the following:
(1) As Bahrain admits, it moved a police garrison to Hawar.
(2) When the Ruler of Qatar complained of assistance by Bahrain to insurgent subjects of
Qatar, Belgrave replied on 19 August 1937 to the Political Agent that Bahrain had only been
giving food etc. to the Naim and also stated:
"Arms and ammunition were issued by the Bahrain Government to all the villages on the
south coast of Bahrain and to the guards who garrison the Hawar islands when the
disturbances in Qatar began" 105.
(3) A letter from Belgrave of 10 November 1937 to the "Head Natur at Hawar":
"On no account are any people, European or Arab, from Qattar coast to be allowed on any of
106
the Hawar islands" .(4) A Police Order issued by Belgrave on behalf of the Bahrain Government on 1 February
1938 that anyone cutting wood or pulling grass on Hawar and taking it to Bahrain would be
107
arrested .
(5) A letter from Packer of PCL of 19 February 1938 to Belgrave reporting an incident in
which:
"a hired dhow... returning from Zekrit and tacking c108e to Hawar reports that two shots were
fired at her by Bahrain Police on Hawar Island" .
The letter went on to state:
"... I thought you would like early information as these incidents when highly exaggerated
may lead to trouble especially now there are 300 Bahrainis in Hawar" 109.
(6) The Government of Bahrain's Annual Report for the year 1937-38 110 which draws
particular attention to the fact that "the Zubara affair" during the year was one of the events of
outstanding importance and that there was an increase in the Police force (partly for Hawar);
it also noted that:
"The fort and pier at Hawar were completed at the end of the year with the exception of some
work on the courtyard wall...
Expenditure on the Hawar Fort was not allocated in the 1356 Budget but during the year it
was decided that the Police post at Hawar should be strengthened and that the garrison should
be housed in more comfortable quarters in a building which would be of military use in case
of any emergency...".
(7) Police Orders from Belgrave of 24 May 1938 regarding the posting of and issue of arms
and ammunition to the Hawar garrison, etc. and stating:
"... When available one Very Light Pistol will be issued to the N.C.O., in Charge and one
large mirror, these to be used by day and by night for signalling to Bahrain should any
emergency occur.
The inhabitants of Askar, Jaw and Door must be informed that if at any time they see signals
by Very Pistol or by glass from Hawar they must instantly notify the Fort in Manama, by
telephone from nearest telephone available" 111.
(8) It is important to recollect that the Ruler of Qatar complained of Bahrain's occupation of
Hawar to the Political Agent (Weightman) orally in February 1938 and in his letter of 27 May
1938 to Weightman stated:
"the Bahrain Government have only recently occupied them [the Haw112islands] which fact
made me move in the matter and submit protests against it" .
3.54 Even more significant is Weightman's observation in his letter of 3 June 1938 to the
Political Resident when he states that he had advised the Ruler of Qatar that:"the Bahrain Government are now, and have been, to my personal knowledge, for many
months past, in actual occupation of the Islands" 113.
For this reason, he did not think the British Government would disturb the status quo.
3.55 The fact that the Bahraini occupation occurred in 1937 is also clearly brought out by a
reported incident. After Sheikh Abdullah of Qatar had formally protested to the British in
May 1938 about Bahrain's unauthorised occupation of Hawar, the Political Agent
(Weightman) in his reply of 20 May 1938 had warned Sheikh Abdullah that the British
Government understood that Bahrain was in occupation of and claimed the Hawar islands;
and that while any claim from Qatar was being considered, it was absolutely necessary that:
"your subjects do not114g which might lead to hostilities with the subjects of Bahrain now in
the Hawar Islands" .
3.56 It was the prohibition mentioned in paragraph 3.53(3) above which became the subject-
matter of a letter of the Ruler of Qatar of 8 July 1938 to Weightman stating:
"I write to say that one of my subjects named 'Isa bin Atiq al Arbidi had a boat which,
formerly before the prohibition was imposed, used to ply between Bahrain and Qatar. He left
this boat which was his source of income at Hawar some time ago. When the time for sea
work started, he went to Hawar with the intention of removing and using his boat as usual
without 115wing of the interferences of the Bahrain Government there, but the residents of
Hawar arrested and assaulted him and took him to Bahrain where he was kept in prison for
one day. He was then returned to Hawar and left on the beach but was not allowed to take his
boat away. It appears that the Rulers of Bahrain have been committing acts which are against
the elements of justice. I should be grateful if you would kindly look into such matters, and
cause the return of 'Isa's boat before they damage it" 116.
In fact Weightman replied to the complaint on 19 July 1938 and stated:
"... 3. In regard to Isa bin Atiq I find that he was sent to Bahrain for interrogation by the
Adviser since he claimed a boat which was lying at Hawar but could not give any proof of
ownership. He was then allowed to return to Qatar. In view of your letter stating that the
man's boat is at Hawar it is now agreed that Isa bin Atiq should be allowed to land there for
the purpose of removing the boat, provided that he is in possession of some paper proving his
identity and that he gives a receipt for the boat. If therefore you give him such a certificate of
identity no further difficulty will be made in regard to his taking his boat away.
4. I do not think you need fear that any persons will be arrested from now on unless they
refuse to leave Hawar when told to go and make trouble there" 117.
3.57 This incident demonstrates that Qatari fishermen had unrestricted access to the Hawar
islands which was suddenly interrupted by Bahrain's illegal occupation in 1937.
3.58 There was a similar incident when two persons employed by PCL and engaged in fishing
"lost their way or became thirsty", landed on Hawar and were arrested by people on the
island. In another letter of 12 July 1938 (four days later), the Ruler of Qatar protested again to
118
Weightman in respect of this fresh incident .3.59 The above documentation therefore clearly shows that Bahrain simply occupied the main
Hawar island by force in 1937, the primary motive being to increase its territories for the oil
concession under consideration. This occupation was entirely illegal.
Section 4. Bahrain's failure to mention the crucial events of 1936 when Bahrain first
formally asserted a claim to the Hawar islands and the British Government made a
"provisional decision" in Bahrain's favour
A. The first formal Bahrain claim to the Hawar islands of 28 April 1936
3.60 One of the most striking features of the Bahrain Memorial, insofar as it deals with the
dispute as to title over the Hawar islands, is its total failure to make any mention of the crucial
events of 1936 - no doubt because these events are not only inconsistent with the Bahrain
thesis but flatly contradict it. Thus, no mention will be found in the narrative of events in
Volume 1 of the Bahrain Memorial of Belgrave's letter to the then Political Agent in Bahrain
(Lt.-Col. Loch) of 28 April 1936, in which Bahrain first formally put forward in writing its
claim to the Hawar islands. That letter is of course included among the many annexes to the
Bahrain Memorial 11, but one looks in vain for any reference to its substantive content in
Chapter 3 of Volume 1 of the Bahrain Memorial. That is no doubt a quite deliberate omission,
since the inconvenient fact that it was Bahrain which first advanced a claim in writing to the
Hawar islands in April 1936 is totally inconsistent with the argument put forward in the
Bahrain Memorial that Qatar was the claimant State (demandeur) by virtue of its claim to the
Hawar islands advanced only as late as May 1938 120.
3.61 It is of course true that the British authorities, both in the Gulf and in London, were
aware in the early 1930s that the Ruler of Bahrain was maintaining a vague claim to islands
other than the main island, Muharraq, Sitrah and one or two neighbouring islets, and also to
areas on the Qatar coast, and possibly even the Hasa coast 121. The letter from Laithwaite
122
(India Office) to Starling (Petroleum Department) of 3 May 1933 records the India Office
view of the extent of the Sheikh of Bahrain's dominions. After stating that the Sheikh
maintains "a rather nebulous claim" to certain areas on the Arab coast, Laithwaite states that
his dominions may be regarded as consisting of the Bahrain archipelago which he defines as
consisting of "... the Island of Bahrain, and of the adjoining islands of Muharraq, Umm
Na'assan, Sitrah and Nabi Salih". Nevertheless, it is clear that Laithwaite did not in 1933
accept that the Hawar islands were part of the Bahrain archipelago (using that word as a
convenient geographical description of a group of islands or islets). Nor of course did senior
officials in the Gulf at this time. Thus, the acting Political Resident (Loch), in reporting on 31
July 1933 that the Sheikh of Bahrain wished the "unallotted area" to be referred to in the draft
concession as the Bahrain Islands without specifically naming any, so that the question of
Hawar Island and Qatar (sic) would not be made prominent by their omission, recommended
that:
"I think that we may accept this as Hawar Island is clearly not one of the Bahrain group" 123.
3.62 The Court will of course have noted that, within less than three years of expressing this
view in a telegram to the Secretary of State for India in his capacity as acting Political
Resident, Loch, in his normal capacity of Political Agent in Bahrain, concluded, in his letter
to the Political Resident of 6 May 1936, that:"... subject to any past correspondence which is not available to me... there is real substance in
[the Ruler of Bahrain's] claim [to Hawar] and... it might in certain circumstances suit us
politically to have as large an area as possible included under Bahrain" .124
If one reads this letter as a whole, it is evident that this conclusion was based on wholly
insufficient evidence, and that the respective claims of Qatar and Bahrain to the Hawar islands
were given only the most superficial examination by Loch and Fowle in the spring of 1936.
Quite why Loch executed such a volte face between the end of July 1933 and the beginning of
May 1936 must remain somewhat of a mystery in the absence of any clear explanation in the
British archives.
3.63 Two other observations can be made on this letter of 6 May 1936 from Loch to the
Political Resident. The first is Loch's inability to lay his hands on certain relevant documents
and records. Not only is "past correspondence" unavailable to him; but he refers elsewhere in
the letter (paragraph 3) to having "... not as yet been able to trace certain records... about
Zubarah and Zaknuniyah Island...". Presumably among the "past correspondence" unavailable
to Loch in Bahrain was the letter which he wrote on 31 July 1933 to the Secretary of State for
India, expressing the view that Hawar was clearly not one of the Bahrain group of islands. It
might be thought that these frank admissions by Loch might have induced some caution in the
Political Resident; but this was not the case, for Fowle himself, in his letter to the Secretary of
State for India of 25 May 1936, seems blithely to have accepted without question the grossly
exaggerated (where not false) claims about Bahrain's connections with Hawar which had been
advanced by Belgrave. The second observation relates to Loch's comment that "it might in
certain circumstances suit us [the British] politically to have as large an area as possible
included under Bahrain". Fowle appears to have interpreted this phrase as referring to the
possibi125y that BAPCO might now compete with PCL for the "unallotted area" if it included
Hawar . But it is also possible that Loch might have used this cryptic phrase to refer to the
broader advantages which might accrue to Britain in this run-up period to the Second World
War from supporting Bahrain's claim to Hawar.
B. Attitude of the oil companies in the 1930s
3.64 Whatever the explanation for the British volte face between 1934 and 1936, there is no
doubt that the oil companies interested in the potential mineral resources of the Hawar islands
in the mid-1930s displayed considerable arrogance and insensitivity in ignoring the Ruler of
Qatar's sovereign rights over Hawar. PCL initially supported the principle that its concession
with the Ruler of Qatar covered the Hawar islands as part of the Ruler's territories. However,
it retreated from this position after it had become aware in 1936 that the British Government
had made a provisional decision in favour of Bahrain on the conflicting claims to title over the
Hawar islands by Bahrain and Qatar. Evidence for this is afforded by the record of an
informal meeting held at the India Office on 12 April 1938 to discuss the activities of PCL on
the Arab coast of the Persian Gulf 12. This meeting was attended by Fowle (Political
Resident), and two India Office officials (Gibson and Symon), on the one side, and by Messrs.
Lewisohn and Longrigg, representing PCL, on the other side. It will be recalled that PCL had
in effect taken the place of APOC by the mid-1930s and that the concession which APOC had
secured from the Ruler of Qatar on 17 May 1935 had, with the consent of the Ruler, been
transferred to Petroleum Development (Qatar) Ltd. (PDQ), a subsidiary of PCL. Thus, in
April 1938, PCL was, in effect, Qatar's exclusive oil concessionaire. It may not occasion all
that much surprise that the PCL representatives, at this meeting with India Office officials on
12 April 1938, should have argued against a postponement of the negotiations with the Rulerof Bahrain for the new concession covering the "unallotted area": see paragraph 3 of the
record. After all, APOC (PCL's predecessor) had already expressed an interest in bidding for
this new concession as long ago as June 1933 127. What is somewhat strange, however, is one
of the reasons given by Mr. Longrigg for opposing postponement of the negotiations:
"Mr. Longrigg said, however, that the Company were opposed to any postponement and he
personally thought it would be a pity to put ideas of ownership into the mind of the Sheikh of
Qatar" 128.
3.65 Of course, one has to remember that, by April 1938, PCL was very well informed about
the British position on the conflicting claims to Hawar of Bahrain and Qatar as that position
had developed since the beginning of 1936. As early as 29 April 1936, PCL (Skliros) had
written to the India Office in London (Walton) mentioning that, in PCL's negotiations with
the Ruler of Bahrain over the "unallotted area", the latter had laid claim to Hawar as part of
his dominions. Skliros drew attention to the Qatar Concession of 1935 and the map annexed
to it and said that all this pointed to the fact that Hawar belonged to Qatar and not to Bahrain.
He concluded his letter by enquiring to which of the two sheikhdoms, in the opinion of the
Government of India, Hawar belonged 129. It will be noted that Skliros had written to the India
Office in this sense only one day after Bahrain had lodged its formal claim to Hawar by virtue
of Belgrave's letter to Loch of 28 April 1936. No substantive reply was vouchsafed to Skliros'
letter of 29 April 1936, until 24 July 1936, when Walton (India Office) wrote to him
informing PCL of HMG's "provisional decision" that Hawar belonged to the Ruler of Bahrain
"and that the burden of disproving his claim would lie on any other potential claimant" 13. So
by mid-July 1936, PCL (but not the Ruler of Qatar) was informed that the British authorities
had provisionally decided in favour of the Bahrain claim to Hawar. Obviously, PCL came
swiftly thereafter to the conclusion that its only prospect of securing an oil concession
covering Hawar was to obtain it from the Ruler of Bahrain. This may explain (even if it does
not entirely excuse) the tone of Longrigg's intervention at the meeting with India Office
officials on 12 April 1938; PCL's interest was of course a purely commercial interest and the
company had no particular reason to uphold the Qatari claim to title over Hawar beyond the
consideration that a decision in favour of Qatar would mean that Hawar was already covered
by the Qatar Oil Concession of 1935. The British Government, however, had opted, even if
only provisionally, in favour of the Bahrain claim of title to Hawar, and PCL pragmatically
adjusted itself to this new situation.
3.66 Whatever excuses can be made for PCL, what this episode does demonstrate (and it is
not the only episode of its kind) is that, throughout this whole period between 1933 and 1939,
British officials in the Gulf and oil company executives seemed to be at one in ignoring the
interests of the Ruler of Qatar, and even, as this example shows, in deliberately seeking to
conceal from him vital information as to the course of negotiations affecting islands to which
he had long-standing title.
C. British knowledge of Qatar's title to the Hawar islands
3.67 It cannot moreover be objected that the British authorities in the Gulf and the relevant oil
company executives had no knowledge of Qatar's title to the Hawar islands until 1938. The
British authorities were certainly aware of the Ruler of Qatar's interest in the Hawar islands,
although this is expressed by the Political Agent (Loch), in his letter to the Political Resident
of 6 May 1936, in an indirect, almost negative, manner:"I do not know what Shaikh 'Abdullah bin Jasim of Qatar's views about the Island [Hawar]
are, but I have never heard of any protest from him against the activities of Bahrain subjects
there" 13.
3.68 This extract inevitably provokes three comments. In the first place, if the Political Agent
in Bahrain (who also had responsibility for Qatar in the absence of any British representation
in Doha) genuinely did not know the view of the Ruler of Qatar on a matter of vital
importance to him, namely the question of title to islands lying immediately off the western
coast of the mainland of Qatar, was it not his duty to find out? And yet, we know from Loch's
letter to Fowle of 6 May 1936, that he had never landed on Hawar, but had flown over it,
presumably when accompanying the RAF reconnaissance of Qatar in 1934. We also know
that no effort was made by Loch or by Fowle to notify the Ruler of Qatar that Bahrain had
advanced a formal claim to the Hawar islands on 28 April 1936, prior to the making of the
"provisional decision" in favour of Bahrain in July 1936, itself not notified to the Ruler of
Qatar. We equally know that the Political Resident (Fowle), in recommending on 25 May
1936 that Hawar should be regarded as belonging to the Sheikh of Bahrain, put the burden of
disproving his claim on the Sheikh of Qatar, thereby acknowledging, although in a context
which was demonstrably unfair to Qatar, the latter's vital interest in the matter 132.
3.69 In the second place, Loch's argument that he had never heard of any protest from the
Ruler of Qatar against the activities of Bahrain subjects in Hawar (and Fowle makes the same
point) fails to take into account three significant points. Firstly, the Ruler of Qatar had never
had occasion to protest against the occasional and short-lived presence of itinerant fishermen
on Hawar during the winter months, including some fishermen normally resident in Bahrain,
since this was normal practice in the Gulf and did not betoken any claim of title. Secondly,
such other activities in relation to Hawar as Bahrain claimed to have engaged in prior to 1936,
as outlined in Belgrave's letter to Loch of 28 April 1936, were either factually inaccurate or
did not have any specific legal consequences on sovereignty. Thirdly, and most importantly,
the Ruler of Qatar was deliberately kept in ignorance of the formal claim to title to the Hawar
islands advanced on behalf of the Ruler of Bahrain on 28 April 1936. Silence in the face of a
claim to sovereignty over a parcel of territory can be regarded as having legal effects only
when the other party is made aware that such a claim to sovereignty is being asserted.
3.70 Finally, although there is clear evidence that Qatar's concessionaire (PCL) was informed,
as early as 14 July 1936, that the British Government had provisionally decided that Hawar
belonged to the Ruler of Bahrain 133, it certainly cannot be assumed that PCL would have
passed on this unpalatable news to the Ruler of Qatar. Indeed, it is more than likely that PCL
did not do so. PCL was already in negotiation with the Ruler of Bahrain for the new
concession over the "unallotted area", and these negotiations were based on that Ruler's
assumption (confidently shared by Fowle) that he had title to the Hawar islands, and could
therefore grant a new concession covering an area which would include the Hawar islands.
Furthermore, it should be remembered that, less than two years after the "provisional
decision" in favour of Bahrain, Longrigg, on behalf of PCL, was expressing the view that it 134
would be a pity to put ideas of ownership (of Hawar) into the mind of the Sheikh of Qatar .
3.71 All in all, it is difficult to escape the conclusion that, in the mid-1930s, everything was
being done by British officials in the Gulf and in London, and by the interested oil company
executives, to create the illusion that Bahrain had an incontrovertible title to the Hawar
islands, despite the fact that the evidence which might be thought to sustain this view had notbeen tested and despite the fact that the Ruler of Qatar had been kept in total ignorance of the
claim to the Hawar islands advanced by Bahrain on 28 April 1936.
D. Chronology of significant events relating to Hawar: 1933-1936
3.72 To sum up on this part of the argument and to understand correctly the reactions of all
the parties concerned, it is necessary to bear in mind the chronological order in which various
events occurred:
(1) May 1933: Commencement of detailed negotiations between APOC and Ruler of Qatar
for oil concession covering territory of Qatar following geological survey of Qatar peninsula
which covered Hawar island: see, map entitled "APOC Sketch Map of Qatar Peninsula"
135
enclosed with letter of 3 February 1934 from Elkington (APOC) to Fowle (PRPG) .
(2) 25 June 1933 : PAB (Loch) reports in letter to PRPG that he has advised Mr. Sampson
(APOC) to "keep clear of the Western coast of Qatar" because of Bahrain claims "considered
locally to be live". This letter clearly refers to Zubarah rather than Hawar, since Loch
acknowledges that APOC "may find it necessary to raise the question later on to prevent
another136mpany from interfering with their operations by drilling draining wells on the
coast" .
(3) 31 July 1933 : PAB (Loch), in his capacity as Acting PRPG, states that "Hawar Island is
137
clearly not one of the Bahrain group [of islands]" .
(4) 1934: Secret negotiations between Ruler of Qatar and Ibn Saud about grant of Qatar oil
concession to SOCAL, United States company holding concession from Ibn Saud covering
Hasa coast. British authorities in Gulf get to hear of this and are very angry. They warn Ruler
of Qatar of his obligation under Article 5 of the Treaty of 1916 not to grant any concession to
anyone without the permission of the British Government.
(5) 5 March 1934 : A new version of a memorandum by Laithwaite (India Office), revised up
to 5 March 1934, on "The Southern Boundary of Qatar and the Connected Problems" (Memo
B.430) is issued. This concludes inter alia that:
"... the pre-war boundary ran roughly south-east across the base of the [Qatar] Peninsula, from
Dohat-as-Salwa, or a point slightly north of it, to a point north of the Khor-al-'Odeid" 13.
This revised memorandum by Laithwaite should be read in conju139ion with the letter from
Rendel (Foreign Office) to Laithwaite of 16 March 1934 . This letter puts important glosses
on the revised memorandum, which were accepted by the India Office and other interested
Government Departments and were duly integrated into the British negotiating position vis-à-
vis Saudi Arabia.
(6) 9 May 1934 : In consequence of the events described under point 4 above, the British
authorities in the Gulf and in London began to give consideration to offering the Ruler of
Qatar a guarantee of protection against serious and unprovoked armed attack on his land
territories (semble, from Saudi Arabia) in return for his granting the Qatar oil concession to
APOC. Air Headquarters in Iraq and the Air Ministry in London wished to carry out a
reconnaissance of Qatar by flying-boat in order to examine suitable landing sites in the
context of the proposed guarantee. Approval was given to this proposal in London. Theconsent of the Ruler of Qatar (but not of the Ruler of Bahrain) was sought for this
reconnaissance "over his territory", and was duly given. The Ruler of Qatar undertook to give
instructions to his tribesmen to give every help in the event of a forced landing; the only
request which he made in return was t140 the aircraft keep far away from camels and other
animals so as not to frighten them . Loch (PAB) accompanied the aerial reconnaissance on
9 May 1934, and subsequently reported to Fowle on 12 May 1934 that Group Captain Saul in
his flying boat had:
"... left Bahrain at 0630 hours and proceeded over Hawar Island and thence across to just east
of Zakhnuniyah Island. Studious care was taken not to cross the Sa'udi Arab frontier and the
Flying Boat did not fly over either the island or over the Gulf to the south of it" 14.
This is eloquent testimony to the fact that, as late as May 1934, Loch was clearly of the view
that Hawar was an integral part of the territories of the Ruler of Qatar since only his
permission (and not that of the Ruler of Bahrain) had been sought for overflight of the island.
The Court will also note the "studious care" which was taken not to overfly Saudi Arabian
territory.
(7) 17 May 1935: This was the date of signature of the Qatar Oil Concession by the Ruler of
Qatar and Mr. Mylles on behalf of APOC. The travaux pr_paratoires of the Qatar Oil
Concession add little to our knowledge. Article 2 of the Concession Agreement as signed of
course defines the State of Qatar as:
"... the whole area over which the Shaikh rules an142hich is marked on the north of the line
drawn on the map attached to this Agreement" .
There had been some discussion of the map to be annexed to the Concession Agreement at a
meeting held between APOC representatives and India Office officials on 10 January 1935 143.
Paragraph 7 of the record of this meeting shows that APOC was anxious to know whether the
southern boundary of Qatar which had been indicated to the IPC/APOC geologists on the
ground by the Ruler of Qatar personally (and which had subsequently been shown on the map
prepared by the IPC/APOC geologists and circulated in February 1934) 144 was satisfactory to
HMG for the purposes of the map to be attached to the Concession. The APOC
representatives explained at the meeting that they understood there had been considerable
recent discussion between the Ruler of Qatar and Ibn Saud over the southern boundary of
Qatar, with Ibn Saud anxious to include in his territory the whole of the Jebel Dukhan and the
Ruler of Qatar opposing this by claiming the boundary as shown on the IPC/APOC map or a
line south of it running to Salwa. Following this meeting, Laithwaite (India Office), after
consultation with Rendel (Foreign Office), informed Lefroy (APOC) on 22 January 1935, that
no objection was seen to the Company's accepting as the southern limit of its concession the
line marked on the IPC/APOC map of Qatar (which was in the event marginally modified to
conceal its provenance) 14. In conjunction with the grant of the Qatar Oil Concession to
APOC, there entered into force the British Government assurance of protection to the Ruler of
146
Qatar against serious and unprovoked attacks on his land territory (undefined) .
(8) 28 April 1936: Belgrave's letter to Loch (PAB) laying formal claim to the Hawar islands
on behalf of the Ruler of Bahrain.
(9) 29 April 1936 : Skliros (PCL) writes to India Office (Walton) drawing attention to the
Qatar Oil Concession of 1935, stating that, in PCL's negotiations with the Ruler of Bahrainover the "unallotted area", the latter had laid claim to Hawar as part of his dominions, and
enquiring to which of the two sheikhdoms (Bahrain or Qatar), in the opinion of the
147
Government of India, Hawar belonged .
(10) 6 May 1936: Loch (PAB) writes to Fowle (PRPG) cautiously supporting Ruler of
Bahrain's claim to Hawar, despite his letter of 31 July 1933 (item 3 above) and his
participation in the RAF's aerial reconnaissance of Qatar (item 6 above) . 148
(11) 25 May 1936: Fowle (PRPG) recommends to Secretary of State for India in London that
"Hawar should be regarded as belonging to the Shaikh of Bahrain and that the burden of
disproving his claim lies on the Shaikh of Qatar". Fowle appears to have relied heavily on the
(untested) assertions by Belgrave that Hawar had long been occupied "by the Dowasir tribe of
Bahrain" and that the present Ruler of Bahrain and his predecessor as Ruler had exercised
active jurisdiction in Hawar "down to the present day" 14.
(12) 10 July 1936: Walton and Clauson (both India Office) inform Belgrave (at this time in
London) of HMG's "provisional decision" supporting the Ruler of Bahrai150 claim to Hawar
and putting burden of disproving this claim on the Ruler of Qatar .
(13) 14 July 1936 : Walton (India Office) writes to Skliros (PCL), in response to item 9 above,
informing him that, on the basis of the evidence at present before HMG, it appears to them
that Hawar belongs to the Sheikh of Bahrain,151d that the burden of disproving his claim
would lie on any other potential claimant .
3.73 Against this background, PCL obviously took the hard commercial decision to pursue
directly with the Ruler of Bahrain its negotiations for an oil concession covering Hawar, on
the assumption that, in due course, a formal decision would be forthcoming which definitively
awarded Hawar to Bahrain. In these circumstances, it would have been unwise (and indeed
contrary to their interests as Qatar's exclusive oil concessionaire) for PCL to inform the Ruler
of Qatar that the Ruler of Bahrain had laid formal claim to the Hawar islands and that the
British Government had provisionally decided in favour of the Bahrain claim. There is indeed
no evidence that the Ruler of Qatar was made aware of these significant events in 1936. He
was deliberately kept in ignorance of them by the British authorities in the Gulf and in
London, and also by the oil companies concerned.
3.74 In discussing the events of 1936, Qatar would wish to take the opportunity to respond to
the argument advanced in paragraphs 375 and 376 of the Bahrain Memorial. The Court will of
course understand that PCL, through Major Holmes, was already in direct negotiation with the
Ruler of Bahrain in the spring of 1936 with a view to offering terms for a new concession
covering the "unallotted area". The Ruler of Bahrain had clearly indicated to Major Holmes
that he claimed Hawar as part of his dominions and Major Holmes had so reported to his
principals in London. This provoked Skliros (PCL in London) to write to Walton (India
Office) on 29 April 1936 152, enquiring whether Hawar island belonged to Qatar or Bahrain.
There is annexed to the Bahrain Memorial 153a copy of Walton's reply to this letter, but not of
Skliros' letter itself. This is no doubt because Skliros' letter puts forward a number of facts
which are wholly at variance with the Bahrain thesis. Thus, apart from referring to the map
annexed to the Qatar concession, Skliros states in his letter of 29 April 1936, which is
fortunately annexed to the Qatar Memorial:"The island [Hawar] is about 10 miles long, about 2 miles wide at its widest and is believed to
be uninhabited. It is said to be sometimes visited in the winter and to have had in the past
some degree of connection with Bahrain subjects, if not, (as the Shaikh of Bahrain now
154
claims) with the Khalifa family itself" .
E. The map attached to the Qatar oil concession of 1935
3.75 It is true that the Foreign Office had been concerned that the definition in the Concession
of the southern boundary of Qatar with Saudi Arabia might lead to conflict with Ibn Saud, but
there is no suggestion in any of the travaux préparatoires of the Concession that neither the
Hawar islands nor Zubarah would be included within the Concession area. Item 7 in
paragraph 3.72 above embodies a brief summary of the travaux préparatoires of the
Concession Agreement so far as they relate to this point and indeed to the map attached to the
Concession Agreement. This map clearly depicts the Hawar islands as lying on the north of
the line representing the southern boundary of the Concession area. North of that line was the
area over which the Sheikh of Qatar ruled. The area indubitably included the main Hawar
islands, the main island being indeed specifically named ("Jezirat Howar"). It is inconceivable
that the Government departments in London would have accepted this definition of the State
of Qatar for the purposes of the 1935 Concession had they (or indeed any of them) seriously
thought that either the Hawar islands or Zubarah, or indeed both, appertained to the Ruler of
Bahrain. At the very least, one would expect to find some reference in the records to the
exceptional position of those features had that been the case.
3.76 The nearest one can find to any reservation of this kind is a letter from the PAB (Loch)
to the PRPG (Fowle) of 25 June 1933, in which he reports on a conversation which he had
had with Mr. Sampson of APOC. Loch reports that he had advised:
"... Mr. Sampson to keep clear of the Western coast of Qatar, so far as might be. He asked me
about the Bahrain claims, but I said that I could tell him little except that they were considered
locally to be live claims, and I thought that, unless they found that they definitely required to
operate there, it would be best, at any rate at this stage, to let sleeping dogs lie. I appreciate,
however, that they may find it necessary to raise the question later on to prevent another 155
Company from interfering with their operations by drilling draining wells on the coast" .
This is hardly the voice of an official who is convinced that the authority of the Ruler of Qatar
in June 1933 did not extend to either the Hawar islands or Zubarah. Loch clearly regarded
these two parcels of territory as being within the area over which the Sheikh of Qatar ruled.
What he was conveying to Sampson was a delicate diplomatic hint that it might be advisable
for APOC not immediately to exercise the plenitude of their rights on the western coast of
Qatar because of the potential claims of Bahrain in relation to that part of Qatar. In no way
was he expressing any reservation to the effect that the Hawar islands (or indeed Zubarah)
appertained to the Ruler of Bahrain. Indeed, the clear implication of his warning to Sampson
is that APOC would be fully entitled under the Concession, if it were awarded to them, to
operate on the western coast of Qatar (including Hawar), but that it might be prudent for the
Company not to do so for the time being in view of the Bahrain claims. It will in any event be
recalled that some five weeks later, Loch stated that Hawar was clearly not one of the Bahrain
group of islands 156.
3.77 It was only at a much later stage (in mid-1936), when the Ruler of Bahrain had already
advanced a formal claim in writing to the Hawar islands which both Loch and Fowle, for noobjectively convincing reason, thought to have substance, that the India Office sought to
explain away the Qatar concession and the map attached to it by asserting that the object of
the map was simply to define the southern boundary of the Concession. Even assuming that
there might be some truth in this comment, it does not sufficiently explain away the shift of
position of the British Government from acceptance (in 1935) that the Qatar Concession
extended to the whole of the western coast of Qatar, including the Hawar islands, to a
provisional decision (in mid-1936) that the Hawar islands belonged to the Ruler of Bahrain.
3.78 It is accordingly quite wrong, and indeed contrary to the evidence, to seek to interpret
Walton's reply of 14 May 1936 in the sense suggested in paragraph 376 of the Bahrain
Memorial, namely, that the sole purpose of the line drawn on the map 157ached to the Qatar
concession was to define the southern boundary of the concession . Even if it were, Walton's
view is totally contradicted by the view expressed by another India Office official (Symons)
on 19 April 1938, in a marginal note to the record of the informal meeting held on 12 April
1938, between India Office officials and PCL representatives . In this marginal note,
Symons is in fact agreeing with a point made by Longrigg for PCL that if enquiries showed
that the Hawar islands belonged to the Ruler of Qatar, they would be included in the
concession which PCL already held from the Ruler by virtue of Article 2 of that concession.
3.79 Against this background, it is perhaps not altogether surprising that the Bahrain
Memorial maintains such a discreet (indeed pregnant) silence over the crucial events of 1936
resulting in the making of a "provisional decision" on the Hawar islands in favour of Bahrain
in July 1936, following upon the presentation of Bahrain's formal claim of title to the islands
on 28 April 1936.
Section 5. Activities of Bahrain in or in relation to the Hawar islands cannot be invoked
to establish title if they were motivated by an intent to deceive or occurred after the
dispute between Bahrain and Qatar on this issue had become apparent
3.80 Under this heading Qatar proposes to analyse three procedural (more specifically,
evidentiary) issues, which are closely linked and yet require separate analysis.
A. Bahrain's "evidence" in relation to Hawar
3.81 The first issue concerns the alleged "evidence" of Bahrain activities in or in relation to
Hawar produced by Bahrain in 1938, and now repeated in the Bahrain Memorial, which Qatar
contends was manufactured by Belgrave and others in his employ in the 1930s in order to
sustain an otherwise very flimsy claim by the Ruler of Bahrain to title over the Hawar islands.
Qatar has, in paragraphs 6.51 to 6.70, 6.100 to 6.109, 6.155 to 6.162, 6.165 to 6.177, and
6.191 of the Qatar Memorial, read in conjunction with the many annexes referred to in those
paragraphs, produced overwhelming evidence of the steps taken by Belgrave, sometimes in
collusion with others, to fabricate documents deliberately designed to deceive any impartial
authority called upon to decide which of the two sheikhdoms - Qatar or Bahrain - had title to
the Hawar islands.
B. Status and allegiance of the Dowasir
3.82 It will be recalled that, prior to the forced deposition of Sheikh Isa of Bahrain by the
British in 1923, the Dowasir, as Sunnis, enjoyed a largely independent position in Bahrain.
The tension and potential conflict between Sunnis and Shiahs in Bahrain in the early 1920'sgave rise to social unrest. Sheikh Isa and most other members of the ruling family, as Sunnis,
tended to favour the status quo. But Daly, who succeeded as Political Agent in early 1921,
was persuaded that some reforms must be initiated in Bahrain to reduce the plight of the
down-trodden Shiahs. He succeeded in persuading Sheikh Isa, who was now in his dotage, to
appoint Sheikh Hamad as his assistant in the administration in June 1921, effectively ousting
his younger brother and rival, Sheikh Abdullah. Daly subsequently reported on the position as
it was when he took over as Political Agent:
"It is evident from the files in this Agency, that no improvement as regards the internal
administration of Bahrain has been effected, and several Political Agents have left on record
notes concerning the unsatisfactory state of affairs. There is evidence on all sides that
oppression has much increased of quite recent years, whereas the population is more
enlightened and less inclined to submit to such treatment" 159.
There were many grievances among the Bahrainis against discriminatory taxes which were
imposed upon, or collected from, Shiahs only. The Political Agent was eventually asked to
propose a package of tax reforms, which he duly did. In June 1922, a reconciliation was
effected between Sheikhs Abullah and Hamad to the dismay of disaffected tribal elements
such as the Dowasir who opposed Sheikh Hamad's administration. This led to the first attempt
by the Dowasir to obtain support from Ibn Saud:
"During July [1922], Abdullah ad-Dosari, Chief of the Najdi Dowasir, and Ahmed ben Lahej,
head of a smaller group of Najdis, visited Ibn Saud, hoping to enlist his support in their stand
against Shaikh Hamad's plan for tax reforms - a plan which was envisaged as placing Shiahs
and Sunnis on an equal footing. After the visit news of Ibn Saud pledging them support
circulated in Bahrain" 16.
3.83 There then followed the enforced retirement of Sheikh Isa as Ruler of Bahrain in May
1923, to be succeeded by Sheikh Hamad who enjoyed British support. It was in consequence
of this development, and the many reforms which Sheikh Hamad began immediately to set in
train that the greater part of the Dowasir - about two thousand - fearing a threat to their
position in Bahrain, departed to Dammam in July 1923, where they hoped to enlist the
sympathy and active support of Ibn Saud 161. The rest of the tribe - about one thousand -
remained in Budayya. The division of the Dowasir into two factions, one living in Bahrain
and the other in Dammam, was rightly regarded as a threat to the safety of Bahrain. The
Dowasir could raid Bahrain and retreat to the mainland overnight. The threat was more
serious in view of the Wahhabi ambition to subdue Bahrain. The Ruler of Bahrain therefore
issued an ultimatum warning the Dowasir either to return to their base or leave Bahrain
altogether as a body. A litt162before the deadline set for 18 July 1923 had expired, the rest of
the Dowasir left Budayya . Far from being loyal subjects of the Ruler of Bahrain, the
Dowasir were a threat to the security of Bahrain. In fact, a Levy Corps of one hundred
Baluchis commanded by a British Officer was recruited from Muscat essentially to reinforce
Bahraini defence against possible aggression from mainland Arabia waged by the Dowasir 163.
3.84 In a significant communication of 4 January 1924 from the Political Resident (Trevor),
the Secretary of State for Colonies in London was advised:
"... Now that the whole Dawasir tribe has left, I may remark that Shaikh is greatly relieved
and do164not want them back at any price. In this I think he is right and that he is well rid of
them" .3.85 A few additional pieces of evidence relate to the treatment of the Dowasir between 1923
and 1929. It was explained in paragraph 6.55 of the Qatar Memorial, read in conjunction with
the letter from the Politi165 Resident (Haworth) to the Foreign Secretary of the Government of
India of 27 March 1927 , that by 1927 the Ruler of Bahrain was anxious that the property
confiscated from the Dowasir at the time of their departure from Bahrain in 1923 should be
returned to them 166. The Ruler was under pressure from Ibn Saud to permit this to be done,
and he was anxious to appease Ibn Saud who exercised at that time a powerful influence over
the Rulers of all the Gulf sheikhdoms. It will be noted from Annex III.73 to the Qatar
Memorial that, when the Dowasir were forced to leave Bahrain in 1923 and the town of
Budayya had been forfeited, an attempt had been made to populate it with Bahrainis (note the
contrast expressed in this letter between the Dowasir and Bahrainis) and to sell the houses and
167
land at very cheap prices .
3.86 This additional evidence lends verisimilitude to the implied suggestion in paragraph 6.57
of the Qatar Memorial that the Dowasir who were beginning to drift back to Bahrain, in
straitened circumstances, in 1928/29 were still highly reluctant to accept the Ruler of
168
Bahrain's authority over them . The extent to which Ibn Saud was giving support to the
Dowasir in their attempts to extract concessions from the Ruler of Bahrain and the British
authorities in the Gulf is attested to by a letter of 22 April 1928, from the Political Agent in
Bahrain to the Secretary to the Political Resident, with its enclosed translation of a letter dated
6 April 1928, from the King of Hijaz, Nejd and Dependencies (Ibn Saud), to the Political
169
Agent . What is of particular interest in the letter of 6 April 1928 is that the King's
representations are made on behalf of "our Duwasir subjects who are residing in Damman".
This claim by Ibn Saud is of course wholly inconsistent with the assertions in paragraphs 36,
38, 346 and 351 of the Bahrain Memorial that the Dowasir had owed uninterrupted and
unswerving allegiance to successive Rulers of Bahrain since about 1800. In this context it will
of course be recalled that all the leading authorities (including Lorimer) place the date of the
arrival of the Dowasir in Bahrain as 1845. Qatar had already, in its Memorial, drawn attention
to the uncertain and fluctuating relations of the Dowasir with the Al-Khalifah, and indeed to
the claim recorded in paragraph 7 of the letter from the Political Agent (Prideaux) to the
Political Resident of 4 April 1909:
"... that the Dowasir regarded Hawar as their own independent territory..." 17.
3.87 The evidence also provides strong support for the view expressed by Alban (Political
Agent, Bahrain), in his note on the "Ownership of Hawar" prepared in October 1941:
"4. The Dowasir are rather independent as can be seen from the way they deserted their town
of Budaya in Bahrain for the mainland. They are not true inhabitants of Bahrain and are able
to change their allegiance at will if displeased. Their settlement in any spot does not t171efore
mean much more than the settlement of a migratory tribe in a neighbouring state" .
3.88 Indeed, the author of the "Administration Report for the Bahrain Political Agency for the
year 1911" can be credited with unusual prescience in stating:
"The only generally hostile feeling in the island [Bahrain] is, I think, to be sought among the
Dosiris, with whom there is frequent trouble over the questions of pearling accounts and
slaves. They are not readily amenable to Shaikh Isa's authority... There will probably be
172
serious trouble with them some day" .3.89 The somewhat schizophrenic attitude of Fowle (Political Resident in the Gulf between
1932 and 1939) towards the Dowasir is also worth noting. It will be recalled that, on 29 April
1939, Fowle forwarded to the Secretary of State for India a copy of Weightman's report of
22 April 1939 (with supporting documentation) on the relative merits of the claims to title
over Hawar advanced by the Rulers of Qatar and Bahrain. In doin173o, Fowle commended
Weightman's report as "a very clear statement of the case" . It will be recalled that
Weightman's report states inter alia:
"On the Bahrain side there is evidence that the original occupation of Hawar by the Dawasir
[sic] was effected under the authority of the Al Khalifah, [and] that the Zellaq Dawasir have
frequented these islands for a great number of years... I am not able to state definitely that
these Dawasir have for the past 150 years occupied Hawar at all seasons of the year, though
those now in residence there claim that this is so" 174.
3.90 The clear implication of statements such as these (on which the British Government
relied in making their decision on Hawar of 11 July 1939) is that the Dowasir had occupied
Hawar regularly over a period of 150 years for much of the year. But Fowle for one seems to
have forgotten in 1939 the view which he had expressed less than two years previously in the
context of the Bahrain claim to Zubarah based on the continuing allegiance of the Naim tribe.
In denying the Bahrain claim to Zubarah, Fowle argues as follows in his letter to the Secretary
of State for India of 5 May 1937:
"The Bahrain Dowasir tribe, for instance, some years ago being on bad terms with the Ruler
of Bahrain, emigrated to Hasa. While there they doubtless received messages from the Ruler
of Bahrain and evidently considered themselves as owing some allegiance to him, since
finally they asked his permission to return to Bahrain. But this sort of allegiance on the part of
the Do175ir naturally gives no claim to the Shaikh of Bahrain to the part of Hasa occupied by
them" .
And yet it seems (and this appears to be the logic of Fowle's view, difficult as it may be to
follow) to have given a valid claim to the Sheikh of Bahrain to the Hawar islands
intermittently and irregularly "occupied" by the same Dowasir. It will, in any event, be
recalled that Ibn Saud claimed the Dowasir as his own subjects when they were living on the
Dammam peninsula in the late 1920s.
3.91 There is the further consideration that Bahrain produced no evidence in 1938/39, and has
produced no evidence in the Bahrain Memorial, to establish that the Dowasir regularly paid
taxes in respect of the income generated by the economic activities which they claim to have
performed on Hawar prior to the unlawful occupation of the islands by Bahrain in 1936/37.
There is clear evidence that, in the 1920s and 1930s, successive Rulers of Bahrain did not
seek to tax the Dowasir in respect of their economic activities in Bahrain, far less in respect of
such economic activities as they may have engaged in on their winter visits to the Hawar
islands. For example, in a report of 13 July 1922, from the Political Agent in Bahrain (Daly)
to the then Political Resident, on a visit by the chief of the Dowasir to Ibn Saud, it is stated:
"It would appear that Bin Saud offered to assist them to resist any efforts of the Bahrain
Rulers to tax them or to bring them under their effective control" 176.
The same report continues:"Though nominally acknowledging the overlordship of Sheik Easa [Isa], they have always in
the past declined to acknowledge Shaik Hamad as his definite successor. It is believed that
they entertained some hopes of getting control of the islands [the Bahrain islands] into their
own hands in the future. Bin Saud may be not unaware of these designs. Some years ago they
used to pay a small diving tax in a commuted form. Even then they resisted direct taxation.
For several years they have ceased even these payments and the Ruler is afraid to insist on
payment" 177.
3.92 If, as these reports establish, the Dowasir had not, prior to their departure to the
Dammam peninsula in 1923, been accustomed to pay any taxes in respect of their economic
activities in Bahrain itself, they would self-evidently not have been paying any taxes to the
Ruler of Bahrain in respect of such economic activities (if any) as they may have engaged in
during their winter visits to Hawar. The Court will, of course, recall that one of the conditions
laid down in 1927 for the return of the Dowasir to Bahrain was that "they must pay the same
178
taxes as other agriculturists and traders" . There is no evidence that they did pay such taxes
in respect of such economic activities as they may have engaged in on Hawar in the early
1930s.
3.93 By way of contrast, Qatar has already produced documentary evidenc e dating from 1887
and 1891 of tax-collecting expeditions to Hawar engaged in by agents of the Ruler of Qatar
and designed to secure the payment of taxes from fishermen using179war as a temporary base
in winter for their fishing activities in the surrounding waters .
3.94 The Court will also wish to note that, on 5 April 1923, the Political Resident wrote
directly to the Rulers of Qatar and Kuwait drawing attention to "the recent contumacious
behaviour of Dawasir tribe in leaving Bahrain without reason". The Political Resident's letter
continues:
"I write to request you, in the event of tribes wishing to come to your territory not to
encourage them or to harbour them should they come without previous instruction. I have
been instructed by the High Govt. to inform you that they would view with disfavour the
harbouring by you of malcontents from Bahrain who would abuse your hospitality by making
your dominions a base for intrigues against the Ruler of Bahrain who has the full support of
HMG" 180.
The interest of this letter is that the only territory in Qatar which the Dowasir regularly
frequented, at least during the winter months, was the Hawar islands, and the Ruler of Qatar
was in fact being asked to exclude them from there. There is no evidence in the entire
documentation in the British archives regarding the behaviour of the Dowasir between 1923
and 1928 of any member of the tribe being permanently resident in the Hawar islands as an
integral part of Bahrain territory; nor is there any evidence in that documentation of any
members of the Dowasir tribe leaving or being expelled from the Hawar islands. Similarly
there is not a word in that documentation of any members of the tribe returning or seeking to
return directly to the Hawar islands in 1928/29 (notwithstanding the Bahraini claim that they
were "permanent residents" of Hawar). Qatar submits that this entire episode and the
circumstances surrounding the departure of the Dowasir from Bahrain in 1923 demonstrates
the falsity of the Bahrain assertions: (a) that the Dowasir were permanent residents of the
Hawar islands and (b) that they owed unwavering allegiance to the Ruler of Bahrain so as to
make them subjects of the Ruler of Bahrain. At most, the evidence shows only that membersof the Dowasir tribe may have been accustomed to pay winter visits to the Hawar islands as
itinerant fishermen (but not between 1923 and 1928).
3.95 The crude distortion in the Bahrain Memorial of the status and supposed allegiance of
the opportunistic Dowasir is outweighed only by the manifest and repeated instances cited in
the Qatar Memorial of the "manufacture" of "evidence" on Hawar by Belgrave in the 1930s.
As a matter of law, Qatar naturally submits that no credence can be given by the Court to
documents proved to have been "manufactured" or "fabricated" for the purpose of influencing
the British Government in making its decision as to which of the two sheikhdoms - Qatar or
Bahrain - had title to Hawar.
C. The relevance of the date of the first formal claim by Bahrain to the Hawar islands
3.96 The third issue which Qatar wishes to analyse under this heading is the significance in
law of the date in 1936, when Belgrave, on behalf of the Ruler of Bahrain, submitted to the
Political Agent a formal claim in writing to the Hawar islands. So far as Bahrain is concerned,
this can be said to be the date on which the dispute over title to the Hawar islands
"crystallised". Bahrain already seeks impliedly to deny this by placing stress on the date of
27 May 1938, when, in response to an invitation from the then Political Agent (Weightman),
Qatar submitted its formal claim to the Hawar islands 181. But this cannot conceivably be right.
It ignores entirely the crucial events of 1936 discussed in Section 4 of this Chapter 18. The
British authorities failed to notify the Ruler of Qatar that Bahrain had already submitted a
formal claim to the Hawar islands in April 1936; they also failed to notify him of the
"provisional decision" which they had taken in July 1936 that the Hawar islands should be
regarded as belonging to the Ruler of Bahrain and that the burden of disproving his claim
should lie on the Ruler of Qatar. And yet they well knew that the Ruler of Qatar asserted title
to the Hawar islands. They may have hoped that, by keeping the Ruler of Qatar in ignorance
of these highly significant developments, they would indirectly be providing quiet support for
the Bahrain claim since, as the Political Agent (Loch) was to admit on 6 May 1936, with
commendable, if somewhat dangerous, frankness, "... it might in certain cir183stances suit us
politically to have as large an area as possible included under Bahrain" .
3.97 The primary reason why this would suit the British politically is of course that the Ruler
of Bahrain was relying on increasing revenues from oil. These were not yet forthcoming
despite confident forecasts from BAPCO. The inclusion of the Hawar islands (thought at this
time to be oil rich) within the "unallotted area" to be covered by a new concession from the
Ruler of Bahrain would inevitably provide a new source of income for Bahrain. A secondary
reason may have been that Bahrain seemed to be a more reliable stopping-off point than Qatar
on the air route from the UK to India in the run-up to the Second World War.
3.98 Qatar deliberately refrains from positing the notion of a specific "critical date" for the
crystallisation of the dispute between Bahrain and Qatar over Hawar, although being well
aware of the judgment of the Court in the Minquiers and Ecrehos case. The Court will recall
that, in that case, the United Kingdom and France argued in favour of radically differing dates
(29 December 1950 and 2 August 1839, respectively) as being the dates on which the dispute
over title to the Minquiers and Ecrehos groups had crystallised, with both parties maintaining
that evidence of activities performed by one party or the other after the so-called "critical
date" should be regarded as inadmissible. The Court, in its judgment in that case, took an
intermediate position:"A dispute as to sovereignty over the groups did not arise before the years 1886 and 1888,
when France for the first time claimed sovereignty over the Ecrehos and Minquiers
respectively. But in view of the special circumstances of the present case, subsequent acts
should also be considered by the Court, unless the measure 184question was taken with a view
to improving the legal position of the Party concerned" .
3.99 Qatar is content to rely on this statement of the position. Indeed, it does not ask the Court
to reject any evidence put forward by Bahrain as being inadmissible in limine only by reason
of the fact that it relates to activities carried out by or on behalf of Bahrain after April 1936. It
does however ask the Court to reject as totally inadmissible any evidence put forward by
Bahrain in support of its claim to Hawar (or indeed to Zubarah) which it is satisfied was
"manufactured" by Bahrain to strengthen its case. Likewise, it respectfully requests the Court,
relying on this passage in its judgment in the Minquiers and Ecrehos case, not to take into
consideration any evidence tendered by Bahrain in support of its claim to Hawar if the
evidence relates to activities carried out by or on behalf of Bahrain after April 1936 (when a
formal claim to Hawar was first advanced to the British authorities on behalf of the Ruler of
Bahrain), and the Court is satisfied that these activities were undertaken with a view to
improving Bahrain's legal position. Some activities undertaken by or on behalf of Bahrain in
relation to Hawar in the late 1930's clearly fall within the scope o185his principle, for example,
the "beaconing" or marking of islets or other maritime features , the covert "occupation" of
the main Hawar island by members of the Dowasir tribe 18, the despatch by Bahrain of a
garrison to Hawar 18, and the building of a fort and mosque on the main Hawar island. 188
Activities of this kind clearly cannot be accepted as evidence confirming Bahrain's claim of
title to the Hawar islands, even if their evidential value might have to be excluded for other
unrelated reasons, for example, because the beaconing of islets and fashts would not in any
event constitute evidence of title, or because th e alleged "settlement" of the Dowasir on
Hawar was artificially contrived by Belgrave in the mid-1930s.
3.100 Qatar is indeed inclined to the view that, in this particular case, the Court should not
seek to pick out any specific date as the date when the dispute between Bahrain and Qatar as
regards sovereignty over Hawar crystallised. The whole period between 1930 and 1939 could
be said to have been a critical period when Bahrain was in the process of reviving or seeking
to assert claims concerning Zubarah and Hawar at the expense of Qatar. The Court will
indeed recall that the Court of Arbitration in the Taba arbitration between Egypt and Israel
was content to decide the location of the fourteen boundary pillars in dispute between the
Parties on the basis of the boundary between Egypt and the former mandated territory of
Palestine as it was demarcated, consolidated and commonly understood during the period of
the Mandate (which it termed the "critical period"). But, in determining that the period of the
Mandate was the critical period, the Court of Arbitration in the Taba case did not exclude
evidence (particularly documentary evidence) relating to events that had occurred both before
and after the critical period. As regards events that had occurred prior to the critical period,
the Court of Arbitration said in its award:
"In so far as there are doubts as to where the boundary pillars stood during the period of the
Mandate or for confirmation of its findings, the Tribunal, for its part, will also consider the
1906 Agreement, but merely as an indice among others, as to what was the situation on the
ground during the critical period. In the same way, the Tribunal will consider any relevant
evolution with regard to the delimited and demarcated boundary prior to the critical
189
period" .The Court of Arbitration also stated:
"Events subsequent to the critical period can in principle also be relevant, not in terms of a
change of the situation, but only to the extent that they may reveal or i190strate the
understanding of the situation as it was during the critical period..." .
3.101 The present case is of course complicated by the consideration that Qatar has felt bound
to draw to the attention of the Court the evidence in its possession demonstrating that, during
the critical period between 1930 and 1939, Belgrave deliberately "manufactured" and falsified
evidence in order to buttress the Bahraini claim to Hawar. Accordingly, Qatar's primary
contention, on this evidential issue, is that the Court must reject as being totally inadmissible
any evidence tendered by Bahrain which it is satisfied was "manufactured" or fabricated by or
on behalf of Bahrain during the critical period from 1930 to 1939. Additionally, or
alternatively, Qatar contends that the Court must, in any event, refrain from taking into
consideration any evidence of activities undertaken by or on behalf of Bahrain during the
critical period or later with a view to improving Bahrain's legal position in relation to Hawar.
Section 6. Inadequacy of Bahrain's evidence to sustain a claim of title to the Hawar
islands prior to 1936
3.102 As indicated above, Bahrain claims sovereignty over the Hawar islands by virtue of the
British decision of 11 July 1939 which, it contends, is res judicata. This contention is dealt
with elsewhere in this Counter-Memorial 19. Bahrain's alternative contention is that its title to
the Hawar islands is also supported by a series of other considerations. This alternative
contention will now be examined.
3.103 Bahrain claims that "the historical genesis of Bahrain's title to the Hawar Islands is
Bahrain's original dominance and authority over all the territories in the Gulf of Bahrain and
192
the Qatar peninsula" . It has already been demonstrated above that Bahrain had no such
dominance and authority over the Qatar peninsula. Even assuming that Bahrain had some
apparent (and not real) rights in any part of the Qatar peninsula or its adjoining islands, these
were permanently ended by virtue of the Agreements of 1868 whereby Qatar and Bahrain
were obliged to maintain maritime peace and therefore necessarily had no rights that either
could assert across the waters that separated them. The territorial inte193ty of the peninsula of
Qatar and its adjoining islands was confirmed by numerous events .
3.104 The other aspects of Bahrain's alternative contention are: (i) that there is evidence of the
exercise of sovereign authority in the Hawar islands by or on behalf of the Ruler of Bahrain;
and (ii) that Bahrain's title was recognised by the "inhabitants" of the islands. Before dealing
with these aspects of Bahrain's alternative contention, Qatar considers it most important to
recall a vital fact. Bahrain makes no claim that its so-called sovereignty or "authority and
control" over the Hawar islands was at any time recognised or acknowledged by any of the
other rulers or powers in the region - a fact in sharp contrast to the recognition of Qatar's
ownership of Hawar by the British (until 1936), the Ottomans and a number of regional
authorities as shown in Qatar's Memorial.
A. Bahrain's contentions as to the Dowasir tribe are without any substance
3.105 Bahrain further claims that its sovereignty over the Hawar islan194is supported by "the
continuous peaceful presence of a population subject to Bahrain" . As is apparent from whatis stated later in the Bahrain Memorial, this is a reference to the Dowasir tribe which, Bahrain
seems to claim, have permanently occupied the Hawar islands for some 200 years, during
which time a branch of the tribe has continued to be Bahraini subjects.
3.106 As has already been seen, this is a wholly inadequate basis to sustain Bahrain's claim to
title to the Hawar islands both because it is legally untenable and also because it is factually
incorrect 195. Bahrain cites no evidence at all of any exercise of its political authority over, or
even its acceptance by, the Dowasir temporarily present in the Hawar islands on winter visits.
At best it cites instances of individual activities or ownership of huts and fish traps of those
who happened to belong to the Dowasir tribe. It is relevant to mention that the Court of
Arbitration in the Dubai/Sharjah case dealt with a similar contention and rejected the
evidence of the ac196ities of private individuals and of their property rights as demonstrating
effective control . It stated that effective control of a territory depended only on the actions
of public authorities or individuals acting on their behalf.
3.107 There is no evidence in Bahrain's Memorial or elsewhere to show that the Dowasir was
the only tribe that had a presence in the Hawar islands nor that such presence was continuous
or permanent. Although Bahrain alleges that the "Occupation of the Islands by Bahraini
subjects has ever since [1800] been open and continuous..." 197, in fact Bahrain itself admits
that:
"Many of the Dowasir who lived on the main island of Bahrain spent five months of the year 198
there during the pearling season and the remainder of the year on the Hawar Islands" .
A more accurate description is given by Prideaux who stated in his letter of 20 March 1909
after a visit to Hawar that:
"The facts are that Dowasir of Budaiya & Zallaq on the north-west coast of Bahrain are in the
habit of every winter partially migrating to Zakhnuniya & Hawar Islands for fishing (sharks as
well as edible fish) & hawking" 199.
3.108 There are other clear indications that such of the Dowasir as went to Hawar only did so
in the short period of winter months for fishing and that otherwise they were engaged in the
principal Dowasir activity of pearl fishing from the north-west coast of Bahrain where they
had their permanent establishment. Thus the Ruler of Qatar, in his letter to the Political Agent
Bahrain of 30 March 1939, rightly pointed out that those of the Dowasir who signed the
petition in support of Bahrain's case were only fishermen who frequently came to Hawar in
the fishing season and stated:
"As to their real dwellings and places and their pearl-fishing boats, these all are at Bahrain 200
and its districts as you will find confirmation of this statement in the enclosed documents" .
It may further be noted that the translation into English from the original Arabic of the
comments enclosed with the Ruler of Qatar's letter was incomplete, the following two
sentences having been omitted from the translation at the 201 of the penultimate sub-
paragraph of paragraph 5 and in continuation thereof :
"It is possible that they have lately sought refuge there from the cold weather in the fishing
season; this is a common practice on all islands, Hawar included. This does not constitute a
permanent settlement as presented by the Bahrain Government".3.109 The petitioners who supported the Ruler of Qatar's submission of 30 March 1939 also
focussed on this point and commented with regard to the statements of those submitted by
Bahrain:
"... The allegations made by the signatories of the document respecting Hawar are untrue. If
they are really of those who frequent Hawar then they cannot be any other than those
fishermen who settle in Hawar and other islands during the winter for fishing when they are
free from the pearl fishing season. They are permanently settled in Bahrain, their boats, their
houses and immovables are all in Bahrain" 202.
3.110 In his separate statement, Muhammad bin Abdulla el-Ghurari testified that he
personally knew some of the individuals who had signed the petition in support of Bahrain
and stated:
"These persons are inhabitants of al-Zulaq a district of the island of Awal; their boats, houses
and properties are there. They have no any connection with Hawar other than their being
fishermen who come to it during the fishing season and then they leave for their own places at
Zalaq, they have nothing at Hawar except shelters which they have set up because of
necessity for sheltering them during the fishing season" 203.
3.111 It may be noted that the translation into English from the original Arabic of the
comments enclosed with the Ruler of Qatar's letter to Weightman of 30 March 1939 204 was
incomplete, and that the following two sentences were omitted from the translation at the end
205
of the penultimate sub-paragraph of paragraph 5 and in continuation thereof :
"It is possible that they have lately sought refuge there from the cold weather in the fishing
season; this is a common practice on all islands, Hawar included. This does not constitute a
206
permanent settlement as presented by the Bahrain Government" .
3.112 These statements and those by Bahrain mentioned above to the same effect 207 clearly
corroborate each other. Furthermore, Qatar has already shown that apart from Qatari
fishermen, Hawar was frequented by fishermen from a number of countries of the Gulf
including Bahrain. An Ottoman map of the Hawar islands of 1876 and 1883 indicates not only
the various tribes that visited Hawar but also the locations where they had their seasonal
dwellings 20.
3.113 In his letter of 4 April 1909, Major Prideaux reported his conversation with an
individual representing "the tribal principal Shaikh" who stated to him that:
"the Dowasir regarded Hawar as their own independent territory, the ownership of this island
having been awarded to the tribe by th209azi of Zubara more than 100 years ago in a written
decision which they still preserve" .
Bahrain appears to base its whole claim of ownership of the Hawar islands for 200 years on
this one sentence in Prideaux's letter. Qatar submits that this basis of claim (for which there
has never been any real evidence since the "written decision" was never produced to any
British or other authority) is as fanciful as Bahrain's claim in its Memorial that because the
Dowasir sought and obtained the award of Hawar or permission to live there from a Kazi of
Zubarah "in about 1800", they became "Bahraini subjects" 210.3.114 One obvious question is the following: how can there be any question of Bahrain today
asserting a claim to sovereignty over the Hawar islands based upon occupation by its so-
called "subjects" (the Dowasir), who claimed the island to be their own and thus
acknowledged no political authority of Bahrain?
3.115 There is, in any event, no basis for Bahrain's claim that the Dowasir were its subjects
and that their occupation therefore converted the Hawar islands into Bahraini territory. This
claim ignores the well-known fact that the Dowasir, one of the most independent and strong-
willed tribes in the Gulf, lived in or visited many coastal parts in the Gulf area for pearling or
fishing activities. Dowasir fishermen spent short spells in winter on various islands including
Hawar and Zakhnuniya together with fishermen from a number of other Gulf countries to
engage in fishing. The make-up and history of the Dowasir tribe make it clear that its
members were not subjects of the Ruler of Bahrain in the sense claimed by Bahrain in its
Memorial but that they formed an autonomous tribal unit. Writing about the Dowasir in
Bahrain, Fuad I. Khuri points out:
"Coordination between... autonomous tribal domains and Al-Khalifa ruler of the country was
achieved by mutual consultations carried out in the latter's council, attended regularly by
tribal chiefs. Failing to attend these meetings consistently was construed as refusing to submit
to Al-Khalifa authority. Such was the case with al-Dawasir chiefs, who attended only when
211
officially invited" .
Similarly, Lorimer, writing in 1908, points out that the Dowasir are "An important Arab tribe
of Southern Najd, having settlements also on the coasts of the Persian Gulf" and that:
"The Dawasir of Bahrain are said to have immigrated from Najd, whence they gradually
moved eastwards, and after spending several years by the way on Zakhnuniyah island, finally
arrived in Bahrain about 1845 under the leadership of the grandfather of their present Shaikh.
They have now about 800 houses at Budaiya' and 200 at Zallaq, both places on the west side
of Bahrain Island. About 30 households of the tribe are settled at Dohah in Qatar and perhaps
the same number in the town of Kuwait. Offshoots from the Bahrain community of Dawasir
exist in the Persian coast district of Dashti212n at Chah Kutah and its dependent villages and at
the village of Jazireh in Bushehr harbour" .
This account tells us a number of things. The Dowasir did not even arrive in Bahrain until
1845. Some of them settled at Doha in Qatar as well as in Kuwait and others on the Persian
Coast. There has never been any claim, for the simple reason that it could never be sustained,
that any of these settlements of the Dowasir conferred any rights of sovereignty on Bahrain in
Qatar, Kuwait or Persia. Finally, there is not a word in Lorimer about any permanent Dowasir
settlement on Hawar.
3.116 Khuri further notes:
"Al-Dawasir of Budayya and Zallaq... were the most powerful, influential, and autonomous of
all tribal groups because they were relatively numerous, wealthy, and, above all, able to
mobilize a wide variety of tribal alliances on the mainland. Other tribes exercised autonomy
as granted them by the Al-Khalifa ruler" 213.
And Lorimer notes that:"The Dawasir of Bahrain are a practically independent community; they pay no revenue to the
Shaikh of Bahrain on account either of their pearl boats or their date gardens..." 214.
The Ruler of Bahrain did not have much faith in the Dowasir either. When Colonel Ross, the
Political Resident, met the Ruler of Bahrain in March 1879, the Ruler:
"... referred to an intention on his own part of chastising the Dawasir of Bahrain, whom he
215
suspected of treason and of collusion with the Bani Hajir" .
3.117 A particularly significant incident which demonstrated the independence of the Dowasir
in Bahrain and the fact that its members were in no sense subjects of the Ruler of Bahrain,
was the departure of the Dowasir from Bahrain in 1923, as discussed above, when certain
reforms were sought to be introduced which included taxation. Again, Khuri notes:
"... Tribal chiefs and pilots considered the reforms an encroachment on their sovereignty and a
limitation of their 'freedom in pearl production'. To them the sovereignty of tribal groups was
synonymous with that of independent states. They abhorred the idea of being treated like
other subjects in the country, as the reforms proposed to treat them with reference to taxes and
courts of justice.
...
Being the strongest tribal group in Bahrain, the Dawasir never recognized Shaikh Hamad as
successor, nor did they pay taxes to the Al-Khali216regime, on the grounds that such payment
implied a submissive status in tribal politics" .
3.118 The description of events leading to the departure of the Dowasir from Bahrain in 1923,
the glaring absence of any reference to any so-called Dowasir "subjects" continuing to be
"permanent residents" of Hawar for five years from 1923 to 1928, Bahrain's admission that
the Dowasir only spent the winter months in the Hawar islands, and the absence of any
evidence of exercise of Bahrain authority over the Dowasir in the islands, establish that there
never was such a permanent population but at most only itinerant fishermen never subject to
any Bahraini authority. Bahrain's contention of ownership of Hawar based on the Dowasir
occupying it as Bahraini subjects must therefore fail for this reason alone.
B. Bahrain's other grounds in support of its claim to the Hawar islands are equally
without substance
3.119 Ba217in sets out a number of other grounds in support of its claim of title to the Hawar
islands . Qatar proposes to examine immediately some of these other grounds (the 1878
Ottoman map, the Zakhnuniya parallel, the Brucks survey, the incident of the Ottoman
soldiers supposedly shipwrecked in 1873 and the alleged service of summonses on Hawar
"inhabitants"), while dealing with the remainder, unde218he heading "Miscellaneous Bahraini
arguments", in Section 7.C of this Chapter below .
1. The 1878 Ottoman map
3.120 It has already been shown that Bahrain's account of the historical evolution of the States
of Qatar and Bahrain and some of the other facts regarding the nature of Bahrain's influence
in territories other than the Bahrain islands does not in any way support its claim to the Hawarislands. Qatar has also shown in its Memorial that Ottoman surveys confirmed that Hawar
appertained to Qatar; indeed the Ottomans surveyed the Hawar islands themselves, and raised
their flag there in November 1873. The Ottoman map of Hawar previously referred to
provides further evidence that fishermen from a number of countries including Bahrain were
continuing to visit the Hawar islands 21. In the face of all this clear evidence, Bahrain's
contention that "there is compelling evidence that the Ottoman Empire recognised that the
Hawar Islands belonged to Bahrain" 220, is obviously shown to be false. In fact the only
221
evidence that Bahrain invokes is the so-called Ottoman Army Survey of 1878, i.e. the map
opposite page 6 of the Bahraini Memorial. Qatar submits that this general map on the face of
it does not in any way demonstrate Bahrain's ownership of the Hawar islands; that the map
shows the Hawar islands to be closely (indeed almost indissolubly) linked with the mainland
of the peninsula of Qatar; and that the Ottoman surveys and maps submitted by Qatar and
referred to above are, by comparison, clear and express evidence of Qatar's ownership of the
Hawar islands.
2. The Zakhnuniya parallel
3.121 It is then contended by Bahrain that merely because Zakhnuniya was also frequented by
the Dowasir, in the same way as the Hawar islands, Bahrain had sovereignty over both
Zakhnuniya and Hawar; and that merely because it was paid compensation for renouncing its
claims to Zakhnuniya, this also amounts to acknowledgement of Bahrain's rights over the
Hawar islands. This is an extraordinary argument without 222 factual basis, and Qatar has
dealt with it fully elsewhere in this Counter-Memorial . For the present, it is sufficient to
remind the Court, as stated in Qatar's Memorial, that when, after Major Prideaux visited
Zakhnuniya and the Hawar islands in 1909, he had hoped that the Ruler of Bahrain would lay
claim to both Zakhnuniya and the Hawar islands so that the British could resist any Ottoman
claim to them, the Ruler in fact wrote to the British to pre223his claims only to Zakhnuniya but
significantly refrained from doing so in respect of Hawar . Furthermore, his claim to
Zakhnuniya was eventually not accepted; and while the proximity principle was given full
effect in favour of Saudi Arabia in the case of Zakhnuniya, Qatar was denied the benefit of
similar reasoning in the case of the Hawar islands in 1939.
3. The Brucks survey
3.122 Bahrain also relies on a description of the Hawar islands (in this case referred to as
"Warden's Islands") by a British Indian Navy Officer (Capt. George Brucks) on the basis of
his survey between 1821 and 1829, to the effect that the principal island "is about four miles
long. It has two fishing villages on it, and belongs to Bahrain" 22. Apart from the fact that
many of the British surveys (including those in the "Gulf Pilot") carried out at that time have
225
been shown to be imprecise if not inaccurate , Capt. Brucks' description takes no account of
the fact that the Ruler of Bahrain's so-called "suzerainty" outside the main Bahrain islands
was more apparent than real 22; his description was, in any event, compiled long before the
Agreements of 1868; and finally, it is contradicted no t only by the independent descriptions of
the Hawar islands by Lorimer and other British authorities set out in Qatar's Memorial and
this Counter-Memorial, but also by the numerous Ottoman surveys.
4. The shipwrecked Ottoman soldiers of 1873
3.123 Bahrain refers to an occasion when it claims that in 1873, while the Ruler of Bahrain
"was staying on the Hawar Islands" and some passing Ottoman soldiers were ship-wreckedthere, he caused the soldiers to be helped by being transferred to the main island of Bahrain
227
and onwards . There is no evidence tendered to support this statement except a letter dated
22 December 1938 written about 65 years later by Belgrave to the British Political Agent. The
quality of this particular piece of evidence and other evidence tendered in the course of the
British examination leading to the decision of 11 July 1939 has already been dealt with in
Qatar's Memorial 228and elsewhere in this Counter-Memorial to show its total unreliability.
5. The Ruler of Bahrain's jurisdiction to serve summons on inhabitants of Hawar islands
3.124 Qatar has similarly demonstrated the wholly unreliable nature of the other evidence
tendered by Bahrain to the British in 1938 and 1939 including the so-called judgments in
cases allegedly decided in Bahrain in 1909 and 1910 showing the involvement of individuals
portrayed as "residents" of the Hawar islands 22. Qatar further submits that the letter of
15 January 1911 from the Ruler of Bahrain to the British Political Agent 230 provides no
support for Bahrain's claim that its Ruler had sufficient authority over the Hawar islands to
compel the "residents" of those islands to appear before its civil courts. It merely refers to the
Political Agent requiring an individual to come from Hawar. It is in no sense proof of any
service of summons on someone in Hawar. The letter also indicates that the individual in
question may only have been in Hawar temporarily for fishing as he was also carrying on
pearl diving activities which he could only have done from Bahrain.
6. Bahrain's post-1936 evidence
3.125 Bahrain has presented an elaborate Section citing evidence of Bahrain's231thority over
the Hawar islands since 1916 which it characterises as "overwhelming" . Qatar will
demonstrate in Section 7.C below, under the heading "Miscellaneous Bahraini arguments",
how most of this supposed "overwhelming" Bahraini "evidence" relating to fishing, pearling,
animal husbandry, gypsum quarrying, permanent settlement and acts of administration or
authority is thoroughly unreliable, or relates to Bahraini activities engaged in subsequent to
the assertion of the Bahraini claim to the Hawar islands in April 1936 and designed to
improve Bahrain's legal position 232.
3.126 However, before concluding the submissions regarding the inadequacy of Bahrain's
evidence to sustain its claim of title to the Hawar islands, Qatar wishes to draw attention to
two instances where Bahrain's arguments appear to be based on inaccurate translations of
documents 23.
3.127 In paragraph 468 of the Bahrain Memorial, Bahrain seeks to argue that Qatar had
recognised the jurisdiction of Bahrain over the Hawar islands by reference to a passage from
the English translation of a letter from the Ruler of Qatar to Weightman of 8 July 1938.
Again, there appears to have been a mistranslation of this crucial passage, which occurs234 the
second sentence of the English translation of Annex 265 to the Bahrain Memorial . The
English text of this second sentence should read:
"When the time for sea work started, he went to Hawar with the intention of removing and
using his boat as usual without knowing of the interferences of the Bahrain Government there,
but they [i.e. the Bahrain Government] arrested and assaulted him and took him to Bahrain
where he was kept in prison for one day" 235.This letter accordingly contains no admission that any such category of persons as "residents
of Hawar" existed at the time. Furthermore, the reference to the Bahrain Government having
arrested and assaulted the Qatari victim on Hawar island constitutes no admission whatsoever
that they were entitled to do so, given that the purpose of the Ruler's letter was precisely to
protest against this action by the Bahrain Government.
3.128 Again, the argument advanced in paragraph 469 of the Bahrain Memorial appears to be
based, at least in part, on a less than fully accurate translation into English of the Ruler of
Qatar's letter to Weightman of 12 July 1938, that English translation constituting Annex 266
to the Bahrain Memorial 236. The translator utilised by Qatar suggests that the last sentence of
the first paragraph, and from thence to the end of the letter, should be translated as follows:
"Some people on Hawar suddenly arrested them in an inhuman manner, without hearing their
statements or enquiring into their business, and took them to Bahrain.
They had also arrested Isa Bin Atiq referred to in my letter dated 10th Jamadi I, 1357. In
reality, I am extremely aggrieved by this happening. The continuance of the high-handed
action of the people who are on Hawar to the poor who pass that side without any bad
intention is a matter which cannot be tolerated as it will injure the feelings and give rise to
disturbances. The boats of Bahraini people frequently visit many places of Qatar when they
are forced by circumstances owing to rough sea or shortage of water. If we treat them in the
same manner as those who are on Hawar do, a field for trouble will be opened, and the
principles governing humanity, whose observance is essential, will be violated.
I trust that you will pay your full attention to this matter and put a stop to it. The high-handed
action of those who are on Hawar to people who are compelled to go to the island and who
consider it to be one of their own, is disgusting and is contrary to the principles of peace and
dignity. Moreover, these men were sent by the Company to do their work and there was no
reason for not questioning them and enquiring into their business. I would be grateful if you
would kindly give your full consideration to this matter".
How Bahrain can interpret this dignified protest against the inhumanity displayed towards two
Qatari fishermen, landing in distressed circumstances on Hawar to take on water or to make
enquiries, as a recognition of Bahrain's right to exercise jurisdiction over Hawar entirely
escapes the understanding of Qatar. The fact that the Ruler of Qatar expressed himself in
polite terms is in no way to be taken as an admission that those who were on Hawar at the
time (presumably those Dowasir suddenly and clandestinely introduced into Hawar by
Belgrave in 1936) were entitled to be there. The reference to the consideration that Qataris
visiting Hawar consider it "to be one of their own [islands]" is a quite sufficient denial of the
Bahrain pretension to exercise jurisdiction in and over Hawar. There is accordingly no
substance in this Bahrain argument.
3.129 In its Memorial, Qatar, apart from asserting its original title to the Hawar islands and
citing evidence of the consolidation of this title through recognition by other States, has also
cited evidence of its own exercise of authority over the Hawar islands. It is Qatar's submission
that it has accordingly demonstrated the existence of a prior Qatari title to the Hawar islands
and that the evidence adduced by Bahrain in an attempt to sustain its own claim to the Hawar
islands is either inaccurate or unreliable and in any event is wholly inadequate to displace
Qatar's prior title. Section 7. The British decision of 11 July 1939
3.130 Under this heading, Qatar proposes to analyse the account given in Chapter 3 of the
Bahrain Memorial of the events leading up to the British decision of 1939 and various items
of evidence adduced by Bahrain in support of its claim of title to the Hawar islands, both in
1939 and again in 1996. Thereafter, Qatar will consider the Bahrain submission that Bahrain's
sovereignty over the Hawar islands has been res judicata since the British decision of 11 July
1939, and cannot now be challenged.
A. Bahrain's account of events omits many significant facts and embodies a number of
misleading statements
3.131 One of the most serious misleading statements in the Bahrain Memorial is the constant
repetition of the statement that the British Government "adjudicated" the respective claims of
Bahrain and Qatar to the Hawar islands in 1939. The word "adjudication" is used at least
26 times in the Bahrain Memorial to refer to the processes leading up to the British decision
of 11 July 1939 23; and the verb "adjudicated" or the adjectives "adjudicative" or
"adjudicatory" are used 5 times in the Bahrain Memorial to refer to these processes . The38
use of inflated language of this kind is clearly designed to mislead the Court by conveying the
impression that the British decision of 11 July 1939 was the result of a careful and impartial
legal process embodying all necessary guarantees against bias, prejudgment and other
procedural defects and irregularities on the part of the decision-maker. The Court will now be
in a position, having studied the respective Memorials of the Parties, to form a view as to
whether the British Government's decision of 11 July 1939 can properly be described as an
"adjudication" embodying all the necessary procedural guarantees which the use of that term
embraces. Qatar, for its part, entertains no doubt that the British decision of 11 July 1939 was
flawed from the outset for all the reasons developed in Chapter VI of the Qatar Memorial and
conveniently summarised in paragraphs 6.249 to 6.255 thereof. In no way can a process
239
suffering from the defects already identified by Qatar be termed an "adjudication" .
3.132 It bears repeating here that among the numerous glaring omissions in the account in the
Bahrain Memorial of events leading up to the British decision of 11 July 1939 is the total
failure even to mention the claim to the Hawar islands on behalf of the Ruler of Bahrain first
240
formally put forward by Belgrave on 28 April 1936 , and the "provisional decision" in
favour of the Bahrain claim to Hawar made by the British Government as early as July 1936.
The effect of this slanted presentation is to convey the wholly false impression that Qatar was
advancing a claim to the Hawar islands for the first time in May 1938 241. But there is strong
evidence, set out in detail in Chapter V of the Qatar Memorial, that, during the period from
approximately 1867 to 1915 when the Ottoman Turks were present in the area, the Ottoma242
authorities recognised that the Hawar islands constituted an integral part of Qatar . Itinerant
fishermen from Bahrain, Qatar and the Hasa coast did no doubt make occasional visits to the
islands during the winter months, as Prideaux (Political Agent) reported to the Political
Resident in 1909, but these intermittent visits were not regarded by the Ruler of Bahrain at the
time as justifying a claim by him to sovereignty over the islands. He would in any event have
found it somewhat embarrassing to put forward such a claim, since he had already requested,
in a letter of 7 July 1907 to Sheikh Saeed Al-Mutawwa Al-Binhajer (Sheikh of the Western
Ports of Qatar), permission for Bahrainis to anchor at Hawar, acknowledging his
responsibility for any misbehaviour by Bahrainis "on your island and in your country" . 243
Similar requests to anchor at Hawar were made to the Sheikh of the Western Ports of Qatar
(acting on behalf of the Ruler of Qatar) by other prominent members of the ruling family inBahrain or by members of the Dowasir tribe during the years 1907 and 1908 24. So here is
more evidence of recognition in 1907 by the then Ruler of Bahrain of Qatari title to the Hawar
islands, this necessarily implying a disclaimer of Bahraini title.
B. The true significance of Annex 292 to the Bahrain Memorial
3.133 Qatar is now obliged to draw to the attention of the Court a strange but highly revealing
feature of the Bahrain Memorial. In studying the annexes to that Memorial, Qatar has
uncovered materials which, far from buttressing Bahrain's case, in fact provide striking
confirmation of the evidence in the Qatar Memorial showing the lengths to which the Ruler of
Bahrain and the other sheikhs of Bahrain were prepared to go in the 1930s to destabilise and
undermine the authority of the Ruler of Qatar in his own country. Annex 292 to the Bahrain
Memorial 245, which is given the heading "Report entitled 'Qatar' by H. Weightman,
5 December 1939" is a remarkably indiscreet account of the continuous efforts of the leading
Bahraini families to sow disaffection and discord among those tribes in Qatar professing
loyalty to the Ruler of Qatar. Qatar can reveal (and the internal evidence of what is said in the
Report confirms this) that this Report was not in fact prepared by Weightman, but was rather
a confidential Report submitted by Packer (PCL) to Weightman in the latter's capacity as
Political Agent 246. In paragraph 372 of the Bahrain Memorial, the Packer Report of 1939 on
Qatar is cited as authority for the proposition that, in the 1930s, Qatar experienced widespread
poverty, hunger and disease. Qatar does not dispute this; nor is it seriously disputed that Qatar
was concerned to stop the flow of emigration from Qatar to Bahrain which, during the latter
half of the 1930s, was much wealthier than Qatar. In paragraphs 378 and 379 of the Bahrain
Memorial, the causes of dissatisfaction in Qatar are stated to be (citing from the Packer
Report) "poverty due to the pearl slump and lack of employment" and "the Ruler's and his son
Hamed's greed which makes them not only... retain all the oil money but also control for their
own benefit employment in the oil Co." There is certainly much truth in the first of these
asserted causes of dissatisfaction. Qatar would submit that the second is somewhat
exaggerated, this rumour being spread abroad by Weightman and by the Bahraini sheikhs
anxious to undermine the authority of the Ruler of Qatar; indeed, footnote 444 to paragraph
379 of the Bahrain Memorial very fairly concedes that "oil revenues in Qatar in this period
were limited to exploration fees".
3.134 Accordingly, it is not so much the content of those passages in the Packer Report relied
upon in paragraphs 372, 378 and 379 of the Bahrain Memorial which Qatar wishes to
challenge. It is rather the very selective use which Bahrain makes of Annex 292 to the
Bahrain Memorial. What Qatar wishes to draw to the attention of the Court are those passages
in that Annex which testify to the unremitting efforts of the Ruler of Bahrain and other
leading Bahraini sheikhs in the late 1930s to spread discord and dissension in Qatar, thereby
hoping to secure the overthrow of the Ruler of Qatar 24.
3.135 Thus, the Bahrain Memorial, having cited in paragraph 378 two of the three causes of
dissatisfaction in Qatar mentioned in the 1939 Report, singularly fails to mention the third
cause of dissatisfaction, namely "intrigues from Bahrain". It also fails to draw attention to the
examples of such intrigues given in the 1939 Report. Thus, on the very first page of
Annex 292 appears the following passage:
"(The Bahrain Shaikhs who were responsible for the departure, last year, of the Ruler of
Qatar's strongest adherent in western Qatar Mansur bin Khalil of the Bani-Hajir, who wasvery active on the Qatar side in the Naim clash, never lose an opportunity of spreading
discord in the west and north)".
3.136 More details o248hese "intrigues from Bahrain" are given later in Annex 292 to the
Bahrain Memorial . After referring to the defeat of the Naim tribesmen at Zubarah in 1937,
the 1939 Report continues:
"The loss of prestige was felt very deeply by the Bahrain ruling family. Since then the
majority of the Naim have been subsidized by Bahrain and live in Bahrain or Arabia. A
section of the Bani-Hajir under Mansur bin Khalil formerly a staunch adherent of Shaikh
Abdulla of Qatar were next alienated by money and presents. Shaikh Mansur draws Rs 60p.m.
[per month] and 25 of his followers Rs.11 each" 24.
3.137 Further details of efforts b250he Bahraini ruling family to suborn leading Qataris are
also given in the Packer Report :
"Dis-gruntled members of Shaikh Abdulla's family were also encouraged to leave Qatar and
reside in Bahrain where they were given presents & salaries (including a motor car or its use).
Two of them were taken to India with H.H. Shaikh Hamad.
Dohah's most reputed merchant was recently invited to sever his connections in Qatar & settle
in Bahrain 251. The inability of the Ruler of Qatar to move with the times is exploited to the
full by Bahrain".
Tribal sections stated to have been "slightly affected" by Bahraini attempts to suborn them
from their allegiance to the Ruler of Qatar are the El-Sulta, some of whose leading men "were
recently in Bahrain and received cash presents from the Ruler"; the Beni Hajir whose move
from Qatar to Arabia was "brought about by the Bahrain Shaikhs"; the Naim who, following
the Zubarah clash, are reported to have been "bought over by Bahrain" practically to a man,
though some were rumoured to be drifting back to Qatar; and the Mehanda, said to be closely
allied to the Beni Hajir.
3.138 Perhaps the most telling omission from the summary, in paragraphs 372, 378 and 379
of the Bahrain Memorial, of the contents of the Packer Report of 1939 on Qatar is the failure
to mention what is said in that Report about the Hawar islands. The key passage in the 1939
Report is the following:
"Bahrain have been 'in possession' of the main Hawar Island for some time & in a position to
annex & mark anything they pleased within reach of their fort.
It is not known on what authority or documents the annexations have been made, certainly the
document held by one Mohd. bin Ahmad bin Shahin Dausari given him by Shaikh Isa of
Bahrain 252 been in all probability considerably exceeded, as only nine names were quoted
by him" .
3.139 The underlined passage is prima facie puzzling, even if illuminating. The puzzling
feature is that, if the 1939 Report had been prepared by Weightman (as Bahrain professes), he
above all would have been aware on 5 December 1939 (the date of the Report) of the
"authority" and the "documents" relied on for the "annexation" of the Hawar islands by
Bahrain. It will be recalled that it was the analysis made by Weightman himself, in his letterof 22 April 1939 to the Political Resident 25, of the documentation submitted to him by or on
behalf of the Rulers of Bahrain and Qatar with reference to their claims of title to Hawar
which was relied upon so heavily by the British Government in reaching a decision on Hawar
favourable to Bahrain. Read in this light, and even if Qatar had not discovered a copy of
Weightman's covering letter to Prior of 5 December 1939, the underlined passage confirms
that the Report was not in fact written by Weightman personally.
3.140 The illuminating feature of the underlined passage is the reference made in it to "the
document held by one Mohd. bin Ahmad bin Shahin Dausari". This is probably a reference to
the petition enclosed with Belgrave's letter of 22 December 1938/3 January 1939 to
Weightman constituting the so-called counter-claim of Bahrain . It will be seen that this
petition is subscribed to inter alios by "Mohamad b. Ahmad b. Shahin", presumably the
person to whom reference is made in the underlined passage from Annex 292. If this is
correct, the consequences are serious from Bahrain's point of view, for the underlined passage
states not only (a) that the document was given to him by Shaikh Isa (the Ruler of Bahrain),
thus destroying its credibility as a spontaneous petition, but (b) that only nine names had been
quoted by him, whereas fourteen thumb impressions, three signatures and two seals appear on
the face of the petition. In the light of the evidence which Qatar had produced in its Memorial,
including the evidence of the written confess255s of Yousuf bin Ahmed, Ahmed bin Ali Al-
Ghatam and Irhama bin Ahmed Al-Dosari , Qatar had already confidently submitted that the
reliability of the statements made in the petition had been wholly undermined . 0
3.141 The new evidence contained in the underlined passage of Packer's 1939 Report
provides independent confirmation, from a document put in evidence by Bahrain itself, that no
credence whatsoever can be attached to the petition annexed to the Bahrain "counter-claim" of
23 December 1938/3 January 1939. A document given to one of its signatories by the Ruler of
Bahrain himself can hardly be accounted an objective statement of the facts, even if there
were no independent evidence to prove that the document had been drafted by Belgrave.
3.142 The Court will be aware that Qatar has consistently charged Weightman with having a
deep-seated anti-Qatar bias in the context of the dispute over the Hawar islands. How deep-
seated this bias was can be judged by a study of Weightman's covering letter of 5 December
1939 to Prior, where Weightman almost welcomes an eventual attempt on the life of Sheikh
1
Hamad as and when he becomes Ruler of Qatar .
C. Miscellaneous Bahraini arguments
3.143 Qatar would now like to respond to some miscellaneous arguments advanced by
Bahrain in its Memorial. Not all of these arguments are strictly related to the British decision
of 11 July 1939, or to the evidence adduced by Bahrain in support of its claim of title to the
Hawar islands, both in 1939 and again in 1996; but it is convenient to deal with them here.
3.144 Qatar rejects as utterly false the statements made in the last three sentences of
paragraph 39 of the Bahrain Memorial about the lack of Al-Thani, Ottoman or Qatari
authority in or over the Hawar islands. Both in the Qatar Memorial and in this Counter-
Memorial, Qatar has produced a mass of cogent evidence totally contradicting the charges
made in these sentences.
3.145 The ridiculous assertions made in paragraphs 360 and 361 of th2 Bahrain Memorial that
the Ruler of Qatar, in his letter to Weightman of 30 March 1939 , was ignorant of the locationof the Hawar islands, or was claiming a different group of islands, hardly merit a reply. It is
possible that the Ruler was misinformed of the surface area of the main Hawar island, but it is
clear that he was referring to the Hawar islands located immediately off the west coast of the
mainland of Qatar. The citation from paragraph 9 of the comments enclosed with that letter in
paragraph 361 of the Bahrain Memorial is explicable if one looks at paragraph 8 of those
comments where the rhetorical question is posed:
"... we ask the Bahrain Government whether the Hawar Islands, from a geographical point of
view, comprise of a part of Bahrain completing it from the south or a part of Qatar completing
it from the north?"3
The first sub-paragraph of paragraph 9 of the comments then convincingly refutes the
assertion that the Ruler of Bahrain knows more about Hawar than the Ruler of Qatar by
pointing to the undisputed fact that, at least at low tide, it is possible to wade from the
mainland of Qatar to Hawar island.
3.146 It is instructive to compare the version of the Ruler of Qatar's letter to Weightman of 30
March 1939 with attached comments, which is reproduced as Annex 279 to the Bahrain
Memorial 4, with the version of the same letter reproduced as Annex III.192 to the Qatar
Memorial . It will be seen that the version reproduced as Annex 279 to the Bahrain Memorial
incorporates typed-up versions of the marginal notes made by Weightman which are illegible
in the version reproduced as Annex III.192 to the Qatar Memorial. A close study of these
marginal notes reveals again the anti-Qatar prejudice of Weightman and his pronounced pro-
Bahrain bias. Thus, opposite paragraph 3 of the comments where the Ruler of Qatar has
queried why the Hawar islands have remained so long unoccupied by a Bahraini military
detachment when it is claimed that they have been owned by Bahrain and occupied by
Bahraini nationals for over a century, Weightman puts the marginal comment:
"But Shaikh Abdullah [of Qatar] does not claim that Qatar detachments or representatives
were in Hawar" .
By way of contrast, when the Ruler of Qatar asks why, if Bahrain has had sovereignty over
the Hawar islands for more than a century, no security detachment or representative of the
Ruler of Bahrain was sent to Hawar, Weightman's marginal note, opposite paragraph 6 of the
7
comments , is simply "Why?". Weightman stigmatises as "Untrue" the statement made by the
Ruler of Qatar in paragraph 12 of the comments that some of the Dowasir who signed the
petition enclosed with the Bahrain "counter-claim" had no real connections with Hawar,
although it is now clear that this statement was fully justified. All of Weightman's marginal
comments reflect his pro-Bahrain and anti-Qatar bias, in relation to the conflicting claims of
title to Hawar.
1. Fishing
3.147 If we turn to the positive evidence which Bahrain invokes of Bahrain's continuous
authority over the Hawar islands since 1916, we find a number of curious paradoxes. With
respect to fishing, it is said in paragraph 439 of the Bahrain Memorial, citing as authority the
(uninvited) "preliminary statement" forwarded by Belgrave to Weightman on 29 May 1938, 8
that fishing rights off the shores of Hawar were originally granted to the people of Hawar by
the Ruler of Bahrain. Belgrave's "preliminary statement" goes on immediately to say:"If these documents are available they will be forwarded" . 9
Needless to say, they were not forwarded. Qatar would suggest that as much credence can be
attached to this claim as could have been attached to the other claim made in the same
paragraph of Belgrave's "preliminary statement" that the Hawar fish traps were registered in
the Land Department of the Bahrain Government (this latter claim having to be withdrawn
unreservedly by Belgrave at a later stage). Qatar does not dispute that other itinerant
fishermen from Oman and the Hasa coast, as well as from Bahrain, may have been present on
Hawar during the winter fishing seasons in the early 1930s. But their presence was no more
evidence of Bahraini title than it was evidence of Omani or Saudi title; and the supposed
"settlement" of the Dowasir on Hawar in the mid-1930s was, as we have seen, contrived by
Belgrave so that its value as evidence can be totally discounted . 10
2. Pearling
3.148 The next item of "evidence" of title invoked by Bahrain relates to pearling. In
paragraphs 444 to 447 of the Bahrain Memorial, much attention is devoted to the strong links
of the Dowasir tribe with the pearling industry. Qatar does not dispute that many of the
Dowasir did engage in pearling in the 1920s and early 1930s. But Qatar does dispute the
accuracy of many other assertions in these paragraphs of the Bahrain Memorial which, taken
together, convey a wholly false picture of the position. No doubt, as is stated in paragraph 444
of the Bahrain Memorial, the pearling industry at this time did occupy many Bahrainis; but it
also occupied many Qataris, Kuwaitis and indeed other Arabs living along the southern
littoral of the Gulf. As the Law Officers' Opinion of 19 October 1904 rightly says:
"Apparently all the tribes fish for pearls wherever they are to be found, and no tribe has
exercised a right excluding the other tribes from any part of the fishery" .11
What Qatar does however strongly challenge is the assertion that "a permanent pearling fleet"
was moored at Hawar. There is no real or indeed plausible evidence for this assertion. The
Bahrain Memorial cites Weightman's letter of 22 April 1939 for this assertion, but all that
Weightman says is that he saw four Dowasir pearling boats drawn up on the beach at Hawar
during his visit on 18 April 1939, and that:
"Were the Dawasir purely temporary visitors to the island, with their permanent habitations in
Zellaq, their pearling boats would not be beached in Hawar" . 12
3.149 Qatar is in any event highly sceptical of the accuracy of Weightman's evidence on this
point. The main pearling season in this part of the Gulf runs from June to September. Why
would pearling boats be at Hawar in April? Moreover, pearling boats are normally about 60
feet long and would find it difficult, if not impossible, to navigate in the very shallow waters
surrounding the main Hawar island 13. A pearling boat of this length would be incapable of
beaching in the Hawar islands. In any event, there is no evidence of pearl fishing from Hawar
or in any part of the waters between Bahrain and Qatar, so that it would have been pointless
(and hazardous) for anyone to bring his pearling boat to Hawar.
3.150 The Bahrain Memorial also cites the statement made by Hamoud bin Muhanna al
Dosari as authority for the assertion that pearl diving on a significant scale took place from
14
Hawar . Even if this statement may seem to lend some support to the implied suggestion that
the Dowasir went on pearling expeditions from Hawar, that implied suggestion is in factwholly denied by the other three statements made by Nasr bin Makki bin Ali al Dosari , 15
Salman bin Isa bin Ahmad bin Saad al Dosari and Ibrahim bin Salman bin Ahmed Al
Ghattam , all of whom without exception speak of leaving Hawar to return to Zellaq to go
pearl diving in the summer. This in itself indicates that pearling activities were in fact
undertaken from the main Bahrain island and not from Hawar. Qatar would in fact suggest
that the recollections of Hamoud bin Muhanna bin Hamad al Dosari on this and many other
points are faulty. His evidence about pearling expeditions from Hawar and the mooring of
pearling dhows at Hawar (paragraph 20 of his statement) is suspect and is in any event
inconsistent with what he says (in paragraph 5 of his statement) about the Dowasir coming to
Hawar every year "after the summer pearling season". As already indicated, the main pearling
season in this part of the Gulf runs from June to September. The pearling banks were in the
open sea to the north of Bahrain, and not in the shallow confined waters between Bahrain and
Hawar. The Dowasir pearling boats would accordingly have operated from Bahrain itself
when setting out on pearling expeditions; and the implied suggestion that some of the
Dowasir permanently moored "three or four large dhows with 150 to 250 men" on Hawar
island is utterly fanciful. All in all, the recollections of Hamoud bin Muhanna bin Hamad al
Dosari about the pearling activities of the Dowasir suggest a very rich community on Hawar
in stark contrast to the picture he paints of their fishing activities where he claims (in
paragraph 18 of his statement) that, if fish traders did not come from Muharraq to buy the
fresh fish, he and his companions had to take the fish "and sell it in Muharraq for one or two
rupees", remarking that "even in those days, that was not much money". The inconsistency is
striking.
3.151 Accordingly, what is said in paragraphs 444 to 447 of the Bahrain Memorial provides
no real evidence that the Dowasir were permanently resident on Hawar (even if their activities
could be regarded as activities of Bahraini subjects - which Qatar strongly denies in view of
their shifting allegiances). The false and misleading nature of the Bahraini evidence on the
significance of pearling to the Dowasir in Hawar is further evidenced by two additional
points. The first is that there is no independent evidence of pearling activities on Hawar in any
of the books written on pearling in the Gulf in the 1920s and 1930s, some by Bahraini writers.
The second is the total lack of mention in the narrative in Volume I of the Bahrain Memorial
of the punishments imposed on the Dowasir tribe by the Ruler of Bahrain as a consequence of
their voluntary settlement in Dammam from 1924 to 1928/29. The Political Agent's
memorandum to the Political Resident of 24 May 1924 recalls the Ruler of Bahrain's
statement that the action which would be taken to punish the Dowasir for their contumacious
behaviour would be:
"1. Their divers who are domiciled in Bahrain would be freed from indebtedness to them &
allowed to contract with new nakhudas. This has been done & all such divers were given
'Barwahs' and have found jobs elsewhere.
2. Their property in Bahrain would be confiscated by the Bahrain Government & sold. It has
been confiscated. Its disposal was sanctioned by the Colonial Office & Govt. of India, actual
sale of their property & particularly of the sites at Budaiyeh has been delayed until the arrival
of the levy corps in order that steps may be taken to adequately protect the new owners from
possible petty raids, although the danger of such raids is now considered to be very remote,
the Dowasir being now convinced that they can expect no active support from Bin Saud, who
was warned by H.M.G.
18
3. They would be forbidden to dive on the Bahrain pearl banks" .The remainder of this memorandum is devoted largely to the practical arrangements for
ensuring the implementation of point 3, although there is an interesting explanation of the
reasons for points 1 and 2.
3.152 The memorandum states that most of the acute feeling between Sunnis and Shiahs had
been due to oppression of Shiah divers and cultivators by the Dowasir. It was felt that if they
continued to own property in Bahrain and to have Shiah divers, oppression would continue
and the perpetrators would be able to run off to Dammam and escape justice and in all
probability claim the protection of Ibn Saud, resulting in constant friction and providing the
Sultan with a convenient pretext for interference in the internal affairs of Bahrain. This part of
the memorandum tellingly concludes:
"The Shaik had never been able to control them [the Dowasir] & they would oppose all efforts
at reform, so that on the whole Bahrain was well rid of them" . 19
3.153 This is the tribe which Bahrain professes to consist of loyal adherents to the Ruler of
Bahrain, permanently resident in the Hawar islands. It is hardly surprising that Qatar is
obliged to express astonishment at these efforts to mislead the Court.
3. Animal husbandry
3.154 To the extent that the Dowasir may have engaged in animal husbandry b20grazing
cattle, sheep and goats on the main Hawar island during the early 1930s , this could only
have been in the winter months due to the semi-nomadic nature of their sporadic presence on
the island, and the number of animals involved must have been very limited in view of the
perennial shortage of water. They would only have been for the personal use of those present
on Hawar during their winter visits.
4. Gypsum quarrying
3.155 Qatar does not dispute that some gypsum quarrying may have been carried o21 by those
temporarily resident on Hawar during the winter months in the early 1930s , although there is
no real proof of this. The Costa Report, introduced into evidence by Bahrain, suggests that the
gypsum extracted from the two smaller quarries was mainly for local use but that the gypsum
from the third quarry was not for local use, but presumably for use elsewhere, for which no
evidence has been presented. The other main source of evidence for gypsum quarrying, the
statement of Ibrahim bin Salman bin Ahmed Al Ghattam 2, is unreliable. He says:
"Men from the main island of Bahrain would also come to cut the gypsum from the centre of
the main Hawar23sland. They came in many dhows with permits from the Bahrain
Government" .
This statement is repeated in very similar language by Hamoud bin Muhanna bin Hamad al
24
Dosari . But this last goes on to say:
"The permits [for gypsum cutting] were issued by the Bahrain Chief of Police, Sheikh Khalifa
bin Mohammed. He used to stay on the main Hawar Island in the police fort and meet the
Dowasir" 25.If true, this would inevitably imply that the permits for gypsum extraction were being issued
after the spring of 1938, since the new fort was not completed until March 1938. If so, this
evidence relating to events in 1938 should be disregarded as supporting Bahrain's claim of
title.
3.156 It is in any event strange that if, as Bahrain now asserts, "Hawar gypsum was quarried
throughout the 19 and 20 Centuries and used as building material for construction on both
the Hawar Islands themselves and on the main island of Bahrain and Muharraq Island" , no 26
reference was made to this activity in the Bahrain "counter-claim" of 22 December 1938/3
January 1939. In fact, the only mention of gypsum extraction in the materials submitted by
Bahrain in support of its claim to Hawar in 1938/39 is in the (uninvited) "preliminary
statement" prepared by Belgrave and submitted to Weightman on 29 May 1938. There it is
simply said that "the island [Hawar] is rich in gypsum". This "preliminary statement" was, of
course, never copied to the Ruler of Qatar. The fact that no reliance was placed by Bahrain on
the activity of gypsum extraction in 1938/39 is revealing; it suggests that Bahrain well knew
that no evidential value could be attached to this activity (to the extent that it was being
carried out), as it was not in any event being carried out by the "Hawar Islanders" (a supposed
reference to the Dowasir which Qatar totally rejects because of their semi-nomadic lifestyle),
but apparently by Bahrainis from the main Bahrain island. It also suggests that such gypsum
as may have been extracted before 1936 was only for local use. Whether any gypsum quarried
in Hawar was ever exported to Bahrain is highly problematic. It seems prima facie unlikely,
given the presence of good quality gypsum at places on the Hasa coast much nearer to
Budaiya and Zellaq than Hawar.
5. Permanent settlement
3.157 Most of the other additional "evidence" of permanent settlement adduced in paragraphs
458 to 465 of the Bahrain Memorial can also be wholly discounted because it relates to
activities which occurred after the Bahraini "occupation" of Hawar in 1936/37 and which
were designed to support Bahrain's claim of title. The February 1938 letter from PCL to
which reference is made at paragraph 458 of the Bahrain Memorial can be ignored for this
reason. In paragraph 464 of its Memorial, Bahrain admits that it built a "new" mosque on
Hawar in 1939. There is no credible evidence that there existed an earlier mosque,
notwithstanding the statement of Hamoud bin Muhanna bin Hamad Al-Dosari. Nor is the
existence of some cemeteries on the island proof of permanent settlement by the Dowasir,
given the presence of fishermen (and no doubt their families) on Hawar during the winter
months. It is perhaps revealing that Bahrain can give no details of the origins of those buried
in the earlier graves. Qatar is confident that not all of these were from the Dowasir tribe or
originated in Bahrain but is unfortunately in no position to provide direct proof. Finally, Qatar
sees no particular reason to quarrel with the passage from Dr. Costa's Report which is cited at
paragraph 465 of the Bahrain Memorial; what Dr. Costa saw on Hawar may be the picture of
people "settled" on the island since its unlawful occupation by Bahrain in 1936/37.
6. Acts of administration or authority
3.158 Little, if any, evidential value can be given to the acts of Bahrain administration or
authority referred to in paragraphs 466 to 485 of the Bahrain Memorial. Qatar has already
made the point that any acts by Bahrain in or in relation to the Hawar islands occurring in
connection with or subsequent to the unlawful Bahraini occupation of Hawar in 1936/37
cannot be taken as evidence establishing or confirming Bahraini title. This is sufficient todispose of the "evidence" adduced in paragraphs 467 to 470, 472, 473, 481, and 483 to 485 of
the Bahrain Memorial. Indeed, what is said in paragraph 472 of the Bahrain Memorial is
highly revealing. It is self-evident that Belgrave was doing his utmost in 1937 and 1938,
immediately following the unlawful occupation of Hawar by Bahrain, to strengthen the flimsy
Bahrain claim by constructing a fort on Hawar, by building a new mo27ue, by sinking an
artesian well and by beaconing a number of islets in the vicinity . As regards what is said in
paragraph 466 of the Bahrain Memorial, Prior, the successor to Fowle as Political Resident in
the Gulf, provided the answer to the point that Sheikh Isa used to make annual visits to the
Hawar islands by maintaining that he equally made annual visits to places in Saudi Arabia
(such as Hasa and Zakhnuniya) without advancing claims of title to those parts of Saudi
Arabian territory. As regards the "evidence" adduced in paragraph 471 of the Bahrain
Memorial, the statement made by Nasr bin Makki al Dosari is lacking in specificity as it gives
no precise indication of the year or years when the events as to which he deposes took place;
he simply says "when I was young." Was this before or after he and his family left Bahrain for
the Dammam promontory in Saudi Arabia (an event to which he makes no reference
whatsoever)?
7. Status quo
3.159 Qatar has dealt elsewhere in this Counter-Memorial with Bahrain's continuing breaches
of the commitments to preserve the status quo embodied in the second point of the 1987
Agreement which the Court has itself, in its judgment of 1 July 1994, characterised as an
international agreement creating rights and obligations for the Parties . Qatar seriously
questions the "entirely defensive mandate and capability" of the Bahraini military garrison
currently stationed on Hawar, and notes the blatant Bahraini admission (in paragraph 489 of
the Bahrain Memorial) that there has been "a significant reinforcement of the Hawar Islands'
defences" in recent years, in clear breach of the second point of the 1987 Agreement. The
other matters to which reference is made in paragraphs 486 to 498 of the Bahrain Memorial
provide no confirmation of Bahraini title to the Hawar islands, being activities engaged in by
Bahrain subsequent to the crystallisation of the dispute between Qatar and Bahrain and
designed to strengthen Bahrain's legal position.
8. General traverse
3.160 Qatar has already, in Section 2 of Chapter VI of the Qatar Memorial 29, set out in very
considerable detail the defects in the procedure followed by the British Government in
reaching the "decision" of 11 July 1939, giving the Hawar islands to Bahrain. There are so
many omissions and mis-statements in the corresponding account given in the Bahrain
Memorial (paragraphs 354 to 403) that Qatar is obliged to contest everything stated in the
Bahrain Memorial on this aspect of the dispute where it is inconsistent with the account given
in the Qatar Memorial, even if particular assertions made in these paragraphs of the Bahrain
Memorial have not been specifically denied or commented on in this Counter-Memorial.
Qatar would simply ask the Court to compare the two accounts, together with the evidence
adduced to support them by each of the Parties. Qatar would particularly wish the Court to
pay attention to the omissions in the Bahraini account of events, not only in the description of
the procedure followed by the British authorities in the Gulf in 1938/39, but also in the
deliberate failure to mention the crucial events of 1936 and (possibly even more striking) the
deliberate failure to mention the reactions of Prior and Alban (the successors to Fowle and
Weightman respectively) in the immediate aftermath of the 1939 decision. D. Further evidence of pre-judgment by the British authorities in the Gulf
3.161 Qatar would wish to take this opportunity to submit to the Court further evidence of
pre-judgment by the British authorities in the Gulf of the question of title to the Hawar islands
in the period immediately prior to the rendering of the British decision of 11 July 1939. This
should be considered as supplementary to the evidence of pre-judgment already analysed in
paragraphs 6.138 to 6.140 of the Qatar Memorial. The Court will recall that, in the early
months of 1939 (before the British Government reached its decision in favour of the Bahrain
claim to sovereignty over Hawar), the oil concession negotiations were coming to a head . 30
As part of the process of assessment by the British Government of the financial and other
advantages and disadvantages of the respective bids put in by BAPCO and PCL (the two rival
oil companies), Weightman (PAB) set out his views in some detail in a letter which he sent to
Fowle (PRPG) on 12 February 1939. That letter concentrates in the main on the financial
advantages of the BAPCO bid for the whole of the unallotted area (including Hawar) when
compared with the PCL bid for a concession covering only the Hawar islands and their
territorial waters. Although Qatar considers that the financial arguments deployed by
Weightman in favour of the BAPCO offer are exaggerated, it would particularly wish to draw
the attention of the Court to two passages in this letter which provide startling evidence of
Weightman's bias in favour of Bahrain in the matter of the dispute over title to Hawar.
Paragraph 8 of the letter rehearses the reasons why the British Government had in principle
favoured the grant to PCL of an oil concession for the Hawar islands. Among these reasons
is (b):
"There are obvious disadvantages in an American Oil Company [BAPCO] operating a
concession granted by the Shaikh of Bahrain in an area so closely adjacent to Qatar, and
particularly inasmuch as that area is under formal dispute at the moment between Bahrain and 31
Qatar (even though there can be little genuine doubt that sovereignty rests with Bahrain)" .
Paragraph 9 of the letter purports to provide a "rejoinder" to these considerations. Attention is
again directed to sub-paragraph (b):
"When once His Majesty's Government award Hawar to Bahrain, the Shaikh of Qatar is no
longer concerned. If by any chance he were to attempt to contest the award by force he could
presumably be dissuaded without undue difficulty" 32.
3.162 The Court will of course recall that, not much more than two months after despatching
this letter to his superior, Weightman was called upon to undertake the onerous and
responsible task of assessing the merits of the conflicting claims of the Rulers of Bahrain and
Qatar to title to the Hawar islands. In the circumstances, there could hardly be a more glaring
instance of pre-judgment than is afforded by this calm assumption on the part of Weightman,
the central figure in the decision-making process on the part of the British Government, that
sovereignty over Hawar rested with Bahrain, that assumption being expressed two months or
more before Weightman was supposed to be assessing objectively the opposed claims of the
two Rulers.
E. The decision of 11 July 1939 is not res judicata
3.163 This proposition requires little further elaboration. Qatar has already drawn attention to
the wholly erroneous description of the processes leading up to the British "decision" of 1939
and their false characterisation as an "adjudication". Bahrain's suggestion that, in 1939, theBritish Government was judicially examining and determining issues of fact and law relating
to the Hawar islands is absurd . Any notion that the process was one of "adjudication" must
be discarded as soon as it is understood:
(a) that the formal claim to the Hawar islands made on behalf of the Ruler of Bahrain on 20
April 1936 was never notified to the Ruler of Qatar;
(b) that the "provisional decision" by the British Government in early July 1936 in favour of
the Bahrain claim was equally never notified to the Ruler of Qatar;
(c) that neither Ruler accepted in advance that the "decision" to be taken by the British
Government would be binding on him; and
(d) that the Ruler of Qatar was never shown a copy of the (uninvited) "preliminary statement"
of Bahrain's case put in by Belgrave on 29 May 1938, and subsequently treated and relied
upon by Weightman as one of the documents in the case; and was likewise never sho34 other
evidence relied upon by Weightman in his report to Fowle of 22 April 1939 .
3.164 The British Government's decision of 11 July 1939 on Hawar must be regarded as
amounting at most to a non-binding administrative decision in view of the lack of real consent
by both Rulers to the making of a binding award by the British Government on the respective
claims of Bahrain and Qatar to title over the Hawar islands. And this is quite apart from the
evidence presented to the Court by Qatar to show that, in 1939, the British authorities in the
Gulf were presented with false evidence by Belgrave.
3.165 Qatar submits in addition that the "decision" of 11 July 1939 must be regarded as a
nullity on the following grounds:
(a) evident bias on the part of certain British officials closely involved in the decision-making
process;
(b) the failure of the British authorities in the Gulf to give full effect to the principle audi
alteram partem in that process; and
(c) the failure to give reasons for the decision reached.
In this context, the Court will recall that, in the Dubai/Sharjah case, the validity of the Tripp
decisions of 1956 and 1957 purporting to establish a land boundary between the sheikhdoms
of Sharjah and Dubai, was a central feature of the award of the Court of Arbitration 35.
3.166 Indeed, it is another astonishing feature of the Bahrain Memorial that, although it seeks
to argue that the British decision on the Hawar islands of 11 July 1939 is res judicata, it
singularly omits to mention that the Court of Arbitration in the Dubai/Sharjah case refused to
accept an argument advanced by Sharjah that the Tripp decisions of 1956 and 1957 (made by
the then Political Agent in the Trucial States) were arbitral awards. The Court of Arbitration
in the Dubai/Sharjah case reached this conclusion for reasons corresponding closely to those
summarized at (b) and (c) above:"For these two reasons, the lack of opportunity for the Parties to present their arguments and
the absence of reasoning for the decisions, the Court has come to the conclusion that the Tripp
decisions cannot be said to have constituted arbitral awards" . 36
In the Dubai/Sharjah case, the two Rulers had of course specifically undertaken in advance to
respect the boundary decisions that would be made by the Political Agent. No such
undertaking from the Rulers of Qatar and Bahrain was given nor indeed requested in the
present case prior to the making of the decision of 11 July 1939 on Hawar by the British
Government. There is here a vital distinction between the present case and the Dubai/Sharjah
case.
3.167 In the Dubai/Sharjah case, the Court of Arbitration made a general pronouncement
(needless to say, again not mentioned in the Bahrain Memorial) which is directly relevant to
the present case:
"In the view of the Court one cannot attribute the same value to a boundary which has been
settled under a treaty, or as the result of an arbitral or judicial proceeding, in which
independent interested Parties have had a full opportunity to present their arguments, as to a
boundary which has been established by way of an administrative decision emanating from an
authority which could have failed to take account of the Parties' views and arising in a...
situation of inherent inequality. In the first hypothesis, except in a case of nullity, the
principles of pacta sunt servanda or of res judicata could be invoked to prevent the boundary
so settled being called again into question. In the second hypothesis, the boundary would have
been established in the majority of cases, in the interests of the administering authority, on
the basis of other than legal criteria, and according to the needs of a particular political or
economic context" . 37
Although this dictum relates specifically to boundaries, Qatar is of the view that the reasoning
of the Court of Arbitration is just as much applicable to an administrative decision on the
attribution of territory as it is to an administrative decision on a boundary.
3.168 Qatar submits that this citation from the award in the Dubai/Sharjah arbitration
provides a remarkably exact description of the circumstances surrounding and underlying the
British decision of 11 July 1939 on Hawar. In the present case, the decision purporting to
attribute the Hawar islands to Bahrain was not "... the result of an arbitral or judicial
proceeding..." nor indeed of a proceeding "... in which independent interested Parties have had
a full opportunity to present their arguments...". It was rather "... an administrative decision
emanating from an authority which could have failed 38 to take account of the Parties' views
and arising in a situation of inherent inequality". Thus, we are in the present case confronted
with the second hypothesis; and, having regard to the materials which Qatar has invoked in
the Qatar Memorial and also in this Counter-Memorial about the defective nature of the
British decision of 1939, the Court should have no hesitation in concluding:
(i) that that decision attributing the Hawar islands to Bahrain was "... in the interests 39 the
administering authority" (as Loch, Gibson and Hemingway were all happy to argue );
(ii) that it was reached "... on the basis of other than legal criteria" ; and
(iii) that it was responsive "... to the needs of a particular political or economic context" (in
the case of the Hawar islands, the strategic importance of Bahrain to Britain at the time, andthe pernicious influence of the false expectation that the islands would provide the Ruler of
Bahrain with a new source of oil revenues).
3.169 In the circumstances, it is perhaps not altogether surprising that no reference is made in
the Bahrain Memorial to this highly significant aspect of the award in the Dubai/Sharjah
arbitration. What is surprising, however, is the audacious Bahraini contention, in the face of
all the evidence, that the British decision of 11 July 1939 is res judicata for the Parties.
3.170 Bahrain must of course be fully aware of the glaring weakness of the argument that the
1939 "decision" on Hawar is res judicata, given the refusal of the Court of Arbitration in the
Dubai/Sharjah case to accept the Sharjah submission that the Tripp decisions of 1956 and
1957 had to be treated as arbitral awards. The attempt by Bahrain, in paragraphs 354 to 357 of
the Bahrain Memorial, to characterise what was done by the British authorities in the Gulf and
in London as a process of "adjudication" resulting in a binding award by Britain falls down
lamentably on the facts and the law, as Qatar has demonstrated in the Qatar Memorial and
again in the present Counter-Memorial. Even if the 1939 "decision" on Hawar had to be
regarded as an award binding on Bahrain and Qatar (which Qatar vigorously denies), the
procedure followed by the British authorities in assessing the respective claims of title of
Bahrain and Qatar was so demonstrably flawed, and so clearly unfair to Qatar, that the award
would have to be regarded as invalid by any court of law. Qatar has produced evidence:
(a) of the crucial events of 1936, including the formal Bahrain claim to Hawar on 20 April
1936 and the British Government's "provisional decision" of July 1936 in favour of the
Bahrain claim, neither of which developments were notified to the Ruler of Qatar;
(b) of the disparity in the length of time accorded to the two Rulers to prepare their written
materials;
(c) of the fact that none of the so-called evidence tendered by Belgrave to Weightman on
behalf of Bahrain was subjected at the time to critical scrutiny;
(d) of the evident bias of Weightman against Qatar and in favour of Bahrain on this issue
during this period; and
(e) of the failure of the British Government to provide reasons for "awarding" the Hawar
islands to Bahrain.
All these items of evidence in combination are wholly destructive of the argument that the
"decision" of the British Government on the Hawar islands of 11 July 1939 is res judicata for
the Parties to the present proceedings, Qatar and Bahrain.
3.171 That Bahrain itself seems to have little confidence in its res judicata argument is
confirmed by the fact that Bahrain advances, in the alternative, the argument that, even if the
merits were reopened and a de novo examination were undertaken, Bahrain would still have a
valid title to the Hawar islands . In the present Counter-Memorial, Qatar has demonstrated
that there is little or no substance to any of the three considerations invoked by Bahrain in this
context; it has equally demonstrated the existence of a prior title to the Hawar islands inhering
in Qatar, that title having been widely recognised inter alia by other Rulers in the Gulf, by the
Ottoman authorities, by the British at least until 1936, and even by the Ruler of Bahrain
himself in 1907. Qatar's title has never been displaced.Section 8. Qatar has never acquiesced in Bahrain's de facto control of the Hawar islands
3.172 Strictly speaking, Bahrain does not seek to argue in the Bahrain Memorial that Qatar
has acquiesced in Bahrain's unlawful occupation of the Hawar islands since 1936/37. The
nearest approach to an argument founded on acquiescence is to be found in paragraphs 499 to
504 of the Bahrain Memorial. However, the argument put forward in these paragraphs breaks
down because it is based on palpably false premises.
3.173 Thus, it is stated in paragraph 499 of the Bahrain Memorial that:
"After its initial protests about the substance (not the procedure) of the British adjudication in
1939-1941, Qatar did not raise the issue of Bahrain's sovereignty over the Hawar Islands
again until 1960".
This is on at least two counts, and leaving aside the provocative use of the word
"adjudication", a falsification of the facts. In the first place, the Ruler of Qatar constantly
protested to the Political Agent (Weightman) throughout the course of the formal procedure in
1938/39 against the short time limits within which he was required to submit his evidence or
observations, when compared with the much longer time limits enjoyed by Bahrain. Thus,
when the Ruler of Qatar was requested by Weightman on 20 May 1938 to submit his formal
claim to the Hawar islands, accompanied by supporting evidence, "at the earliest possible
moment" , he took this injunction very seriously and responded on 27 May 1938 . However,3
no corresponding time-limit was put on the request to the Bahrain authorities of 14 August
1938, to:
"... submit a full and detailed statement of their counter-claim to Hawar, covering the Shaikh
of Qatar's claim as well as any other point they wish to make" . 44
In the event, it took Belgrave and his subordinates some four to five months before they
submitted the Bahraini "counter-claim" which is dated 22 December 1938/3 January 1939 ; 45
and this despite the fact that Belgrave had submitted to Weightman an (uninvited)
46
"preliminary statement" of Bahrain's case on 29 May 1938 . It hardly needs repeating that
this "preliminary statement" (in the form of a memorandum) was not copied to the Ruler of
Qatar, who therefore had no opportunity to challenge or comment on the assertions made in it;
and that it was nevertheless, in gross violation of the audi alteram partem rule, taken into
account as a relevant document in the decision-making process.
3.174 On 5 January 1939, a copy of the Bahrain "counter-claim" was transmitted to the Ruler
of Qatar who was again requested to provide any further arguments or evidence "as soon as it
may be possible" 47. In reply to a reminder from Weightman of 17 March 1939, demanding a
48
response to his earlier letter of 5 January within a period of 14 days , the Ruler of Qatar
protested, in his letter to Weightman of 19 March 1939 that:
"As yet I did not get even half of the time taken by the Bahrain Government in preparing their
49
reply to you about what we have maintained..." .
Again, in his further letter to Weightman of 24 March 1939, the Ruler of Qatar protests at the
treatment meted out to him in the wake of the unlawful occupation of the Hawar islands by
Bahrain. He protests against the refusal of the British authorities in the Gulf to let him have a
sight of the arguments advanced by Bahrain in support of its claim to the Hawar islands; heprotests against being treated as a claimant; and he protests against the refusal of the British
Government to ensure that the Bahrainis withdraw from Hawar 50.
3.175 So it is a gross distortion of the truth to imply that Qatar did not protest about the
procedure followed by the British authorities in the Gulf in 1938/39 in conducting their
assessment of the conflicting claims of Qatar and Bahrain to the Hawar islands. It goes
without saying that the Ruler of Qatar's protests against these procedures would have been
magnified a hundredfold had he been aware at the time of what was carefully being concealed
from him:
(a) that a "provisional decision" in favour of the Bahrain claim to Hawar had already been
taken by the British Government in July 1936, and not disclosed to him, in response to the
formal claim to Hawar advanced on behalf of the Ruler of Bahrain on 20 April 1936, itself not
disclosed to him; and
(b) that Belgrave was feeding to Weightman additional information on Hawar, which was
51
likewise being withheld from him .
Indeed, it is more than likely that the Ruler of Qatar, had he been aware of these facts at the
time, would have insisted at the very least that any assessment of the conflicting claims of
Qatar and Bahrain to the Hawar islands should be conducted by a British official other than
the incumbent of the post of Political Agent in Bahrain (Weightman) or, indeed, his
immediate predecessor (Loch).
3.176 In the second place, it is quite wrong of Bahrain to suggest that Qatar did not, after its
initial protests, raise again the issue of Bahrain's wrongful occupation of Hawar by Bahrain
until 1960. In paragraphs 6.239 to 6.243 of the Qatar Memorial, a full account is given of the
protests lodged by the Ruler of Qatar against the wrongful occupation of Hawar by Bahrain.
Specific protests were made by the Ruler of Qatar against the British decision of 11 July 1939
on the Hawar islands on 4 August 1939 52, on 18 November 1939 , and again on 7 June
54
1940 . But, contrary to what is falsely stated in paragraph 499 of the Bahrain Memorial, the
Ruler of Qatar did not thereafter remain silent on Bahrain's unlawful seizure of the Hawar
islands until 1960. On the contrary, the Ruler of Qatar repeated his protest against the British
decision of 1939 on Hawar in a letter of 13 July 1946 to the PAB 55. In that letter, the Ruler of
Qatar states inter alia:
"You see that Qatar has been treated unjustly in her clear right in the question of Hawar
islands which I am still tenacious to claim their ownership..."
3.177 Nor did matters stop there. The Ruler of Qatar renewed his protest against the injustice
of the British decision of 1939 on Hawar in a letter to the Political Agent of 21 February
1948 . In that letter, the Ruler was responding to the British decision, notified to him on
23 December 1947, on the course of the line which, the British Government considered,
divided in accordance with equitable principles the seabed lying between Qatar and Bahrain 57.
Yet, in his response of 21 February 1948, the Ruler of Qatar renewed his dignified protest
against the British decision of 1939 on Hawar:
"However, I like to invite Your Excellency's attention to the correspondence exchanged some
ten years ago on the subject of Hawar (Island) and the clear representation I made regarding
its position in my letter submitted to His Excellency the Political Agent, Bahrain, at the time,in which I expounded my points of view in regard to this Island which is a part of Qatar and
in which I expressed my protest against the behaviours of Bahrain Government. But H.M.'s
Government acted as they wished, and I had nothing but to submit, reserving in the meantime
58
to myself my own rights" .
In the same letter, the Ruler of Qatar gave a renewed exposition of the Qatar case:
"Huwar [sic] is directly attached to the coast of Qatar with a piece of shallow water
disconnecting, which recedes at ebb tide, thus establishing access for pedestrians. If this is its
natural position and geographical aspect, how 59n it be separated from its motherland Qatar
and made the domain of other than its ruler?"
3.178 In paragraph 501 of the Bahrain Memorial, there is cited a very short extract from a
letter written by Mr. M.C.G. Man (PAB) to Mr. R.A. Beaumont, Head of the Arabian
Department in the Foreign Office, on 21 February 1961. This extract is pure hearsay evidence
and has to be read in context. In addition, it must be understood that, for the sake of his own
peace and quiet, Mr. Man did not wish to see a combination of the disputes over Zubarah and
Hawar:
"(It would be wiser not to mention Shaikh Ahmad's threat to take both Hawar and Zubara to
international arbitration - Shaikh Salman [of Bahrain] might be tempted to take up this
challenge and we should then have not only Zubara but Hawar on our hands and the latter is
at least one problem we managed to get settled...)" .0
The final phrase of this citation is pure wishful thinking on the part of Mr. Man. The Rulers of
Qatar may not have made such a continuous fuss about their genuine grievance over Hawar as
the Rulers of Bahrain did about their flimsy claims concerning Zubarah. This does not
however mean that the Rulers of Qatar were content with what they considered even then was
the disgraceful treatment accorded to Qatar in 1938/39 in the context of the assessment by the
British authorities of the strength of the respective claims of the two sheikhdoms to
sovereignty over the Hawar islands.
3.179 Successive Rulers of Qatar may not have been aware in 1960 of the full details of the
manoeuvres engaged in by Bahrain in the 1930s to secure recognition from the British
authorities of the Bahraini claim to the Hawar islands. But the sense of grievance which they
felt about the treatment accorded to them over Hawar by the British authorities in 1938/39 had
certainly not diminished by the early 1960s.
PART III THE HAWAR ISLANDS AND OTHER TERRITORIAL QUESTIONS 43
CHAPTER III THE HAWAR ISLANDS 43
Section 1. Introduction 43
Section 2. Qatari title to the Hawar islands prior to 1936 and its recognition by
third States 45
A. Events leading up to the Agreements of 1868 and British recognition of the
separate identities of Qatar and Bahrain 50B. Events of 1867 and 1868 51
C. Payment of "tribute" 57
D. Anglo-Ottoman Convention of 1913 59
E. British-Qatar Treaty of 3 November 1916 62
F. Other evidence of British recognition 65
G. Regional recognition 66
Section 3. Bahrain's illegal occupation of the main Hawar island 66
Section 4. Bahrain's failure to mention the crucial events of 1936 when
Bahrain first formally asserted a claim to the Hawar islands and the British
Government made a "provisional decision" in Bahrain's favour 72
A. The first formal Bahrain claim to the Hawar islands of 28 April 1936 72
B. Attitude of the oil companies in the 1930s 75
C. British knowledge of Qatar's title to the Hawar islands 77
D. Chronology of significant events relating to Hawar: 1933-1936 79
E. The map attached to the Qatar oil concession of 1935 84
Section 5. Activities of Bahrain in or in relation to the Hawar islands cannot be
invoked to establish title if they were motivated by an intent to deceive or
occurred after the dispute between Bahrain and Qatar on this issue had become
apparent 86
A. Bahrain's "evidence" in relation to Hawar 87
B. Status and allegiance of the Dowasir 87
C. The relevance of the date of the first formal claim by Bahrain to the Hawar
islands 94
Section 6. Inadequacy of Bahrain's evidence to sustain a claim of title to the
Hawar islands prior to 1936 98
A. Bahrain's contentions as to the Dowasir tribe are without any substance 99
B. Bahrain's other grounds in support of its claim to the Hawar islands are
equally without substance 105
1. The 1878 Ottoman map 106 2. The Zakhnuniya parallel 106
3. The Brucks survey 107
4. The shipwrecked Ottoman soldiers of 1873 108
5. The Ruler of Bahrain's jurisdiction to serve summons on inhabitants of
Hawar islands 108
6. Bahrain's post-1936 evidence 109
Section 7. The British decision of 11 July 1939 111
A. Bahrain's account of events omits many significant facts and embodies a
number of misleading statements 112
B. The true significance of Annex 292 to the Bahrain Memorial 113
C. Miscellaneous Bahraini arguments 118
1. Fishing 120
2. Pearling 121
3. Animal husbandry 124
4. Gypsum quarrying 125
5. Permanent settlement 126
6. Acts of administration or authority 127
7. Status quo 128
8. General traverse 128
D. Further evidence of pre-judgment by the British authorities in the Gulf 129
E. The decision of 11 July 1939 is not res judicata 131
Section 8. Qatar has never acquiesced in Bahrain's de facto control of the
Hawar islands 136
1 See, QM, Chap. V.
2 See, QM, Chap. VI.
3 See, paras. 1.31, et seq. and 2.51, et seq., above.
4 BM, paras. 16-17.5 BM, para. 22.
6 BM, para. 23.
7 See, BM, para. 11.
8 QM, Chap. VI.
9 See, paras. 3.163, et seq., below.
10 See, paras. 3.102, et seq., below.
11 See, paras. 3.17, et seq., below.
12 See, paras. 3.40, et seq. and 3.44, et seq., below.
13 See, QM, Chap. V.
14 QCM, Annex III.35, Vol. 3, p. 183; see, also, para. 3.72(7), below.
15 QM, Annex III.94, Vol. 6, p. 479.
16 QCM, Annex III.43, Vol. 3, p. 237.
17 Loch also states "Studious care was taken not to cross the Saudi Arab frontier and the
Flying Boat did not fly over either the island (Zakhnuniya) or over the Gulf to the south of it"
(ibid., at p. 240) but no mention was made at the time of any Bahraini interest in Hawar either
in the report or in the discussions held with the Ruler of Qatar in connection with the
reconnaissance. It is also noteworthy that the British authorities neither sought nor obtained
permission of the Ruler of Bahrain for this reconnaissance. In view of this, Loch's role two
years later in supporting Bahrain's claim contrary to the earlier British position which is dealt
with in the next Section, is all the more surprising and intriguing. See, also, para. 3.72(6),
below.
18 BM, para. 345; emphasis added.
19 BM, para. 20.
20 BM, para. 346.
21 See, QM, paras. 3.17-3.18.
22 See, the list that Bahrain itself provides in BM, para. 120 of the occasions when various
members of the Al-Khalifah family took refuge on the Qatari coast or planned attacks on
Bahrain to be able to return there. This list is in no sense evidence of exercise of Bahrain's
authority over any part of the coast of the Qatar peninsula which Bahrain attempts to claim,
but is mainly evidence of the use of the Qatar coast as a refuge or to launch attacks on Bahrain
in order to be able to return there. It is significant that the Hawar islands are not mentioned as
a location even for such use.23 See, Lorimer, op. cit., QM, Annex II.5, Vol. 3, pp. 197-198.
24 See, paras. 2.5-2.6, above.
25 See, BM, Annex 83, Vol. 3, p. 445.
26 Based presumably on a report compiled between 1821 and 1829 by Captain Brucks of the
Indian Navy. Bahrain makes the remarkable claim that "By 1829, Britain had determined and
accepted that the Rulers of Bahrain held authority in the Qatar peninsula" (BM, para. 116).
Subsequent and more accurate sources referred to hereafter clearly contradict this claim.
27 QM, Annex II.15, Vol. 5, p. 17.
28 By Captain Hennel in 1839 as noted in Lt. Kemball's Memoranda of 1845 (BM, Annex 6,
Vol. 2, p. 78 at page 88) where he states:
"The power of the Bahrein Chief has of late years been much weakened, by the contumacious
conduct of his sons, and the divisions which have arisen among his other relations". Kemball
himself adds: "Since that period, owing to the increased dissensions, and subsequent
hostilities between the members and relatives of the ruling family, the population, prosperity,
and commerce of the island have gradually declined".
Kemball describes Bahrain as "lying between "Ras Reccan and Ras Timoora" (ibid., at p. 86)
and that the "only towns of any size in Bahrain are Munama and Muharag" (ibid., at p. 87)
and notes -
"... The bulk of the population of Bahrein, which is entirely distinct from the Uttoobees, who
are Soonees, consists of the aboriginal inhabitants, professing for the most part the Sheea
tenets of the Mahomedan faith. These are greatly oppressed, and held in a most degraded state
of vassalage by their Uttoobee masters, of which some conception may be formed from a
remark by the same authority [a former Political Resident, Major Wilson] in 1829 that 'the
enormities practised by the Uttoobees towards the original inhabitants of Bahrein far exceed
what I have ever heard of tyranny in any part of the world'" (ibid., at p. 89).
29 QCM, Annex III.11, Vol. 3, p. 73.
30 Lorimer, op. cit., QM, Annex II.4, Vol. 3, p. 141. Bahrain cites and relies upon the Persian
Gulf Pilot of 1864 to suggest that the Qatar peninsula was at that time some kind of vague
dependency of Bahrain. However, this source is inaccurate to a significant extent and
therefore unreliable in this respect. Thus it will be seen that the Persian Gulf Pilot of 1883
(after the Ottomans had occupied Al Bida in 1872) still refers to it as being "under Bahrain"
(QCM, Annex III.14, Vol. 3, p. 85). It is not until the edition of 1890 that a reference is made
to "Bar al Katr, which name applies to the whole of the peninsula. It is now claimed by the
Turkish Government" (QCM, Annex III.15, Vol. 3, p. 89). In fact, the next edition of 1898
again erroneously states that "the Katar Peninsula has recently been declared a Protectorate by
the British Resident at Bushire" (QCM, Annex III.17, Vol. 3, p. 99). It will thus be seen that
these descriptions are often wrong and inconsistent with those of Lorimer (1908) or the
British Admiralty Survey (1915).
31 QM, Annex II.17, Vol. 5, p. 33.32 QM, paras. 5.2, et seq.
33 QM, para. 5.5.
34 Lorimer, op. cit., QM, Annex II.5, Vol. 3, pp. 269-273, 288-89 and 294.
35 See, BM, para. 20 and BM, Annex 8, Vol. 2, p. 110.
36 BM, para. 131. In fact they also levied and collected taxes on pearl fishing as shown in the
Ottoman document of 8 June 1871 (BM, Annex 16(a), Vol. 2, p. 165) - a document which
Bahrain misconstrues by referring to the Al-Thani as mere "tax collectors". Such taxes were
clearly not collected for Bahrain. See, also the report of the Ottoman Office of the Assistant to
the Government of Katar of 7 November 1891 referring to "... the revenue from pearlings for
the Kaza of Qatar in the pearl fishing season is 2,540,000.00 Kirans and all the taxes received
including those from the divers are collected on behalf of Jasim...", BM, Annex 48(a), Vol. 2,
p. 243.
37 BM, paras. 126-129.
38 QCM, Annex III.1, Vol. 3, p. 1; emphasis added.
39 See, Lorimer, op. cit., QM, Annex II.5, Vol. 3, p. 301 where he states:
"... the affair having quickly come to be regarded throughout the Gulf as a test of British
preparedness to maintain peace at sea, it was resolved to inflict an exemplary punishment
upon the offending chiefs and not to accept the excuse, which would probably be tendered by
Shaikh Muhammad, that he was entitled to punish by any and every means his refractory
subjects in Qatar".
40 QCM, Annex III.2, Vol. 3, p. 9; emphasis added.
41 QCM, Annex III.3, Vol. 3, p. 13.
42 See, ibid.
43 QCM, Annex III.4, Vol. 3, p. 25; emphasis added.
44 QCM, Annex III.5, Vol. 3, p. 35.
45 QCM, Annex III.6, Vol. 3, p. 45.
46 Lorimer, op. cit., QM, Annex II.5, Vol. 3, p. 208.
47 QCM, Annex III.7, Vol. 3, p. 53.
48 BM, Annex 13, Vol. 2, p. 159.
49 QM, Annex III.11, Vol. 6, p. 57.
50 BM, Annex 12, Vol. 2, p. 156.51 The fourth agreement, signed between the British and the Sheikh of Abu Dhabi on 16
September 1868, is of less significance for the present case (BM, Annex 14, Vol. 2, p. 161).
52 See, BM, para. 127.
53 QM, Annex II.27, Vol. 5, p. 79.
54 Lorimer, op. cit., QM, Annex II.4, Vol. 3, p. 141.
55 Ibid., p. 113.
56 BM, Annex 71, Vol. 3, p. 355, at p. 358.
57 Bahrain's attempt (BM, para. 134) to show that in 1870 Mohamed bin Thani was still
declaring himself to be a "subject" of the Ruler of Bahrain relies only on the "translated
purport of a letter" which is obviously quoted without showing the context or producing the
Arabic original. After the events of two years earlier involving devastation of his homeland,
imprisonment of his son and the savage cruelties inflicted on his followers, the statement is
not credible.
58 See, paras. 5.17, et seq., below.
59 See, BM, para. 129.
60 Treaties and Engagements relating to Arabia and the Persian Gulf, compiled by C.U.
Aitchison, Vol. XI, Archive Editions, 1987.
61 BM, Annex 84, Vol. 3, p. 512. See, paras. 3.44, et seq., below.
62 QCM, Annex III.8, Vol. 3, p. 57.
63 QCM, Annex III.9, Vol. 3, p. 63; emphasis added. This letter is also evidence of the fact
that Bahrain itself paid a portion on its own behalf to the Wahhabis and the Naim to secure
protection against molestation. Bahrain was only a channel for the consolidated payment and
was in no sense paying for the protection of the Ruler's "subjects" in the Qatar peninsula (as
claimed in the BM, para. 125). Furthermore, interestingly, this letter also makes it clear that a
part of the "tribute" was payable to the Naim for protection of both Bahrain and Qatar from
molestation by that tribe during the pearl-diving season when other tribes were away. See,
also, para. 5.19(1), below.
64 BM, para. 192.
65 QCM, Annex III.20, Vol. 3, p. 111.
66 BM, Annex 81, Vol. 3, p. 425.
67 For an account of the difference between Bahrain and Saudi Arabia over Zakhnuniya, see,
paras. 2.67, et seq., above and QCM, Appendix 2, Vol. 5, p. 145.
68 BM, para. 194.69 See, paras. 2.8, et seq. and 2.28, et seq., above.
70 See, QM, para. 3.58.
71 See, QM, paras. 5.39-5.40.
72 See, BM, para. 430.
73 See, QM, para. 3.56.
74 Or to Zubarah, despite the reference in a British draft memorandum of July 1911, as
pointed out by Bahrain (BM, para. 192), to "El Katr, where the Sheikh of Bahrein has
important rights". Any such rights were clearly considered without substance and ignored.
75 QCM, Annex III.21, Vol. 3, p. 115.
76 QCM, Annex III.22, Vol. 3, p. 119.
77 QCM, Annex III.23, Vol. 3, p. 123.
78 See, QCM, Annex III.19, Vol. 3, p. 107.
79 QCM, Annex III.24, Vol. 3, p. 127.
80 BM, para. 217.
81 BM, paras. 220, et seq.
82 BM, para. 154, and BM, Annex 70, Vol. 2, p. 285, at p. 343.
83 BM, Annex 70, Vol. 2, p. 285, at p. 344.
84 Ibid., at p. 345.
85 Lorimer, op. cit., QM, Annex II.5, Vol. 3, p. 232.
86 QM, Annex II.44, Vol. 5, p. 151.
87 QCM, Annex III.25, Vol. 3, p. 131.
88 QM, Annex II.47, Vol. 5, p. 181.
89 As already noted, no such reservation in favour of Bahrain was made in respect of the
Hawar islands.
90 QCM, Annex III.57, Vol. 3, p. 335; emphasis added.
91 BM, paras. 193-194.
92 QM, para. 5.38.93 QM, para. 5.44.
94 QM, paras. 5.48 and 6.18, et seq.
95 Paras. 3.60, et seq., below.
96 QM, Chapter V.
97 QM, paras. 5.49, et seq .
98 QM, paras. 6.31, et seq.
99 QM, Annex III.103, Vol. 7, p. 15.
100 Paras. 3.60, et seq., below.
101 QM, paras. 5.58-5.59.
102 QM, paras. 6.16, et seq.
103 BM, para. 349.
104 QM, Annex III.157, Vol. 7, p. 285.
105 BM, Annex 158, Vol. 4, pp. 729.
106 BM, Annex 249, Vol. 5, p. 1077.
107 BM, Annex 251, Vol. 5, p. 1079.
108 BM, Annex 252, Vol. 5, p. 1080.
109 Ibid.; emphasis added.
110 BM, Annex 253, Vol. 5, p. 1081.
111 BM, Annex 259, Vol. 5, p. 1101.
112 QM, Annex III.157, Vol. 7, p. 285.
113 BM, Annex 262, Vol. 5, p. 1112; emphasis added.
114 QM, Annex III.156, Vol. 7, p. 279; emphasis added.
115 With respect to the expression "the residents of Hawar", see, para. 3.127, below, showing
that this is a mistranslation. The correct translation is "they", i.e. the Government of Bahrain.
116 BM, Annex 265, Vol. 5, p. 1118; emphasis added.
117 BM, Annex 268, Vol. 5, p. 1122.118 BM, Annex 266, Vol. 5, p. 1119. Here again, see, para. 3.128, below, demonstrating the
mistranslation of the Ruler of Qatar's letter and Bahrain's attempt to misuse it.
119 BM, Annex 246, Vol. 5, p. 1071. The only reference to this letter in the narrative of
events in Vol. 1 of the BM is in footnote 399 to para. 338, where the letter is cited solely for
its reference to "Mahagwarah" as an alternative spelling of "Umm Haswarah", one of the
Hawar islands to which the Ruler of Bahrain was laying claim at the time; but no mention is
made of the fact that this letter constituted the first formal claim in writing to the Hawar
islands advanced on behalf of the Ruler of Bahrain.
120 See, BM, paras. 356-357, 373 and 382.
121 Of Saudi Arabia.
122 QM, Annex III.84, Vol. 6, p. 431.
123 QM, Annex III.88, Vol. 6, p. 449.
124 QM, Annex III.106, Vol. 7, p. 27.
125 QM, Annex III.107, Vol. 7, p. 31; see, especially, para. 8 of that letter.
126 This record is at QM, Annex III.148, Vol. 7, p. 241.
127 See, QCM, Annex III.36, Vol. 3, p. 187.
128 QM, Annex III.148, Vol. 7, p. 241, at p. 245; emphasis added.
129 QM, Annex III.104, Vol. 7, p. 19.
130 QM, Annex III.110, Vol. 7, p. 47. A temporising reply had been sent by Walton to
Skliros on 14 May 1936, which sought inter alia to claim that the sole purpose of the line on
the map annexed to the Qatar Oil Concession of 1935 was to define the southern boundary of
the Concession. See, BM, Annex 248, Vol. 5, p. 1076; but see, also, item 7 in the Chronology
of Significant Events relating to Hawar, 1933-36, at paragraph 3.72, below, together with
paragraphs 3.75, et seq., below, for a radically different explanation.
131 QM, Annex III.106, Vol. 7, p. 27.
132 QM, Annex III.107, Vol. 7, p. 31.
133 QM, Annex III.110, Vol. 7, p. 47.
134 See, para. 3.64, above.
135 QCM, Annex III.39, Vol. 3, p. 209.
136 QCM, Annex III.37, Vol. 3, p. 191; emphasis added. The reference to "drilling draining
wells on the coast" would make little sense unless Zubarah (on the mainland) were beingreferred to; and with regard to Zubarah, see, para. 5.38 below, recording Bahrain's
renunciation of any such claims.
137 QM, Annex III.88, Vol. 6, p. 449.
138 QCM, Annex III.40, Vol. 3, p. 213.
139 QCM, Annex III.41, Vol. 3, p. 225.
140 QCM, Annex III.43, Vol. 3, p. 237.
141 Ibid. See, also, QM, para. 6.27 and QM, Annex III.94, Vol. 6, p. 479.
142 QM, Annex III.99, Vol. 6, p. 507, at p. 511.
143 QCM, Annex III.44, Vol. 3, p. 247 (in particular para. 7).
144 QCM, Annex III.39, Vol. 3, p. 209.
145 QCM, Annex III.45, Vol. 3, p. 257.
146 QM, Annex III.98, Vol. 6, p. 501.
147 QM, Annex III.104, Vol. 7, p. 19.
148 QM, Annex III.106, Vol. 7, p. 27.
149 QM, Annex III.107, Vol. 7, p. 31.
150 QM, Annex III.111, Vol. 7, p. 51.
151 QM, Annex III.110, Vol. 7, p. 47.
152 See, item 9 in paragraph 3.72, above.
153 BM, Annex 248, Vol. 5, p. 1076.
154 QM, Annex III.104, Vol. 7, p. 19; emphasis added.
155 QCM, Annex III.37, Vol. 3, p. 191. See, also, item 2 in paragraph 3.72, above.
156 See, item 3 in para. 3.72, above.
157 That may have been one of its purposes, but it was certainly not the sole purpose. The
map attached to the Qatar concession was, as has been shown, based on the results of a
geological survey carried out in 1933 by IPC/APOC geologists.
158 QM, Annex III.148, Vol. 7, p. 241.159 See, Report by Major Daly: Note on the political situation in Bahrain, November 1921,
cited in Al-Tajir, Bahrain 1920-1945 : Britain, the Shaikh and the Administration, 1987,
QCM, Annex III.54, Vol. 3, p. 313, at p. 315.
160 Ibid., at p. 316.
161 See, QM, paras 6.52, et seq. See, also, paras. 3.115, et seq., below.
162 Khuri, op. cit., QCM, Annex III.55, Vol. 3, p. 319, at pp. 327-328.
163 Ibid., at p. 330.
164 QCM, Annex III.28, Vol. 3, p. 147.
165 QM, Annex III.73, Vol. 6, p. 383.
166 Ibid., at p. 386; emphasis added; see, also, QCM, Annexes III.29, III.30, III.31 and III.32,
Vol. 3, pp. 151, 157, 163 and 169.
167 QM, Annex III.73, Vol. 6, p. 383.
168 See, QCM, Annex III.33, Vol. 3, p. 173.
169 QCM, Annex III.34, Vol. 3, p. 179.
170 QM, Annex III.53, Vol. 6, p. 245.
171 QM, Annex III.228, Vol. 8, p. 123.
172 BM, Annex 240, Vol. 5, p. 1052, at pp. 1056-1057.
173 QM, Annex III.199, Vol. 7, p. 519.
174 QM, Annex III.195, Vol. 7, p. 497, at pp. 505-506.
175 QM, Annex III.126, Vol. 7, p. 125, at pp. 131-132; emphasis added.
176 QCM, Annex III.26, Vol. 3, p. 135.
177 Ibid.
178 See, QM, para. 6.54, and Annex III.72, Vol. 6, p. 379.
179 See, QM, Annexes III.36, III.39 and III.40, Vol. 6, pp. 169, 181 and 185.
180 QCM, Annex III.27, Vol. 3, p. 141.
181 See, BM, paras. 349, 356 and 357 (i).
182 See, paras. 3.60, et seq., above.183 QM, Annex III.106, Vol. 7, p. 27.
184 I.C.J. Reports 1953, pp. 59-60.
185 See, QM, paras. 6.41, et seq., and 6.152 and Annexes referred to therein.
186 See, QM, paras. 6.57, et seq., and Annexes referred to therein.
187 See, QM, para. 5.58 and Annexes referred to therein.
188 See, paras. 3.52, et seq., above; see, also, QM, para. 6.160 and Annexes referred to
therein.
189 QCM, Annex III.53, Vol. 3, p. 309, para. 173.
190 Ibid., para. 175.
191 See, paras. 3.163, et seq., below.
192 BM, para. 345.
193 See, paras. 3.7, et seq., above.
194 BM, para. 345.
195 See, paras. 3.82, et seq., above; see, also, QM, paras. 5.38-5.39 and 6.52, et seq.
196 91 International Law Reports, p. 606.
197 BM, para. 36. To similar effect are statements in Belgrave's "Counter claim" of 22
December 1938 that "... the inhabitants of Hawar reside there permanently..." (BM, Annex
274, p. 1129, at p. 1134).
198 BM, para. 419. This repeats and confirms an earlier statement in BM, para. 52 that the
Dowasir "would spend the summer at Zellaq and Budaiya on the main island of Bahrain and
the winter on the Hawar Islands...".
199 BM, Annex 235, Vol. 5, pp. 1034-1035; emphasis added. See, also, para. 3.42, above.
200 BM, Annex 279, Vol. 5, p. 1146, at p. 1156.
201 Ibid., at p. 1149. The omission has been pointed out to Qatar by a qualified translator
from Arabic into English.
202 Ibid., at p. 1161; emphasis added.
203 Ibid., at p. 1162.
204 QM, Annex III.192, Vol. 7, p. 453.205 Ibid., at p. 460. See, in connection with winter visits of fishermen to Hawar, paras. 3.91,
et seq., above.
206 This has been pointed out to Qatar by a qualified translator from Arabic into English.
207 See, BM, paras. 52 and 419.
208 QCM, Annex III.12, Vol. 3, p. 77.
209 QM, Annex III.53, Vol. 6, p. 245.
210 BM, para. 36.
211 Khuri, op. cit., QCM, Annex III.55, Vol. 3, p. 319, at p. 323.
212 BM, Annex 74, Vol. 3, p. 371, at pp. 378-379.
213 Khuri, op. cit., QCM, Annex III.55, Vol. 3, p. 319, at p. 324.
214 BM, Annex 74, Vol. 3, p. 371, at pp. 382-383.
215 Lorimer, op. cit., QM, Annex II.5, Vol. 3, p. 143, at p. 316.
216 Khuri, op. cit., QCM, Annex III.55, Vol. 3, p. 319, at pp. 325-326. For a detailed account
of the circumstances in which the Dowasir departed from Bahrain from 1923 to settle in
Dammam (Saudi Arabia), returning only in 1928/9, see, paras. 3.82, et seq., above,
elaborating on what is said in paras. 6.51, et seq. of the QM.
217 BM, paras. 412, et seq.
218 Paras. 3.143, et seq., below.
219 QCM, Annex III.12, Vol. 3, p. 77.
220 BM, para. 410.
221 BM, para. 425.
222 See, paras. 2.67, et seq., above, and QCM, Appendix 2, Vol. 5, p. 145.
223 QM, para. 5.40.
224 BM, para. 415.
225 See, para. 3.14, fn. 30, above.
226 See, para. 3.14, above.
227 BM, para. 432.228 QM, Chapter VI.
229 The unreliability of the 1909/10 "judgments" of a Bahrain court to which reference is
made in paras. 434-435 of the BM is demonstrated in para. 6.173 of the QM.
230 Cited in BM, para. 436.
231 BM, paras. 438, et seq.
232 See, paras. 3.143, et seq., below.
233 These have been pointed out to Qatar by a qualified translator from Arabic into English.
234 BM, Vol. 5, p. 1118.
235 Emphasis added.
236 BM, Vol. 5, p. 1119.
237 In paragraphs 11, 40, 41, 341, 344, 345, 352 (twice), between 353 and 354 (title), 354,
356, 357 (nine times), between 358 and 359 (title), 359, between 380 and 381 (title), 384,
between 403 and 404 (title), 499 and 534.
238 In paragraphs 39, 352, 354 ("adjudicated"), 355 ("adjudicative") and 385
("adjudicatory").
239 The omissions and misleading statements in Bahrain's account of events relating to the
nature of the British decision of 11 July, 1939 are further developed in sub-section E of this
Section (paras. 3.163, et seq., below), which deals with the res judicata argument advanced
by Bahrain.
240 See, paras. 3.60, et seq., above.
241 See, BM, paras. 355, et seq.
242 See, QM, Map 4, Vol. 17. See, also, QM, paras. 3.13-3.14 and 5.15, et seq., and the
survey maps referred to therein.
243 QM, Annex III.49, Vol. 6, p. 225; see, also, QM, para. 5.49.
244 QM, Annexes III.48 and III.50, Vol. 6, pp. 221 and 229; see, also, QM, paras. 6.180, et
seq.
245 BM, Vol. 5, p. 1190.
246 Indeed, Qatar has now discovered, and attaches as QCM, Annex III.48, Vol. 3, p. 275, a
copy of Weightman's letter to Prior of 5 December 1939, covering the Packer Report of the
same date which constitutes Annex 292 to the BM. The Court will note that the various
marginal comments on Packer's note are, according to Weightman, "largely designed to tonedown the impression that the Bahrain Shaikhs are organising a secret campaign in Qatar to
knock down the Al Thani family".
247 The device of selective quotation utilised so frequently by Bahrain in the BM is of course
one that is frequently utilised by theatrical managements in the Western world. A recent
example is afforded by a review of Shakespeare's "Hamlet" which, as reported in the London
newspaper The Independent of 20 November 1996, read as follows:
"This production of Hamlet is one to see at your peril. In thirty years watching Shakespeare I
have experienced nothing to equal it for crassness, banality and subversion of the text".
The management of the theatre indulged in some creative misinformation by summarizing
this review as follows:
"This production of Hamlet is one to see... I have experienced nothing to equal it...".
248 BM, Vol. 5, p. 1190, at pp. 1191-1192.
249 Later in the 1939 Report (ibid., at p. 1192), it is however stated: "Mansur [bin Khalil]
who held a lucrative job in the oil Co. in Qatar is considering a return to the oil Co. and his
old grazing grounds". The reliability of this statement is obviously enhanced if, as Qatar has
now been able to establish, the 1939 Report was prepared by Packer of PCL.
250 Ibid.
251 This may well be a reference to Abdullah bin Darwish, who was the leading merchant in
Doha in the late 1930s. Reference is made to him in QM, para. 6.198 and QM, Annexes
III.175, Vol. 7, p. 385, and III.286, Vol. 8, p. 421.
252 BM, Annex 292, Vol. 5, p. 1190, at p. 1194; emphasis added. Incidentally, Mohamed bin
Ahmad bin Shahin was, according to evidence submitted by Belgrave out of time on 20 April
1939, also party to a case concerning property in Bahrain which had begun in 1932, at which
time the judges in the case before the Bahrain courts (Case No. 264) had been the Ruler of
Bahrain and Belgrave; so he had every reason to carry out their instructions. See, QM, Annex
III.193, Vol. 7, p. 489, at para. 6; see, also, QM, para. 6.191.
253 QM, Annex III.195, Vol. 7, p. 497.
254 BM, Annex 274, Vol. 5, p. 1129.
255 QM, Annexes III.77 and III.79, Vol. 6, p. 401 and p. 409.
0 QM, paras. 6.59, et seq., and 6.165.
1 QCM, Annex III.48, Vol. 3, p. 275.
2 Which Bahrain wrongly refers to as the "Qatar Rejoinder".
3 BM, Annex 279, Vol. 5, p. 1146, at p. 1152.4 BM, Vol. 5, p. 1146.
5 QM, Vol. 7, p. 453.
6 BM, Vol. 5, p. 1146.
7 Ibid., at p.1150.
8 BM, Annex 261, Vol. 5, p.1106.
9 Ibid., at p.1109.
10 See , QM, Annex III.140, Vol. 7, p. 199 and Annex III.223, Vol. 8, p. 103.
11 BM, Annex 321, Vol. 6, p. 1431.
12 BM, para. 445 and BM, Annex 281, Vol. 5, p. 1165, at pp. 1169-1170.
13 A photograph of a typical pearling boat utilised around this time by the tribes inhabiting
the southern littoral of the Gulf taken from A.M. Abu-Hakima, Eastern Arabia - Qatar -
Historic photographs 1921-1950, Vol. III, London, 1995, p. 16, is reproduced opposite this
page. This shows how suspect is Weightman's "evidence" on this point.
14 BM, Annex 313(a), Vol. 6, p. 1363, at p. 1367.
15 BM, Annex 314(a), Vol. 6, p. 1379, at p. 1384.
16 BM, Annex 315(a), Vol. 6, p. 1392, at p. 1394.
17 BM, Annex 316(a), Vol. 6, p. 1400, at p. 1405.
18 BM, Annex 325, Vol. 6, p. 1439.
19 Ibid., at p. 1440. See, also, paras. 3.82, et seq., above.
20 BM, paras. 448, et seq.
21 BM, paras. 454, et seq.
22 BM, Annex 316(a), Vol. 6, p. 1400.
23 Ibid., at p. 1403.
24 BM, Annex 313(a), Vol. 6, p. 1363, at pp. 1367-1368.
25 Ibid., at p. 1368. He also states (at p. 1367) that he and his companions would cook fish in
"an oven on the beach by digging a large hole and lining it with gypsum". Such an elaborate
method of cooking was not known in the Gulf at the time.
26 BM, para. 454.27 It is again revealing how Bahrain no longer seeks to rely in 1996, as it did in 1939, on the
evidential value of beaconing of islets and fashts.
28 See, para. 1.37, above, and QCM, Appendix 1, Vol. 5, p. 1.
29 QM, paras. 6.46, et seq.
30 See, QM, para. 6.87.
31 QCM, Annex III.47, Vol. 3, p. 265, at p. 271; emphasis added.
32 Ibid.
33 See, BM, para. 532.
34 See, QM, para. 6.93.
35 Extracts from the award of the Court of Arbitration in this case are at QM, Annex III.295,
Vol. 8, p. 475 and at QCM, Annex III.51, Vol. 3, p. 297. The full text of the award is at 91
International Law Reports, 1993, p. 543.
36 QM, Annex III.295, Vol. 8, p. 475, at p. 480.
37 QCM, Annex III.51, Vol. 3, p. 297, at p. 299; emphasis added.
38 In Qatar's submission, Britain had failed.
39 See, QM, paras. 6.35, 6.81 and 6.97.
40 The Court will also recall the views expressed by Loch (PAB) in 1936 that "it might in
certain circumstances suit [Britain] politically to have as large an area as possible included
under Bahrain" and by Hemingway (India Office) in 1939 that a decision on Hawar in favour
of Bahrain might "... mollify any resentment" which Bahrain may feel at the treatment by the
British authorities of the Zubarah question in 1937.
41 BM, para. 344.
42 QM, Annex III.156, Vol. 7, p. 279.
43 QM, Annex III.157, Vol. 7, p. 285.
44 QM, Annex III.168, Vol. 7, p. 343.
45 QM, Annex III.174, Vol. 7, p. 371.
46 QM, Annex III.158, Vol. 7, p. 291.
47 QM, Annex III.177, Vol. 7, p. 393.
48 QM, Annex III.188, Vol. 7, p. 437.49 QM, Annex III.189, Vol. 7, p. 441.
50 QM, Annex III.191, Vol. 7, p. 449.
51 See, QM, paras. 6.92-6.93.
52 QM, Annex III.211, Vol. 8, p. 49.
53 QM, Annex III.213, Vol. 8, p. 59.
54 QM, Annex III.219, Vol. 8, p. 85.
55 QM, Annex III.245, Vol. 8, p. 203.
56 QM, Annex III.259, Vol. 8, p. 277.
57 QM, Annex III.256, Vol. 8, p. 265.
58 QM, Annex III.259, Vol. 8, p. 277, at p. 279. The significance of the final sentence of this
citation is explained in QM, para. 6.242.
59 Ibid.
60 BM, Annex 299, Vol. 5, p. 1212. The half-sentence cited in para. 501 of the BM is a
continuation of this bracketed sentence.
__________
CHAPTER IV
JANAN ISLAND
Section 1. The geography
4.1 The geographical description of the island of Janan in Bahrain's Memorial could hardly be
more cursory. It will be recalled that, at Bahrain's insistence, the subject of "the island of
Janan" was included among the issues submitted to the Court. Bahrain, however, now
contends that the name Janan "refers to two islands", and that there is a second "island",
which Bahrain refers to as "Hadd Janan", located 2.2 kilometres or 1.2 nautical mil1s to the
south of Janan. Bahrain also contends that that "island" is part and parcel of Janan . It may
however be noted that the name "Hadd Janan" is not used on the marine charts of the area,
including Bahrain's own marine charts.
4.2 The word "hadd" as used in the Gulf region means a sand spit or low sandy point. On 2he
other hand, a small island would not be referred to as a "hadd". It is true that the feature now
identified as "Hadd Janan" in the Bahrain Memorial does appear on Bahrain's marine charts as
a small island at high tide, merging into Janan island at low tide. A recent hydrographical
inspection performed in the area around Janan island has however demonstrated that thisattribution is wrong. It emerges from that inspection that at the location of "Hadd Janan" as
indicated3on the Bahraini charts, there is a small area of sandy bottom which is below water at
low tide . Therefore, leaving aside the question of whether Bahrain's claim to two islands
would be admissible, given that the issue submitted to the Court in this respect was entitled
"the island of Janan", the geographical facts simply do not provide a basis for Bahrain to
claim a second island.
4.3 As for Janan itself, Bahrain has made no attempt to show why, geographically speaking,
this island should be considered as part of Bahrain. Qatar, however, has shown in its
Memorial that Janan is separated by 17 nautical miles (or more than 30 kilometres) of
relatively deep water from the nearest point of Bahrain and has no geomorphol4gical
connections with it at all, but that it is close to the Qatar mainland coast and is a component
of the offshore topography and the nearshore dynamic system associated with the Qatar
coast .
Section 2. Bahrain's claim is unfounded
4.4 No credible evidence is produced in the Bahrain Memorial to sustain Bahrain's claim to
Janan island or the feature it identifies as Hadd Janan . The only argument advanced by
Bahrain is that "there is no reason to exclude Janan from the Hawar Islands", the m7re
particularly as it "was used by Hawar residents and other Bahraini fishermen" .
4.5 The Bahrain Memorial is totally silent as to the history of the matter, which is set out in
some detail in paragraphs 7.5 to 7.11 of the Qatar Memorial. It will be recalled that, in the
1930s, Bahrain was notably uncertain about the composition of the Hawar islands and
advanced three different lists. The first list was contained in Belgrave's letter to the PAB
(Loch) of 28 April 1936 8. Among the seven named islands claimed to be included in the
"Hawar group" was "Ginan". But this list only serves to demonstrate the ignorance of Bahrain
at the time as to the composition of the Hawar islands. It includes the islands of Noon,
Meshtaan and Al-Materrad, whose appurtenance to Bahrain has never been contested. But it
omits the islands of Suwad al Janubiyah and Suwad ash Shamaliyah, the second and third
largest islands in the Hawar "group" of islands; and this despite the fact that, in his letter to
the PAB of 28 April 1936, Belgrave had asserted that "at least four of the larger islands are
permanently occupied by [the Ruler of Bahrain's] subjects". Qatar has of course always
denied that any of the Hawar islands were "permanently occupied" by anybody before 1936,
and the failure of Belgrave even to mention in his 1936 list two of the three largest islands in
the Hawar "group" provides eloquent testimony of the extent of Bahrain's knowledge of the
Hawar islands at the time. Nor does there appear to be any improvement in the extent of
Bahrain's knowledge by 14 August 1937 when, in a memorandum to the Political Agent,
Belgrave claims that the Hawar "archipelago" consists of 9 (unnamed) islands near the Qatar
9
coast .
4.6 Although Janan appeared on the 1936 list presented by Bahrain, it did not appear in the
more considered "preliminary statement" of Bahrain's case on the Hawar islands submitted
irregularly by Belgrave to Weightman on 29 May 1938 10. The memorandum and
accompanying documentation constituting this "preliminary statement" list 16 islands and
islets as being comprised in the Hawar "group", but pointedly exclude Janan from the named
features .4.7 By July 1946, Belgrave was asserting on behalf of the Ruler of Bahrain that the Hawar
"group" of islands consisted of 18 islands and islets. Al-Materrad and Meshtaan (which had
rightly, together with Noon, been omitted from the 1938 list) are re-introduced into the 1946
list but the main Hawar island is somehow dropped, presumably because the list consists only
of those islands, islets, reefs and other features on which cairns were erected by Bahrain in
1937/38 .12
4.8 It is hardly surprising, therefore, that the Secretary of State for India, in a letter of
3 August 1946, to the Political Resident, should have remarked somewhat caustically that "the
exact extent of the Hawar Islands (i.e. the off-lying islets and their territorial waters) never
seems to have been accurately defined" 13.
4.9 The then Political Agent in Bahrain (Galloway) was thus confronted with a very difficult
problem when instructed in August 1946 "to suggest a simple and equitable division of the
sea-bed to be based on the configuration of the main Bahrain Island(s), the Hawar Islands, and
the Qatar peninsula with their respective territorial waters" . That problem had its origin in
the careless and misguided manner in which the British authorities in the Gulf (and indeed in
London) had made their assessment in 1939 of the conflicting claims of title to the Hawar
islands by the Rulers of Bahrain and Qatar. That Galloway took his mandate very seriously is
evidenced by the content of his 33-paragraph letter to the Political Resident of 31 December
1946, which embodies his recommendations as to the division of the sea-bed. Naturally, he
had no authority to disregard the British decision of 11 July 1939, which had "awarded" the
Hawar islands to Bahrain, having to base his recommendations "on the hypothesis that Hawar
and 'its islands' have been awarded to Bahrain" . Qatar does not of course accept all the
views expressed by Galloway, particularly on the attribution of Fasht Dibal and Qit'at
Jaradah, but it is interesting to note his clear conclusion that Janan island must be considered
to appertain to Qatar for the following reasons:
(a) there was no justification for the Bahrain claim to ownership beyond the erection
of a cairn, which should however be disregarded;
(b) Janan was not included in Bahrain's 1938 list; and
(c) the eastern half of Janan lies within the territorial waters of Qatar and south of the
16
deep water channel between Hawar and Janan, that channel running close to Janan .
4.10 Galloway's recommendation that Janan island must be considered to appertain to Qatar
was accepted by his superiors, both in the Gulf and in London. Consequently, it was
specifically stated in the letters of 23 December 1947:
"It should be noted that Janan Island is not regarded as being included in the islands of the
Hawar group" . 17
4.11 The Ruler of Bahrain immediately disputed this conclusion. In paragraph 5 of his letter
to Pelly (PAB) of 31 December 1947, the Ruler asserts:
"We are unable to understand why our island of Jinan, which, owing to the rich fishing
grounds around it, is an island of value, has been excluded from the Hawar group. Jinan is
used as a base by our fisherme18who are accustomed, with our permission, to erect huts on the
island in the fishing season" .On the basis of instructions from London, the PAB returned a negative reply to this complaint
on 30 April 1949, relying in part on the arguments put forward by Galloway, as set out in the
passage from his letter of 31 December 1946, cited at paragraph 7.9 of the Qatar Memorial . 19
4.12 Qatar of course denies totally the claim in paragraph 405 of the Bahrain Memorial that
Janan was used by "Hawar residents", since it denies that there were any "permanent
residents" of Hawar before some members of the Dowasir tribe were "settled" in Hawar as a
result of the secret machinations of Belgrave. Janan may of course have been used from time
to time by Bahrain fishermen but, as is well-known, at that time there was freedom of fishing
for all Arab tribes in the region, including Qataris, who also used Janan. Galloway's reasons
for concluding that Janan island was not one of the "Hawar group" and must in any event be
regarded as appertaining to Qatar rather than Bahrain are eminently sound.
4.13 Accordingly, there is no substance in the Bahraini contention that Janan must be
regarded as one of the Hawar islands falling within the scope of the British "decision" of 1939
and therefore appertaining to Bahrain.
CHAPTER IV JANAN ISLAND 143
Section 1. The geography 143
Section 2. Bahrain's claim is unfounded 144
1 BM, para. 404.
2 This feature also appears on Qatar's Maps 5 and 9, QM, Vol. 17. However, those maps
were, as can be seen, prepared on the basis of the erroneous Bahraini charts.
3 See, QCM, Annex III.50, Vol. 3, p. 289.
4 See, QM, Maps 5 and 9, Vol. 17.
5 See, QM, paras. 7.1, et seq.
6 See, paras. 4.1-4.2, above.
7 See, BM, para. 405.
8 QM, Annex III.103, Vol. 7, p. 15.
9 BM, Annex 335, Vol. 6, p. 1456. It is worth noting, incidentally, that, in this memorandum,
Belgrave makes a clear distinction between the "Bahrain archipelago" and the "Howar [sic]
archipelago", thereby implicitly accepting that the Hawar islands do not form part of what is
styled the "Bahrain archipelago".
10 BM, Annex 261, Vol. 5, p. 1106.
11 Ibid., at p. 1110.
12 QM, Annex III.243, Vol. 8, p. 195.13 QM, Annex III.246, Vol. 8, p. 207.
14 QM, Annex III.249, Vol. 8, p. 219, at p. 221.
15 Ibid.
16 See, citation at QM, para. 7.9.
17 QM, Annexes III.256 and III.257, Vol. 8, p. 265 and p. 269.
18 QM, Annex IV.118, Vol. 10, p. 83, at p. 86.
19 QM, Annex III.249, Vol. 8, p. 219.
__________
CHAPTER V
ZUBARAH
Section 1. Introduction
5.1 Having regard to the failure of Bahrain to inform Qatar completely of its claims and
submissions, Qatar presented its case in its Memorial "without prejudice... to the position that
it may take once it has been informed of the claims and submissions of Bahrain" . This
precaution has proved to be wise in the light of Bahrain's claim to sovereignty over "Zubarah"
as presented in the Bahrain Memorial. The examination in this Counter-Memorial of that
claim shows that it is without any substance. It is even doubtful whether the claim now
presented in Bahrain's Memorial is the subject of an existing dispute within the Court's
Judgments on Jurisdiction and Admissibility. Qatar, however, does not consider it appropriate
to pursue this question at the present stage of the proceedings, but it may arise when all the
evidence and arguments of both Parties are before the Court.
5.2 In an extensive "review" and recitation of historical events in Chapter 2 of its Memorial,
Bahrain has provided the Court with an indigestible mass of selective quotations and distorted
facts in order to try to establish, by its misrepresentation of circumstances, that it has a full
and internationally recognised title to what it calls "the Zubarah region". Qatar must point out
that there has never been any question of a Bahraini claim to any "Zubarah region" or "area of
Zubarah". In fact, the Court will recall that what has been referred to the Court for its decision
is simply the question of "Zubarah". It is in any event Qatar's submission that Bahrain is fully
aware that its so-called claim to sovereignty over Zubarah (however that term is interpreted)
is historically and legally unsustainable. In the words of one British official, it might at one
time have been considered that Bahrain had a "historical interest" in Zubarah, but no more 2.
Qatar submits that Bahrain has only raked up this so-called claim to Zubarah by way of a
counterblast to the legitimate claims raised by Qatar in its Application and its Memorial.
5.3 Qatar intends in this Chapter to correct the historical account of events relating to Zubarah
as well as demonstrate its historic title to Zubarah.5.4 As in the case of the Hawar islands, so also in relation to Zubarah, Bahrain attempts to
show that at one time it exercised "control and authority" over the entire Qatar peninsula as
well as "all the waters" between Bahrain and the peninsula of Qatar; and that its authority
receded from only a part of the peninsula after the arrival of the Ottomans in Qatar in 1871,
but that it continued always to exercise control and authority over the Zubarah region until the
Al-Khalifah were forcibly expelled from Zubarah by the Ruler of Qatar in 1937 . 3
4
5.5 A detailed account has been given earlier in this Counter-Memorial demonstrating that
after the particularly violent and destructive attack by the Al-Khalifah on Qatar tribes in 1867,
the British took action to secure compensation from Bahrain for the Qatari losses as well as
undertakings through the Agreements of 1868 from the Chiefs of both Bahrain and Qatar to
maintain the maritime peace. It has been shown in detail, in dealing with Qatar's title to the
Hawar islands, how Bahrain and Qatar were effectively separated by virtue of these
Agreements of 1868 and that Qatar's territorial integrity, by which is meant the territorial
integrity of the peninsula as a whole together with its coast and its immediately adjoining
islands, has been recognised and respected ever since not only by the British, the Ottomans
and other rulers in the region, but even by the rulers of Bahrain from time to time. The
evidence and submissions in this connection advanced in Chapter III apply with equal force in
the case of Qatar's title to the entire peninsula and its coasts, including Zubarah.
Section 2. The history corrected: Qatar's title to Zubarah
A. Early history
5.6 In dealing with the early history of Zubarah, Qatar has shown in its Memorial that at least
by the beginning of the 17th century, Zubarah was already a fortified town, with its own
Sheikh and administration. Evidence has been tendered of the inhabitants, the houses, the
boats and livestock in Zubarah in 1638, and of the prevention of a first attempt by members of
the Al-Utub tribe early in the 17th century to enter Zubarah6.
5.7 Qatar has further shown that even when in 1766, two sections of the Al-Utub tribe (the
Bin Khalifah and the Al-Jalahma) made their way to Zubarah and the local Sheikhs laid down
conditions for their settlement, they refused to accept these conditions but instead built a fort
at Murair outside the walls of Zubarah; and that after the Al-Utub attacked and occupied
7
Bahrain in 1783, they moved their headquarters from Murair to Bahrain . There is no
evidence thereafter of any "control or authority" exercised by the Al-Khalifah in Zubarah.
B. The period from 1868-1937
1. British rejection of Bahrain's claim to Zubarah at its inception
5.8 Qatar has shown in its Memorial and in this Counter-Memorial that at least from the time
of the British action of 1868 and the Agreements of that year with the Chiefs of Qatar and
Bahrain, the British recognised the integrity of the entire territory of Qatar comprised of the
8
peninsula of Qatar (including Zubarah) and the adjoining islands ; and that whatever
hesitation some British officials might have had in this regard was finally dissipated by the
Anglo-Ottoman Convention of 1913 and the British-Qatar Treaty of 1916 . 9
5.9 Bahrain's alleged claim to Zubarah was presented to the British for the first time in 1873
and in effect amounted to an attempt to alter the position achieved by the 1868 Agreements,whereby Bahrain and Qatar were effectively separated. As Qatar has already shown in its
Memorial, the British never accepted this claim. However, in the light of Bahrain's present
claim to Zubarah, it is instructive to examine the basis of the claim at its inception and to
10
correct the "historical" account given by Bahrain .
5.10 During a conversation between Major Grant (First Assistant Resident) and the Chief of
Bahrain on 16 August 1873, Major Grant was informed that a Turkish officer from a ship
visiting Zubarah had asked the Chief of the Naim why he did not declare himself a Turkish
11
subject and that the latter had come to Bahrain for help . The Chief of Bahrain claimed that
the Naim were his subjects and that this was acknowledged in Colonel Pelly's presence at the
time of the signing of the 1868 Agreement. He desired to know whether he should give the
Chief of the Naim the Bahrain flag. Upon Major Grant's advice, the Chief of Bahrain
addressed a communication to the Political Resident on 2 September 1873 claiming that
"Zobareh is a property under the rule of Bahrein..." and that "on referring to the Treaty you
will perceive that Zobareh is a dependency of this Island...". He further requested that the
records of Colonel Pelly of 1868 be examined and went on to seek advice as to whether, in the
event nothing were found out, "... I am to relinquish the Naim or allow them to remain as they
are" . It will be seen therefore that the Chief of Bahrain was uncertain as to the strength of
his claim to Zubarah at its very inception.
5.11 After his conversation with the Ruler of Bahrain, Major Grant immediately had the
position investigated and obtained a report which shows that, apart from the Naim, there were
a number of other tribes living in Zubarah. This report states:
"The tribes living in Zobareh are as follows:
1. The Chibisa, who were lately living in Khorassan; they possess about 25 fishing boats.
2. The Manamaneh tribe, who were lately living in Aboo Zuroof; they have about eight boats.
3. The Sadeh tribe, who were lately settled in Rowais; they possess about five boats.
4. The Hamadal who were lately living in Jumail; they possess about seven boats.
5. The Naim, who are Bedoos and possess flocks which they graze in the neighbourhood of
the town of Zobareh.
The Chief of the Chibisa is Esaw bin Khulefah; the Chief of Naim is Nassir bin Jubbar.
The Chibisa were living in Khorassan until about two months ago, when they migrated to
Zobareh; their reason for so doing was that they were friends with the Naim, and their cattle
used to graze with the cattle of the Naim, so when it was known that Rui Sani the head of the
Beddah people, and the tribe of Beni Hajir intended to attack the Naim the two above
mentioned Chiefs Nassir bin Jubbur, and Esaw bin Khulefah, agreed to live together in
Zobareh for the purpose of aiding one another against the enemy. They also invited the tribe
of the Manamaneh to come from Aboo Zuroof to join them in Zobareh, as also the tribe of
Sadeh, living in Rowais, and the Hamadal living in Jumail. The tribe of Naim live in Zobareh
and graze their cattle in the surrounding pasture lands. The Chibisa many years ago lived in
Biddeh; some quarrels arose between 13em and the tribe of Urair; for this reason they left
Biddeh and settled in Khorassan" .Major Grant himself added the following comment on the report:
"This sketch of the tribes at present inhabiting Zobareh was shown by me to the Chief of
Bahrein, who pronounced it to be correct" . 14
5.12 It will be noticed that there is no reference in this report to any connection between the
Naim and the Al-Khalifah or their alleged allegiance to the Chief of Bahrain. What is of
particular importance of course is that as numerous tribes lived in Zubarah, there could not be
any legal basis for Bahrain to claim sovereignty over Zubarah on the ground of the alleged
allegiance of only one of those tribes (or a section of it) even if such allegiance did in fact
15
exist .
5.13 Major Grant forwarded the above report to the Political Resident with his letter of 16
August 1873 in which he noted that with regard to Sheikh Isa's claim in respect of the Naim,
any power exercised by the Ch16fs of Bahrain of late years over that tribe had been merely
nominal, if it existed at all . He wrote to the Political Resident again on 11 September 1873
that after consulting various treaties he had arrived at the conclusion "that there is no special
mention made in the treaties either of the el Naim or of Zobareh..." . 17
5.14 In the intervening period, the Political Resident, Colonel Ross, in his reply of 28 August
1873 to Major Grant, asked him to advise the Bahrain Chief "to keep aloof from all
complications on the mainland with the Turks, Wahabis, etc." 18.
5.15 Furthermore, in view of the Bahrain Chief's contention that his claim had been
acknowledged in Colonel Pelly's presence in 1868, inquiries were made from Colonel Pelly.
He advised in his letter of 27 October 1873 that the Chief of Bahrain should adhere to the
arrangements already made, and while he was acknowledged to possess certain rights in
regard to pasturage, etc., on the Qatar coast he shou19 not be held to be empowered to put to
sea for the purpose of coercing any port in Qatar . The Government of India concurred with
the views expressed by Colonel Ross in his letter of 28 August and of Colonel Pelly in his
letter of 27 October 1873 2.
5.16 This official British position never changed for more than a century thereafter except to
the extent that in later years, as will be shown below, the British decided that the Ruler of
Bahrain had no rights at all in Zubarah, and informed him accordingly from time to time.
2. Bahrain claim of resistance to Ottoman/Al-Thani control of Zubarah
5.17 Bahrain attempts to sustain its present claim to Zubarah by trying to show in somewhat
dramatic language that from 1874 to 1903, the Ottomans and the Al-Thani were "rebuffed in
six attempts to exercise authority over the Zubara21region" and that these attempts failed "in
the face of Britain's and Bahrain's opposition" . Qatar will show how Bahrain, by a selective
use of historical facts and references, has presented a grossly inaccurate and distorted account
of these six incidents:
(1) In 1874, Nasir bin Mubarak (a dissident member of the Al-Khalifah family), and the Beni
Hajir threatened to attack the Naim in Zubarah. Bahrain characterises this incident as
demonstrating a first attempt by the Ottoman Empire and the Al-Thani to expand northward
into Zubarah. The facts, however, show a very different situation. Colonel Ross, the BritishResident, referred to this incident in a telegram of 5 September 1874 to the Government of
India, stating:
"A Bedouin tribe of Nejd have been making serious attempt to cross from mainland on a
piratical raid against Bahrein..." 22.
In a subsequent letter of 19 December 1874, he described the incident as follows:
"It was a notorious, undisguised fact, that the primary object of the Beni Hajir was, as on
former occasions, the attack and plunder of Bahrein23Else why should they have seized boats
and put to sea and plundered Bahrein craft?..."
As the British interest was only the protection of Bahrain, the Government of India therefore
asked the Resident to "ta24 effective steps to defend Bahrein against aggression by any Chiefs
or tribes of the Gulf..." . This was not therefore an "attempt to exercise authority over the
Zubarah region" which was rebuffed . The Sheikh of Bahrain sought nevertheless to take
advantage of the situation by seeking leave from the British Resident to reinforce the Naim at
Zubarah, whom he considered to be in great danger. Although he was initially26llowed by the
Resident to despatch reinforcements "as a purely defensive measure" , the Government of
India disapproved the Resident's action. The Government of India in a letter later confirmed,
inter alia, that:
"...The Chief of Bahrain had no possessions on the mainland of Katar, and... his rights there
were of a very uncertain character..." 27
and that:
"... His Excellency in Council... considers that the Chief of Bahrein should not have been
encouraged to despatch troops to the mainland for the reinforcement of his allies, the Naim
28
tribe" .
Contrary to what Bahrain now contends, Colonel Ross also reported to the Government in his
communication of 19 December 1874 that the Chief of Bahrain had stated that:
"The object of his sending help to Zobarah was to defend his own island, not to encroach on
his neighbours, and intimated his readiness to be guided by the policy of Government" 29.
When there were again remonstrances from the British in 1877, the Ruler of Bahrain did not,
as might have been expected, state that he was fully entitled to defend Zubarah in view of his
sovereignty over the area. Instead, he simply provided the excuse that:
"... the only people, who left Bahrein for Zobarah, were those of the Naim tribe who
habitually visit Bahrein for gifts, and who returned of their own accord upon hearing that a
hostile force had come to attack Zobarah, but that he furnished them with no arms" . 30
(2) In September 1878, a very serious act of piracy, accompanied by the murder of four
persons, was committed by the inhabitants of Zubarah upon a passing boat; and Colonel Ross
was directed by the Government of India to demand of the Turkish authorities that the place
should be punished, and to offer British naval assistance for the purpose. Before he could
fully carry out his instructions, he received a report that Zubarah, of which the inhabitants hadmade themselves obnoxious to all their neighbours by raids and piracies, had been attacked by
a large force under Sheikh Jassim bin Thani and Nasir bin Mubarak. The Naim besieged in
Murair surrendered and Zubarah as a populated place ceased to exist. Thus, the British
authorities, far from seeking to rebuff the Turks and the Al-Thani from exercising authority in
Zubarah, in fact held the Turks responsible for restraining piracies from Zubarah, and were
actually in the process of inviting the Turks to punish its inhabitants for their crimes. This
event is also a clear instance of Al-Thani exercise of authority in Zubarah and this action of
Sheikh Jassim was accepted by the British without question. In fact it was considered at this
time, both by the British Resident and by the Sheikh of Bahrain, that, for the future, the best
solution to the Zubarah difficulty, in so far as the security of Bahrain was concerned, would
be the permanent occupation of the place by the Turks . 31
(3) Bahrain attempts to show that the British opposition in 1888-89 to Ottoman plans for the
rebuilding of Zubarah amounted to recognition of "the Ruler of Bahrain's title to sovereignty
over the region". But on Bahrain's own showing, by that time, it was British policy generally
to oppose any extension of Turkish jurisdiction in Qatar . The only other consideration was
the security of Bahrain and not its sovereignty over Zubarah. This is clearly demonstrated by
the terms of the telegram from Colonel Ross which is quoted by Bahrain and which it is
appropriate to repeat here:
"In view to opposing further extension Turkish jurisdiction, safety of Bahrain, and security of
seas, I consider important that any settlement at Zobarah should be forbidden and prevented
by us" .3
Bahrain however fails to cite the following extract from a letter of Colonel Ross dated five
days later, where he states, inter alia, that the Chief of Bahrain:
"apprehends that Nasir-bin-Mubarik, the refugee from Bahrain, will be instigated to settle at
Zobarah with his followers of the Beni Hajir tribe, and supported in doing so by the Turks,
either directly or indirectly.
2. There can be no doubt that if this measure were carried out it would constitute a menace
and standing danger to Bahrain, and the objection raised by the chief of Bahrain is, assuming
34
his information correct, reasonable" .
It will thus be clear that the episode in 1888 had nothing whatsoever to do with any Bahraini
claim to sovereignty over Zubarah. To the British, it was purely a question of ensuring the
security of Bahrain island by protecting it from the threat of attack from Zubarah.
(4) The reference by Lorimer above to the rumours of the Ottoman plans in 1890/1891 relates
to the fourth incident cited by Bahrain where Ottoman/Al-Thani attempts to exercise authority
in Zubarah were allegedly "rebuffed". As Lorimer points out, these plans were abandoned. It
is also apparent from the India Office letter of 2 October 1890 and Saldanha's account that 35
the British intervened with the Porte and prevented the implementation of Ottoman plans to
rebuild Zubarah in 1891 because they had declined to admit the claim of Turkey over the
Qatar coast where Zubarah was located. Their intervention was not dictated by any
recognition of Bahraini rights in Zubarah or any denial of Al-Thani authority in that region.
(5) It may be noted that Lorimer's observations on the above events involve no suggestion that
there was any recognition of Bahrain's sovereignty over Zubarah. He states:"In 1888 it was reported that the Turks intended to rebuild Zubarah and, as it was feared that
the agent selected would be the Bahrain outlaw Nasir-bin-Mubarak, the British Resident was
instructed by the Government of India to inform that individual and Shaikh Jasim of Dohah,
who was his father-in-law, that a settlement at Zubarah would not be permitted. No actual
attempt to re-occupy the place was observed. In 1890 and 1891 there were rumours of the
appointment of a Turkish Mudir to Zubarah, and the post was at first offered to Muhammad-
bin-'Abdul Wahhab of Darin, who declined it; but the project, after a Mudir designate had
36
arrived in Bahrain, was apparently abandoned" .
(6) Again, Bahrain's account of the events of 1895 is severely distorted. In that year, the threat
which Bahrain "rebuffed" was not to Zubarah but from Zubarah to Bahrain . The British
intervention whereby Turkish and Qatari vessels w38e destroyed in Zubarah harbour was, as
shown below, to prevent an attack on Bahrain .
(7) Once again in 1903, the British opposed and prevented an Ottoman plan to appoint Mudirs
in Zubarah and Wakrah because of the British position expressed by the Political Resident,
Colonel Kemball, that it was "absolutely essenti39 for the security of the Bahrain islands that
Zobara should not be occupied by the Turks" . In addition to his concern for the security of
Bahrain, in this letter, the Political Resident was clearly concerned about the increased
prestige which the Turks would gain from a Turkish "occupation" of Zubarah. It is also
important to note that at about the same time, i.e., in 1903, the British were in fact
contemplating a closer relationship with the Sheikhs of Qatar. Lorimer notes that:
"It was generally admitted at this time that an Agreement with the Shaikhs of Qatar would be
advantageous, inasmuch as it would invest the British Government with a special position in
regard to the maintenance of maritime peace off the coasts of the promontory, and would
increase the weight of British opinion in any international question that might arise
concerning the use of the adjacent pearl banks; but it was held expedient to defer a final
decision until the British position in the Persian Gulf should have been examined by the
Committee of Imperial Defence, and until tension at the moment prevailing between Great
40
Britain and Turkey in Arabia should have subsided" .
Lorimer also notes:
"It was decided by His Majesty's Government that the status quo in Qatar, which the Porte on
its side had recognised by the withdrawal of Mudirs appointed to Wakrah and Zubarah... -
ought not to be disturbed by the conclusion of any fresh Agreement between the Shaikhs of
Qatar and the British Government; but that the Shaikh might be assured of the friendship of
the British Government being continued, so long as he should abstain from entering into
41
engagements with another power" .
5.18 It will therefore be seen that while some of the six incidents analysed above show British
opposition to an Ottoman presence in Zubarah or British concern for Bahrain's security, none
of them indicates that the British ever questioned the territorial integrity of Qatar; equally,
none can be interpreted as attempts that were "rebuffed" by Bahrain and Britain because the
British in any way recognised any Bahraini rights in Zubarah.
3. Bahrain's "claim" relating to Zubarah and concern for the security of Bahrain5.19 It is Qatar's submission that in fact the real reason why Bahrain came to advance a
"claim" relating to Zubarah in 1873 was the concern of the Ruler of Bahrain for the security
of Bahrain. The so-called "allegiance" of the Naim was "purchased" and nourished with gifts
over a long period, having regard to the same concern for the security of Bahrain. The Ruler
of Bahrain was anxious that the Naim should not aid anyone in attacking Bahrain. Consistent
with this, the British authorities also from time to time expressed the view that for the security
of Bahrain it was necessary that Zubarah was either kept uninhabited or peopled only by those
friendly to the Ruler of Bahrain, a view amply exploited by Bahrain. This submission is
supported by the following:
(1) The British had rejected Bahrain's claims on the Qatar mainland based on the supposed
Naim "allegiance" to the Chief of Bahrain after Major Grant's investigation in 1873 and the
Government of India's firm decision of 1875 referred to above . The British were clearly
aware of the history and true nature of the relationship of the Naim with others in the Gulf
area, described by Lorimer in the following terms:
"... The Bedouins of the northern Na'im are retained as mercenaries both by the Shaikh of
Bahrain and by the Al Thani Shaikhs of Dohah, and the protection of those Shaikhdoms is
considered to devolve principally upon them during the absence from home of the pearl fleets.
Their efficiency and trustworthiness are not however beyond doubt, and their presence in
Bahrain in summer is a source of annoyance to the p43ceable agriculturists of other tribes. In
Bahrain and Qatar the Na'im are Maliki Sunnis" .
(2) When the British Government ordered the Chief of Bahrain to desist from any interference
or intervention in Zubarah on the mainland in 1875, in a Memorandum of 22 June 1875 to the
Political Resident on behalf of the Chief of Bahrain, it was pointed out:
"... in respect to our agreeing to abstain from interference in the affairs of Zobarah and the
consequences which will ensue, that we have frequently represented to you that our
connection with Zobarah and the Naeem tribe, whom we have ordered to dwell there, was, for
various reasons, an imperative obligation and necessity, as you are aware. When we waive
this obligatio44in respect to that quarter, it behoves us to devise other plans for the protection
of Bahrein..." .
(3) In a letter of 7 October 1876 45, Captain Prideaux, the officiating Political Resident,
reported that he had communicated to Sheikh Isa of Bahrain the instructions of the
Government of India that he should keep aloof from all intertribal disputes upon the mainland
and discontinue the custom of providing any of the tribes with provisions when they moved
from one quarter to another. When it was later found that the Chief of Bahrain was not
complying with these instructions and when he was asked for an explanation, the then
officiating Political Resident, Major Grant, reported in his letter of 3 November 1877 to the
Government of India that the Chief of Bahrain:
"... admits having had dealings with the Naim tribe, though he states that in making them
presents and receiving them in Bahrein he has no choice but to act as he does, for fear of the
tribe leaguing with his enemy, Nasir bin Mobarek, and others, and making Zobarah a stand-
point from which to harass and attack his islands...".
He went on to state:"The propinquity of Zobarah to Bahrein makes it a constant source of danger to Sheikh Eesau,
and were he to offend the Naim tribe, who live there, by closing his islands against them, and
by withholding the presents he has hitherto given them, they would certainly coalesce with the
Beni-Hajer, in which case it would probably not be long before an invasion of Bahrein would
be attempted" .46
This was based on the Chief of Bahrain's own letter of 12 October 1877 to Major Grant where
he stated:
"... the Naim come here on their own account, and when I give them presents it is necessary
for me to do so to prevent them doing mischief, as otherwise I fear that they would stir up
strife and ally themselves with my enemies, Nasir bin Mobarek and others; and having united 47
in Zobarah make matters very difficult for me, because the distance from there is but short" .
(4) In a letter to the Secretary of State for India of 22 May 1879 from the Foreign Department,
Government of India, it was stated:
"It may, also, be necessary to protect the islands of Bahrein by special arrangements which
should provide -
i. - For the maintenance of the territories of the Chief of Bahrein under the protection of Great
Britain.
ii. - For the fulfilment by the Chief of his treaty obligations including abstention from all
interference with the mainland..." 48.
(5) Lorimer, reviewing the events of 1886, observes:
"... the Na'im of Qatar continued friendly, but their friendship was dearly purchased by the
sacrifice of a large portion of the public revenues of Bahrai49 for which it did not appear that
any adequate quid pro quo was obtained from the tribe" .
(6) As already shown above, there was apprehension in 1888 about the security of Bahrain . 50
This apprehension stemmed from the possibility that the Turks might instigate Nasir bin
Mubarak to settle in Zubarah. The British therefore opposed and prevented this. In his letter of
17 March 1888 to the Government of India, the Political Resident, Colonel Ross, stated, inter
alia:
"If Zobarah is to be rebuilt and peopled, this should be, I think, in justice, done only in a
manner acceptable to the Chief of Bahrain. The settlers should be people friendly to him and
not his enemies.
5. In view, firstly, to opposing the further extension of Turkish authority; secondly, for the
due safety of the Islands of Bahrain; and thirdly, for the preservation of tranquillity and
security in the seas, and prevention of piracy, it appears to me highly important that the
settlement of Nasir-bin-Mubarak and his dependents at Zobarah should be forbidden and
prevented..." 51.
(7) As already shown by Qatar, the British intervention off Zub52ah in 1895 was clearly
intended to prevent an invasion of Bahrain from Zubarah . This is confirmed in the reportmade by Colonel Wilson, PRPG, on 13 September 1895 to the Government of India in which
he stated, inter alia:
"I have the honour to report, for the information of His Excellency the Viceroy and Governor-
General in Council, that on the 6th instant Commander Pelly, Senior Naval Officer, Persian
Gulf Station, having in his judgment, after careful consideration of the facts immediately
before him, determined that prompt action was the only means of averting the plunder of
Bahrein with its attendant excesses, attacked and destroyed some 44 out of a fleet of nati53
craft assembled off Zobara, armed and ready for an instant descent on that place..." .
(8) Another instance of the concern for Bahrain's security and therefore the need to prevent
any potential invaders having a base in Zubarah is a Memorandum of Lt. Col. Kemball of 23
March 1903 to the Government of India stating:
"It is, in my opinion, absolutely essential for the security of the Bahrein islands that Zobara
should not be occupied by the Turks..." . 54
(9) In a report of July 1905, Prideaux expressed the view:
"Under no circumstances would I permit any now uninhabited portions of the west coast,
including Zubara, to be re-colonized, as its soil is unfertile and the pearl-banks being difficult
of access fro55this tract, there can be no inducements except unlawful ones for people to
settle there" .
(10) Even during the events of 1937, referred to hereafter, when the Ruler of Qatar took
action to stop smuggling activities in Zubarah, the Naim were simply concerned with their
own interest and not with their relationship with the Ruler of Bahrain. In a telegram of 23
April 1937 to the Political Resident, the Political Agent stated:
"Serious point if true is that Naim are reported to have said that if they do not get support
56
from Bahrain they will adhere to Bin Sa'ud" .
5.20 It will be seen from the foregoing that the only concern of Bahrain and the British as
regards Zubarah was the security of Bahrain; and that Bahrain's relations with some of the
Naim consisted essentially of the Ruler of Bahrain periodically making gifts to them to keep
them in good humour in the interests of the security of Bahrain. There was nothing in this
relationship to support any Bahraini territorial claim to Zubarah.
4. Recognition of Zubarah as part of Qatar
5.21 Qatar has already referred to evidence which clearly shows that the British and the
Ottomans considered Zubarah as part of the peninsula of Qatar 57. This recognition was later
incorporated in the Anglo-Ottoman Convention of 1913 which provided in Article 11:
"it is understood by the two Governments that the pe58nsula will be governed as in the past by
shaykh Jasim-bin-Sami [sic] and his successors" .
Bahrain brushes this Convention aside on the ground that it was never ratified; but Bahrain
fails to acknowledge that the reason for non-ratification was the outbreak of war between
Britain and Turkey, and not dissatisfaction with the terms of the Convention. Bahrain alsodoes not take into account the fact that Qatar, as did the British, relies on the provisions of this
Convention for their undeniable evidentiary value. Furthermore, as already shown, Article 11
59
of the Convention was referred to in the 1914 Treaty which was ratified .
5.22 Bahrain makes an unconvincing attempt to show that during the period of the Ottoman
presence in Qatar, Zubarah was separate from the Doha area and was somehow under
Bahrain's influence. It alleges in its Memorial that even the Ottomans considered Doha to be a
"Kaza" (district) distinct fr60 the sub-districts of Zubarah and Odaid (said to be referred to by
the Ottomans as "Nahiye") . This contention of Bahrain is based on an Ottoman document,
the last paragraph of which is translated by Bahrain itself as follows:
"... There are c.150 sweetwater wells in the kaza of Katar: if wells are dug..61between Zubara
nahiyesi, which is the border of the kaza of Katar, and Odeid nahiyesi..." .
Bahrain completely misreads the above document which in fact refers to Zubarah as "the
border of the kaza of Katar". Any ambiguity that there may be is dispelled by the letter from
the Ottoman Minister of the Interior to the Grand Vezi62of 6 April 1902 referring to "... the
Zubarah and Udaid coasts of the Kaza of Qatar..." . This is therefore further evidence, if any
were needed, of the Ottoman recognition of Zubarah as part of Qatar.
5.23 Qatar has already cited numerous documents to demonstrate the recognition of Qatar's
ownership of Zubarah by t63 rulers of the Gulf region, in particular Sheikh Zayed bin
Khalifah of Abu Dhabi .
5.24 It is Qatar's submission that in signing the Agreement of 1868 Bahrain expressly
undertook not to interfere on the Qatar peninsula by any action from the sea, particularly by
way of enforcement of any rights it claimed on the Qatar peninsula. This was reinforced by
Bahrain's continued acceptance of the condition laid down by Britain for providing its
protection to Bahrain, namely that Bahrain should not interfere on the Qatar mainland 64.
Indeed, Bahrain has admitted on several occasions that it neither had nor seriously desired any
65
rights in Zubarah . Bahrain states that it sent its Crown Prince to London after the First
World War "to inform the British Government of the Ruler's intention to build a port in
Zubarah and re-develop the region" . But a report dated 17 January 1920 of a conversation of
the then Political Agent (Dickson) with Crown Prince Sheikh Abdullah of Bahrain in fact
shows Bahrain's continuing doubts as to its claim concerning Zubarah. The report states:
"(e) Regarding proposal III. - 'Zubarah.' I pointed out the unlikelihood of His Majesty's
Government's ever even considering such a question. I showed Abdullah how such a course
would at once result in trouble with the ruler of Qatar and Nejd, and would not only be looked
upon as a piece of great injustice by those two rulers, but would be most vigorously opposed
on the score of justice, treaty and trade. To my surprise Abdullah admitted the entire force of
my remarks, and then calmly turned round and said 'we do not really want 'Zubarah' so very
much, but we do want to stake our claim on the mainland, and get a port there in order that
should Bin Saud open a port at Al Jubail (north of Qatif) we may not be entirely ruined'. He
further explained that Shaikh Isa was very nervous on this point and feared that Bin Saud had
something of this sort in mind for Al Jubail was an ideal place for a port, there being good
deep water at all tides close in to the shore. That should such port be opened, then Bahrein
was doomed, for all its present trade with the mainland would go direct by steamer to the new
port and leave Bahrain out. If, on the other hand, Zubarah were in Shaikh Isa's hands this
could not happen. Shaikh Isa would gladly never mention Zubarah again, if His Majesty'sGovernment promised not to allow Bin Saud to open a port at Al Jubail. This statement of the
case came as a surprise to me. Abdullah clearly showed that Zubarah was not after all so very
much sought after by Shaikh Isa, but was only asked for as a means of bargaining with Bin
Saud, should the latter attempt to develop Al Jubail. The point is very interesting and gives us
a reasonably powerful weapon, should we ever want to bring pressure on to the Ruler of
Bahrain" .67
5. Zubarah and the discovery of oil
5.25 As Qatar has shown in its Memorial, discussions relating to the granting and then to the
extension of Bahrain's petroleum concession in the 1920s and 1930s showed that Bahrain did
not consider Zubarah as part of its territory to be covered by the concession. Furthermore, the
1916 Treaty provided that the Ruler of Qatar would not grant an oil concession over his
territory without British consent. In 1935 a concession was finally signed by the Ruler of
Qatar and representatives of APOC (with British approval), which clearly included the whole
of the peninsula including Zubarah, as was also confirmed by the map attached to the
68
concession .
5.26 Despite this, Bahrain seeks to suggest that it was the Ruler of Qatar who, after granting
an oil concession over his territories in 1935, saw the great attraction of expanding the
territory69nder his authority in order to maximise his potential revenue from hydrocarbon
deposits . This assertion is made in a feeble attempt to show that the Ruler of Qatar, after
1935, began to covet Bahrain territory, namely, Zubarah.
5.27 Bahrain alleges that, since an American company (BAPCO) had the oil concession in
Bahrain and a British company (PCL) came to be granted the oil concession in Qatar, the
British authorities began to favour Qatar in the controversy relating to Bahrain's claim over
Zubarah. Bahrain argues that:
"Britain struggled to give its own oil companies a competitive advantage over the United
States oil companies by exploiting Britain's historical political influence in the region. The
struggle influenced events in the Zubarah region and underlay Qatar's invasion of Zubarah in
1937" 7.
This statement appears to contradict Bahrain's earlier assertion that:
"Britain continued publicly to support the Ruler of Bahrain's claim to the Zubarah region" 71.
Or perhaps it is intended to imply that privately (as against publicly), Britain started
supporting Qatar. There is no foundation whatsoever for Bahrain's suggestion that the British
changed their attitude with respect to Zubarah because of their oil interests. As Qatar has
already shown, the British had consistently rejected Bahrain's claims concerning Zubarah
from 1873 onwards and in fact, on 10 August 1957, the Political Resident wrote to the Ruler
of Bahrain and reminded him that:
"Her Majesty's Government have never supported any claim by Bahrain to sovereignty in
Zubarah" 73.
5.28 Bahrain next falsely asserts that when Bahrain's "unallotted area" was left to be
negotiated between the Ruler of Bahrain and the prospective concessionaires:"It was understood by these prospective concessionaires that the Zubarah region could be
included in Bahrain's oil concessions" 74.
The only evidence which Bahrain cites in support of this assertion is one passage from a letter
of 5 December 1936 from the local representative of BAPCO (Skinner) stating that:
"The Khalifa family at one time lived in Zubara and still have some claim to that town and its
75
environs" .
However, in what appears to be a deliberate omission, Bahrain fails to reproduce another
passage in the same letter which makes it clear that the writer had serious doubts whether the
Ruler of Bahrain had any sustainable rights in Zubarah. The penultimate paragraph of the
letter states:
"... It appears advisable to start negotiations for the whole of the Sheikh's territories, but if
such negotiations become prolonged and we find:-
(1) That the Sheikh has no chance of making good his claim to Zobara or its environs, or
(2) That the Sheikh can only claim Hawar Islands which are definitely uninteresting
geologically,
then would it not be well to use these Islands as a trading point? We would then ask the
Sheikh only for the additional area in Bahrain Islands proper, including, of course, the
territorial waters. It is admitted that this acquisition is being made entirely for its nuisance
value and I should think our purpose would be accomplished if we keep other companies from
securing concessions in Bahrain Islands proper. It might be well to point out that the Hawar
Islands are geographically a part of the Katar Peninsula and any compan76operating in Katar
would certainly operate Hawar from Katar and not from Bahrain" .
The only other possible prospective concessionaire was PCL which was also negotiating with
the Ruler of Bahrain for a concession over the "unallotted area". Bahrain itself states that:
"PCL took the view that its Qatar concession included the Zubarah region, but it was
concerned about how Bahrain's view of its sovereignty over the Zubarah region might affect
both PCL's chances of obtaining the unallotted area and PCL's ability to develop the Zubarah
region under the Qatar concession" 77.
5.29 Bahrain then contends that Britain entered into an agreement (in 1935) with the Ruler of
Qatar offering protection for his land territories for the sole purpose of ensuring that the Qatar
oil concession was granted to APOC . While it is correct to say that Britain agreed to accept
the Ruler of Qatar's persistent requests for protection for his land territories, it saw nothing
improper (nor was there anything improper) or unfair in securing, at the same time, the Qatar
concession for APOC. This was particularly so, since it was in no way inconsistent with the
firm British position, taken since 1873, that Bahrain in any event had no rights on the Qatar
peninsula, and since the concession was therefore in no way prejudicial to Bahrain. It is
obviously wrong for Bahrain to contend that:"In order to extend further the British economic interest in Qatar, Britain had reached an
understanding with the Ruler of Qatar about his territories that purported 79 transfer thereby
Bahrain territory to Qatar and consequently to British oil companies" .
It is important in this context to note that APOC and later PCL, though British registered
companies, had an equal ownership by four shareholders, namely, British, American, French
and Dutch companies. Therefore, any notion that Britain was seeking to protect "the British
economic interest" as opposed to a shared economic interest is exaggerated.
5.30 The Bahrain Memorial then goes on to assert that in 1937 "Britain wanted to assure the
80
integrity of the Qatar Peninsula was not threatened" . Bahrain quotes as evidence of this
assertion a statement of a Foreign Office official in London to a PCL representative on
25 June 1937 to the effect that the British Government would not be at all likely to recognise
any claims by the Sheikh of Bahrain over the Zubarah area. Bahrain, however, ignores the
fact that this statement was made after completion of a careful examination, in the preceding
months, of the Zubarah situation (before and after the incident involving the intransigence of
the Al Jabr faction of the Naim tribe).
5.31 This examination began with what Bahrain refers to as an official note dated 13 March
81
1937 and which stated inter alia that:
"[Zubarah] is going to be the subject matter of a tensible feeling... owing to the development
of petroleum" .82
It resulted in the report and recommendations of 5 May 1937 of the Political Resident (Fowle)
to the Secretary of State for India 83. These documents do not in any way support the
contention that, for reasons connected with oil, the Ruler of Qatar was suddenly trying to
expand his territories or, more importantly, that for the same reasons, the British Government
was somehow unfairly supporting the Ruler of Qatar and not Bahrain's claim to Zubarah. In
fact Bahrain itself notes the British position as being that, if Bahrain had any credible
evidence to support its claim to Zubarah, then Zubarah would not be covered by the Qatar Oil
Concession 84.
5.32 In any event Bahrain had itself made it known that it did not seek to interfere in any way
with the rights of Qatar's concessionaire (PCL). This was made clear in the Political
Resident's letter of 5 May 1937, which stated:
"Mr. Belgrave informed me, unofficially of course, that the Shaikh would be quite willing to
give us an assurance that his claim to Zubarah would not in any way interfere with the rights
of the Qatar Oil Company nor their operations. This is of course a point of some practical
85
importance" .
In the same letter, it was also stated:
"From another and practical point of view His Majesty's Government, by their endorsement of
the Qatar Oil Concession, would seem to be committed both to the Shaikh of Qatar and to
Petroleum Development (Qatar) Limited, to the recognition of the ownership of Zubarah by
the Shaikh of Qatar. It may be possible to surmount this difficulty in view of the Shaikh of
Bahrain's readiness to give the assurance referred to in paragraph 4 above" . 865.33 The Political Resident also noted in the same letter Loch's view that "the Al Khalifah are
our best friends on the Arab Coast" and his own view that "from the political point of view,
Bahrain is of considerably more importance to us than Qatar". In spite of these feelings and
after reviewing the entire history of the Zubarah question from as far back as 1871, the
Political Resident noted, inter alia, that "since about (1871)... the Al-Thani... have held Qatar,
including Zubarah". He went on to state that in 1895:
"the Bahrain Government, far from having any control over Zubarah, were actually threatened
by invasion from that place".
For this and the other reasons given in his report, and in spite of his friendly feelings for
Bahrain, he took the view that "juridically, the Bahrain claim to Zubarah must fail". In the
light of this clear expression of view by the Political Resident, Qatar fails to understand how
Bahrain can have the temerity to argue, on the basis of the very same report, that "once the
negotiations between the representatives of the two Rulers had sta87ed it became rapidly
evident to Britain that the better legal claim lay with Bahrain" .
5.34 Accordingly, the British took the view that Zubarah was part of peninsular Qatar, and
there can be no basis for the false charge that British "support" for Qatar in this matter was
motivated by any need to protect the interests of a British oil company.
6. The events of 1937
5.35 Qatar has already shown in its Memorial that despite Bahrain's recognition during the
discussions relating to the granting of its oil concession in the 1920s and 1930s that it had no
claim of sovereignty over Zubarah, there is evidence that at least by 1936 Bahrain was
seeking to manufacture a basis for such a claim . Furthermore, by early 1937, the Ruler of
Qatar was aware that a part of the Naim tribe under Rashid bin Jabr - who was in the official 89
pay of the Ruler of Bahrain - appeared to be engaged in smuggling from Bahrain into Qatar .
The Ruler of Qatar took various steps to impose his authority over the dissenting Naim by
force and put an end to the smuggling and other unlawful activities. As a result, the dissenting
Naim not only surrendered, as they had done in 1878 90, but also entered into an agreement to
91
obey the laws of Qatar while residing in Qatar .
5.36 Bahrain describes these events of 1937 by stating that "...Qatar mounted an armed
expedition against the Zubarah region and expelled the Bahraini subjects who then inhabited
92
it" . It also describes this as an "act of aggression" which resulted in a large number of Naim
and adherents reported killed and in fact states "it is impossible to know exactly how many
casualties were suffered throughout the Zubarah region" 93. It is interesting to note however
that one of Bahrain's own documents, a report dated 5 December 1939 wrongly attributed to
94
Weightman but in fact written by Packer of PCL , describes the 1937 incident by stating
"Naim tribesmen financed and armed largely from Bahrain were defeated by the Shaikh of
Qatar in a bloodless battle in which the casualties were two on each side" . 95
5.37 It is Qatar's submission that the action of the Ruler of Qatar in 1937 was no more than an
assertion of his authority over Zubarah similar to the actions taken in 1878 and on other
occasions.
C. The period after 19375.38 It is Qatar's further submission that in the years following 1937, Bahrain on several
occasions acknowledged Qatar's sovereignty over Zubarah either directly or by disclaiming
any sovereignty of its own. This is evidenced by the following incidents and documents.
(1) As a consequence of Qatar's actions in Zubarah in 1937, the Ruler of Bahrain imposed
restrictions on the circulation of persons and goods between Qatar and Bahrain, with Qatar
taking similar action. The strain in the relationship between the two sheikhdoms was sought to
be remedied by various British efforts in 1944, 1950 and 1954 but with only limited success.
However, in the course of such efforts, the Ruler of Bahrain, while continuing to insist that he
had certain private rights in Zubarah, on several occasions expressly disclaimed sovereignty
over the area:
(i) The Political Resident recorded in a Memorandum the details of an interview on 9
December 1943 with the Ruler of Bahrain who spoke to him about his claims in Zubarah. The
Political Resident noted:
"I could not follow all His Highness' arguments, as I had not the details of this case at my
fingers' ends, but he made it clear that they were much more disturbed by the loss of face than
the loss of property and said that he was certain some arrangement could be made and that he
relied on us to make it" .6
(ii) When the British succeeded in their efforts to bring about a limited agreement between the
Rulers of Qatar and Bahrain in June 1944, the agreement only provided that:
"The Ruler of Bahrain and the Ruler of Qatar agree to the restoration of friendly relations
between them as they were in the past. The Ruler of Qatar undertakes that Zubarah will
remain without anything being done in it which did not exist in the past. This is from
consideration and reverence to Al Khalifah. The Ruler of Bahrain, also, on his part undertakes
not to do anything that might harm the interest of the Ruler of Qatar. This agreement does not
affect the agreement with the Oil Company operating in Qatar whose rights are protected" 97.
By this agreement, all that the Ruler of Qatar agreed to was "that Zubarah will remain without
anything being done in it which did not exist in the past". In other words, he was content to
leave Zubarah as the archaeological site that it continues to be until today. On the other hand,
the agreement was further evidence of Bahrain's recognition of Qatari sovereignty in Zubarah
in that the rights of Qatar's concessionaire were to be fully protected and respected by both
parties.
This agreement further illustrates that the issue between the Parties concerned only some
interests in the town of Zubarah and not in any "region of Zubarah" or "area of Zubarah" 9.
This was clearly the understanding of both the Ruler of Qatar and the then Political Resident,
as is apparent from the following extract from the letter from the Political Resident of 14 July
1948 to Mr. Ernest Bevin, the British Foreign Secretary:
"The Shaikh of Qatar claims that the agreement [of 1944] only provides that nothing new
should be done in Zubarah subsequent to its date and that 'Zubarah' means Zubarah town only.
On a strict interpretation of the letter of the agreement it is difficult to read into it more than
the Shaikh of Qatar does,99nd there was little doubt when he signed it he did not intend to
concede anything else" .(iii) The consideration that Bahrain's claim to Zubarah was primarily a matter of prestige and
not of sovereignty was again expressed by the Ruler in 1946. In a note of 4 September 1946 to
the Political Agent Bahrain, the Political Resident referred to a conversation with the Ruler of
Bahrain and recorded:
"If I understood him rightly he stated that he did not claim sovereignty over Zubarah but only
wanted his grass and water. When I remarked that there was no profit for him in Zubarah he
replied that it was not a matter of profit as he knew that there was nothing of value in Zubarah
but one of prestige. He said that Zubarah was of more importance to him than anything else in
the world and that so long as the present position existed he would continue to remain in a
state of anguish. He finally said that he could not bear the present uncertainty and wanted a
100
decision one way or the other even though it was unfavourable" .
(iv) Again, in another note dated 1 October 1946, the Political Resident recorded that the
Ruler of Bahrain had indicated to him that he did not claim sovereignty over Zubarah but only
the restoration of the situation prior to 1936 101.
(v) In a note dated 18 February 1948 the Political Resident recorded that the Sheikh of
Bahrain had come to see him on that day and noted that:
"The Shaikh did however definitely state that the rights he claimed were of a private nature
and he emphasised the point that he was only claiming for himself and his sub102ts in Qatar
private property such as might be owned by any foreigner in Bahrain" .
(vi) In his letter of 24 June 1948 addressed to the British Foreign Secretary, Mr. Ernest Bevin,
the Ruler of Bahrain defined his claim as being only to certain lands in Zubarah and "to hold
the land so defined as in private ownership for ever". He further confirmed that he neither
claimed nor had any claim in oil rights in Zubarah and that all benefits therefrom entirely
belonged to the Sheikh of Qatar 103.
(vii) On 25 January 1950, the Political Agent Bahrain confirmed in a letter to the Ruler of
Qatar that:
"His Highness the Shaikh of Bahrain does not claim sovereignty over Zubarah or any other
part of Qatar territory, nor does he claim rights to oil or any other material therein. He merely
wishes to send his dependents with their flocks for grazing to the Zubarah area without
supervision from anyone and without the imposition of Customs or other controls on such
people, as was the custom in the past" 10.
(2) When the British in December 1947 notified the Rulers of Qatar and Bahrain of the
division of the sea-bed boundary between the two sheikhdoms, the British clearly proceeded
on the basis that Zubarah was part of Qatar in determining the line of delimitation. While
Bahrain rejected the decision on various grounds, it made no reservation or protest with
regard to any alleged rights in Zubarah or in the sea-bed appertaining to Zubarah 10. When it
proposed a variation of the 1947 line in 1106, Bahrain itself proceeded on the basis that
Zubarah was part of the coast of Qatar .
5.39 As already shown in Qatar's Memorial, the British, particularly after the events of 1937
leading to tension between the two Rulers, tried from time to time to see if an arrangement
acceptable to them could be put in place regarding Zubarah (without prejudice to Qatar'ssovereignty). These efforts led to the Agreement of 1944 and other certain revised
arrangements in 1950 and again in 1954. None of these worked and on 4 June 1957, the Ruler
of Bahrain unilaterally asked the British Political Resident that if the British Government did
not regard the above Agreements as having any v107dity, he should be so informed in writing
whereupon he would drop the whole matter . The British therefore informed him by a letter
of 10 August 1957 that:
"Her Majesty's Government have never supported any claim by Bahrain to sovereignty in
Zubarah. They have in the past been able to bring about by negotiation arrangements for
certain special facilities for Bahrainis in the area, and certain limitations on the exercise of
sovereignty by the Ruler of Qatar. In present circumstances however it does not seem possible
for these arrangements and limitations to be continued as they were before" 10.
This position was 109terated in another letter of 29 July 1961 from the Political Agent to the
Ruler of Bahrain .
5.40 It is Qatar's submission that in the light of all these numerous instances of Bahrain's
express or implied recognition of Qatar's sovereignty over Zubarah and all the other facts set
out above, there is no basis whatsoever for Bahrain's claim that from11083 until 1937, "it had
full and internationally recognised title" to the "Zubarah region" . On the contrary, the
wealth of material referred to above in this Chapter and also in the Qatar Memorial establishes
that since at least 1868 Qatar has had title to Zubarah. Qatar's title has been internationally
acknowledged as well as recognised by Bahrain itself from time to time.
Section 3. Bahrain has no legal basis for its claim to sovereignty over Zubarah
A. Absence of acts of sovereignty performed by Bahrain in or in relation to Zubarah
5.41 If the Bahrain Memorial is examined closely in the light of Section 2 of this Chapter, it
becomes apparent that Bahrain has not produced any evidence that it performed any official
acts in or in relation to Zubarah at any time during the period of 120 years from 1868 to 1988
(when Bahrain again raised a claim concerning Zubarah as an artificial counter-weight to
Qatar's well-founded claim to Hawar). Qatar will therefore now move to consideration of
what is essentially the only remaining argument presented by Bahrain in support of its claim
to sovereignty over Zubarah, namely, the argument based on the supposed allegiance of the
Naim.
B. There is no factual or legal basis for Bahrain's argument based on the supposed
allegiance of the Naim
5.42 It is useful to begin by considering the thoughtful view expressed by Dr. Al-Baharna, the
former Minister of Legal Affairs and Agent of Bahrain in the present case. Writing in his
personal capacity, Dr. Al-Baharna states:
"... the question of Zubarah, as it stands today, cannot be fitted in any legal classification. It is
not, in reality, a claim to the territory; it is a claim to jurisdiction over the subjects of a State
in another territory" 11.
If Dr. Al-Baharna is right, the Bahraini claim to jurisdiction over its "subjects" located "in
another territory" falls far short of a claim to sovereignty. Even as a claim to jurisdictionbased upon the nationality principle, it must prima facie yield to a claim to jurisdiction based
upon the territorial principle, i.e., in the present case, Qatari jurisdiction.
5.43 Of course, Bahrain does not put forward its claim to sovereignty over Zubarah on this
basis. Its argument is rather more sophisticated. Significantly, Section 1 of Chapter II of the
Bahrain Memorial devoted to Zubarah is entitled:
"The geographical extent of the Zubarah region claimed by Bahrain is based on the tribal
territory inhabited by the Naim tribe, who recognised the authority of the Ruler of
Bahrain" 112.
The essence of Bahrain's argument is that the question of title to Zubarah:
"... is closely linked to the character of tribal allegiances in the region... Sovereignty over such
land is a reflection of the relationship between the Ruler and the tribe living as exclusive users
within a given area, called the tribal dirah" 113.
In the present case, it will be seen from what follows that the allegiance argument has no
foundation in fact or in law.
1. The lack of foundation of the allegiance argument in fact and in law
5.44 The alleged allegiance of the Naim towards the Ruler of Bahrain cannot provide a
foundation for Bahrain's claim to Zubarah since these links of allegiance are not proved; and
even if such links existed, they could not found a claim to a territory which is not occupied on
a permanent or regular basis or which is frequented by other tribes.
a) The links of allegiance of the Naim towards the Ruler of Bahrain are not proved
5.45 Bahrain asserts that the Naim are long-standing followers of the Ruler of Bahrain. In this
regard, Bahrain affirms that the Naim:
"... were first invited to the Qatar peninsula by the Al-Khalifa family and assisted the Al-
Khalifa in the conquest of the islands of Bahrain in 1783" 11.
The implied suggestion here is that the conquest of Bahrain was achieved only by the Al-
Khalifah and the Naim. In order to substantiate it, Bahrain refers to various extracts from
Lorimer 115. However, what Lorimer actually states is that Bahrain was conquered by the
Utubs of Zubarah with the help of
"... contingents from various tribes of Qatar, among them Al Musallam from Huwailah, Al
Bin'-Ali from Fuwairat, Sudan from Dohah, Al Bu Ainain from Wakrah, Kibisah from Khor
Hassan, Sulutah from Dohah, Manana'ah from Abu Dhaluf, Sadah from Ruwais, Al Bu
116
Kuwarah from Sumaismah, and Nai'm Bedouins from the interior of the promontory" .
5.46 Bahrain then states:
"The Rulers of Bahrain exercised their sovereignty over Zubarah, and for a time over much of
117
the Qatar peninsula, through the tribe known as the Naim" .Significantly, no evidence is provided for the wholly false assertion that the Naim exercised
authority over Zubarah, still less "for a time over much of the Qatar peninsula".
5.47 Quite apart from the lack of evidence to support these extravagant assertions, there is no
real evidence of the allegiance of the Naim towards the Ruler of Bahrain. On the contrary, as
has been seen above, the evidence shows that the Ruler of Bahrain sought from time to time
to purchase their support in order to dissuade them from entering into hostile alliances against
him . This evidence shows that the links between the Ruler of Bahrain and the Naim were
more akin to the relationship between a mercenary and his client than to the relationship
between a vassal and his suzerain. The Court will recall Lorimer's view that:
"The Bedouins of the northern Na'im are retained as mercenaries both by the Shaikh of
Bahrain and by the Al Thani Shaikhs of Dohah, and the protection of those Shaikhdoms is
considered to devolve principally upon them during the absence from home of the pearl fleets.
Their efficiency and trustworthiness are not however beyond doubt, and their presence in
Bahrain in summer is a source of annoyance to the peaceable agriculturists of other tribes" 119.
b) The territory claimed by Bahrain was not occupied permanently or regularly by the
Naim
5.48 Bahrain states that:
"Naim settlements remained in the region after the decline of the town of Zubarah in the first
part of the 19 Century; the Naim inhabited the Zubarah region until 1937" . 120
This is a bare assertion without a121supporting evidence, and for a very good reason. In fact,
Zubarah was destroyed in 1811 , and Bahrain admits that "the town of Zubarah was largely
abandoned" after that year 122.
5.49 Even if there is some evidence of the Naim being present in Zubarah in the early 1870s,
it has been shown above that in 1873 there were numerous other tribes also present in the
area 12. It has also been shown above that Zubarah was again deserted after 1878 . 124
5.50 Early in the twentieth century, Lorimer observed that the site of Zubarah was "still
frequented by the Na'im of Bahrain and Qatar" and that "10 or 12 forts" which "stood within a
radius of 7 miles round" Zubarah were "now ruinous and deserted, except Thaghab, which the
people of Khor Hassan visit to draw water" 125.
5.51 According to Lorimer, the bedouin Naim lived "[i]n winter... chiefly in the
neighbourhood of Zubarah", but "in the hot weather most of them remove to Bahrain" while
"some take up their summer quarters near Dohah" 126. As to the settled Naim, Lorimer wrote
127
"There are now no settled Na'im in Qatar" .
5.52 In 1937, the incident between the dissenting Naim and the Ruler of Qatar shows that at
that time, there may have been Naim in the vicinity of Zubarah 128. However, as has been
shown, it is completely untrue that the Naim "inhabited the Zubarah region" from the
beginning of the 19th century to 1937. In fact, there is evidence of some Naim presence in
Zubarah from 1873 to 1878, thereafter around 1908 and again in 1937; that is all. c) The territory claimed by Bahrain was frequented by sections of the Naim tribe other
than the Al-Jabr
5.53 According to Bahrain, the Naim tribe consists of several branches, the two main
branches being the Al-Jabr and the Al-Ramzan. Bahrain asserts that "[b]y 1937, the Al-
Ramzan branch had switched its allegiance to the Al-Thani Rulers of Qatar" while the Al-Jabr
branch "maintained its allegiance to the Ruler of Bahrain" 12.
5.54 Bahrain has thus confined its claim to the territory (dirah) said to be occupied only by
the Al-Jabr branch of the Naim tribe. Bahrain argues that the tribal dirah of the Al-Jabr was
situated "in and around the ruined town of Zubarah" whereas the tribal dirah of the Al-
Ramzan branch was located "far to the south of Zubarah".
5.55 However, according to Lorimer, there were twelve sections of the Naim . Moreover, he
states:
"These sections... are here much intermingled; but all the [Naim] tribesmen in Bahrain and
Qatar are followers of one of two Shaikhs who belong to the Al Haiyi and Al Ramadhan
sections respectively" 13.
This citation demonstrates the following: (i) that the Al-Ramzan (Lorimer writes "Al
Ramadhan") but not the Al-Jabr, as Bahrain contends, were one of the main sections; and (ii)
that the intermingling of the tribal sections establishes that there was no exclusive dirah for
any one section.
5.56 In any event, a branch or fraction of a tribe cannot have a tribal dirah of its own.
Furthermore, Bahrain does not provide any convincing evidence of the geographical location
of the Al-Jabr section and how it could be distinguished from the location of the other
sections of the tribe, including the Al-Ramzan. In fact, according to the only purported
evidence that Bahrain does provide, the Al-Jabr were present in three undefined areas, the Al-
Ramzan in four, the Al132fali in three, the Al-Hiyyeh in two, and the Al-Mjedem and the Al-
Jama'an in one each . Furthermore, the sketch map relied upon by Bahrain in this respect
shows that the branches of the Naim tribe located nearest to Zubarah town were the Al-
Hiyyeh and the Al-Mujedem and not the Al-Jabr 13. It also shows that some of the places
134
mentioned in the statements produced by Bahrain as being part of the dira135f the Al-Jabr
were frequented by branches other than the Al-Jabr, such as the Al-Ramzan . Thus, the
evidence produced by Bahrain shows the intermingling of the various branches of the Naim
and the consequent impossibility of defining the area frequented by any one branch.
5.57 On this ground alone, there can be no justification for Bahrain's claim of title to territory
based on links of allegiance of one section of a tribe.
2. The absence of any legal basis for the Bahraini claim to sovereignty over Zubarah
5.58 Even if there were any substance in Bahrain's claim that the Al-Jabr section of the Naim
were its subjects or owed undivided and constant allegiance to its Ruler, that would only
sustain a possible claim of personal authority over that section and cannot, in the absence of
evidence of exercise of political and public authority by the Ruler of Bahrain in and over the
territory in which the section might be living, sustain a claim in international law to
sovereignty over that territory.5.59 As explained in Oppenheim's International Law, independence, and territorial and
personal authority, are the three main aspects of the sovereignty of a State:
"Inasmuch as it excludes subjection to any other authority, and in particular the authority of
another state, sovereignty is independence. It is external independence with regard to the
liberty of action outside its borders. It is internal independence with regard to the liberty of
action of a state inside its borders. As comprising the power of a state to exercise supreme
authority over all persons and things within its territory, sovereignty involves territorial
authority (dominium, territorial sovereignty). As comprising the power of a state to exercise
supreme authority over its citizens at home and abroad, it involves personal authority
(imperium, political sovereignty)" 13.
5.60 The Court itself, while describing the characteristics of the territory in the Western
Sahara case, observed that:
"Not infrequently one tribe had ties with another, either of dependence or of alliance, which
were essentially tribal rather than territorial, ties of allegiance or vassalage" .137
The Court also noted:
"Political ties of allegiance to a ruler, on the other hand, have frequently formed a major
element in the composition of a State. Such an allegiance, however, if it is to afford
indications of the ruler's sovereignty, must clearly be real and manifested in acts evidencing
acceptance of his po138ical authority. Otherwise, there will be no genuine display or exercise
of State authority" .
5.61 In considering the Moroccan claim in the Western Sahara case, the Court observed that
Morocco had never exercised any real act of authority over the people of Western Sahara, and
that it had provided no clear evidence of the suzerainty of the Sultan of Morocco over t139
Reghebat tribe nor of the levying of Moroccan taxes with respect to the territory . The Court
concluded, in the final paragraph of its Advisory Opinion, that:
"The materials and information presented to the Court show the existence, at the time of
Spanish colonization, of legal ties of allegiance between the Sultan of Morocco and some of
the tribes living in the territory of Western Sahara. They equally show the existence of rights,
including some rights relating to the land, which constituted legal ties between the
Mauritanian entity, as understood by the Court, and the territory of Western Sahara. On the
other hand, the Court's conclusion is that the materials and information presented to it do not
establish any tie of territorial sovereignty between 140 territory of Western Sahara and the
Kingdom of Morocco or the Mauritanian entity" .
In the present case, the evidence shows that there are no relevant legal ties of allegiance
between the Ruler of Bahrain and the Naim tribe or any section thereof, let alone of any such
ties as would establish territorial sovereignty.
5.62 Paragraph 530 of the Bahrain Memorial embodies a lengthy citation from the award in
the Dubai/Sharjah arbitration, upon which it relies in arguing its case that title to territory
may be acquired through the exercise of effective personal jurisdiction in areas of low
habitability. The Court will of course appreciate that what is said in the Dubai/Sharjah
arbitration about the allegiance of the Bani Qitab to the Ruler of Sharjah is wholly dependentupon the facts of that particular case. The region in which the Bani Qitab lived was largely
desert and sparsely populated, as the Court of Arbitration in that case itself acknowledged. By
way of contrast, the tribal elements from time to time present in the area in and around
Zubarah were closely intermingled as Qatar has already shown. Bahrain cannot rely upon the
claimed allegiance of a single section of a particular tribe to found title to a territory
frequented by many other sections of the same tribe and also by other tribes.
5.63 For all these reasons of fact and of law, there is no substance in the Bahrain claim to
sovereignty over "Zubarah".
CHAPTER V ZUBARAH 149
Section 1. Introduction 149
Section 2. The history corrected: Qatar's title to Zubarah 151
A. Early history 151
B. The period from 1868-1937 151
1. British rejection of Bahrain's claim to Zubarah at its inception 151
2. Bahrain claim of resistance to Ottoman/Al-Thani control of Zubarah 154
3. Bahrain's "claim" relating to Zubarah and concern for the security of
Bahrain 160
4. Recognition of Zubarah as part of Qatar 164
5. Zubarah and the discovery of oil 167
6. The events of 1937 172
C. The period after 1937 173
Section 3. Bahrain has no legal basis for its claim to sovereignty over Zubarah
178
A. Absence of acts of sovereignty performed by Bahrain in or in relation to
Zubarah 178
B. There is no factual or legal basis for Bahrain's argument based on the
supposed allegiance of the Naim 178
1. The lack of foundation of the allegiance argument in fact and in law 179
a) The links of allegiance of the Naim towards the Ruler of Bahrain are not
proved 179 b) The territory claimed by Bahrain was not occupied permanently or regularly
by the Naim 181
c) The territory claimed by Bahrain was frequented by sections of the Naim
tribe other than the Al-Jabr 182
2. The absence of any legal basis for the Bahraini claim to sovereignty over
Zubarah 183
1 QM, para. 1.15.
2 BM, Annex 191, Vol. 4, p. 825.
3 BM, para. 19.
4 See, paras. 3.27, et seq., above.
5 QM, Chap. VIII.
6 See, QM, paras. 8.7-8.8.
7 QM, paras. 8.9-8.10.
8 See, QM, paras. 3.30, et seq. and 8.12; and paras. 3.20, et seq., above.
9 See, para. 3.45, above and QCM, Annex III.57, Vol. 3, p. 335.
10 BM, paras. 76, et seq.
11 BM, Annex 17, Vol. 2, p. 171.
12 BM, Annex 19, Vol. 2, p. 173; emphasis added. It is most important to note that after the
1868 Agreements, the allegiance of the Naim, if any, was the only basis of claim in relation to
Qatar invoked by the Ruler of Bahrain until the claim to the Hawar islands 65 years later in
1936!
13 QCM, Annex III.10, Vol. 3, p. 69.
14 Ibid.; emphasis added.
15 For a description of the contemporary tribal system, see, paras. 2.13, et seq., above.
16 QCM, Annex III.10, Vol. 3, p. 69.
17 QCM, Annex III.11, Vol. 3, p. 73.
18 Saldanha, op. cit., QM, Annex II.7, Vol. 4, p. 9, at p. 53.
19 This is a further illustration of the object of the 1868 agreements which was, inter alia, to
secure an effective separation between Qatar and Bahrain to ensure maritime peace.20 Saldanha, op. cit., QM, Annex II.7, Vol. 4, p. 9, at p. 54.
21 BM, paras. 167, et seq.
22 BM, Annex 70, Vol. 2, p. 285, at p. 292.
23 Ibid., at p. 295.
24 Ibid., at p. 292.
25 Al-Thani authority already existed over the whole peninsula, at least after 1868.
26 BM, Annex 70, Vol. 2, p. 285, at p. 293.
27 Ibid., at p. 294.
28 Ibid.
29 Ibid., at p. 295; emphasis added.
30 Saldanha, op. cit., QM, Annex II.8, Vol. 4, p. 181, at p. 195.
31 BM, Annex 83, Vol. 3, p. 439, at pp. 470-71.
32 BM, para. 174.
33 BM, Annex 40, Vol. 2, p. 227.
34 BM, Annex 41, Vol. 2, p. 228; emphasis added.
35 BM, Annex 70, Vol. 2, p. 285, at p. 325.
36 BM, Annex 83, Vol. 3, p. 439, at p. 471.
37 See, QM, Annex III.126, Vol. 7, p. 125, at p. 131.
38 See, para. 5.19(7), below. See, also, QM, para. 8.24.
39 BM, Annex 67, Vol. 2, p. 281 - in the same letter which is cited in BM, para. 183.
40 BM, Annex 83, Vol. 3, p. 439, at p. 483.
41 Ibid.
42 See, paras. 5.11, et seq., and 5.17(1), above.
43 BM, Annex 74, Vol. 3, p. 371, at p. 397; emphasis added.
44 BM, Annex 33A, Vol. 2, p. 202a.45 BM, Annex 34, Vol. 2, p. 203.
46 BM, Annex 35, Vol. 2, p. 204 (text crossed out by Bahrain).
47 Ibid., at p. 205 (text crossed out by Bahrain).
48 BM, Annex 36, Vol. 2, p. 206, at p. 211.
49 Lorimer, op. cit., QM, Annex II.5, Vol. 3, p. 143, at p. 318.
50 See, para. 5.17(3), above.
51 See, BM, Annex 41, Vol. 2, p. 228.
52 QM, para. 8.24 and footnote 27.
53 BM, Annex 62, Vol. 2, p. 268.
54 BM, Annex 67, Vol. 2, p. 281.
55 BM, Annex 71, Vol. 3, p. 355, at p. 358. If the pearl banks were difficult of access from
Zubarah, they were surely even more difficult of access from Hawar (see, the discussion of
pearling in paras. 3.148, et seq., above).
56 BM, Annex 119, Vol. 3, p. 642.
57 See, paras. 2.9, 2.28, et seq., and 5.8, et seq., above.
58 QM, Annex III.58, Vol. 6, p. 273, at p. 281; emphasis added.
59 See, QM, para. 3.58, and para. 3.41, above.
60 BM, para. 65.
61 BM, Annex 49(a), Vol. 2, p. 245.
62 BM, Annex 66a, Vol. 2, p. 279.
63 See, QM, paras. 5.20, et seq.
64 See, paras. 5.13, et seq., above.
65 See, also, paras. 5.38, et seq., below and QM, paras. 8.47, et seq.
66 BM, para. 224.
67 BM, Annex 87, Vol. 3, p. 522, at pp. 523-524.
68 See, QM, paras. 8.29-8.30.69 BM, para. 233.
70 BM, para. 234.
71 BM, para. 187.
72 QM, Chap. VIII.
73 QM, Annex III.284, Vol. 8, p. 409.
74 BM, para. 239.
75 BM, Annex 108, Vol. 3, p. 627.
76 Ibid.
77 BM, para. 249.
78 BM, para. 242.
79 BM, para. 246.
80 Ibid.
81 BM, para. 254. Bahrain wrongly ascribes this comment to the Political Agent and omits to
make any mention of some other significant hand-written remarks on the face of this
document. It will be noticed that the document is in fact an internal minute addressed to Loch,
the British Political Agent, by one of his subordinates upon which a number of remarks are
made by Loch, two of which are as follows: "Please find a letter to Sh. 'Isa informing him that
Zubara cd. not be regarded as Bahrain territory. Issue telegram. - Initial/19.3.37." and "Please
see if a letter was not written in 1919 or 1920 after Sh. Abdullah bin 'Isa went to England and
raised the question (among others) of Zubarah. - Initial/20.3.37". Loch was clearly referring to
the Memorandum of 6 December 1919 from the Political Agent, Major Dickson, to the
Deputy Political Resident which, after an extensive study, suggested that any attempt by the
Ruler of Bahrain to revive the controversy over Zubarah "should be nipped in the bud", BM,
Annex 86, Vol. 3, p. 518.
82 BM, Annex 109, Vol. 3, p. 629.
83 BM, Annex 127, Vol. 3, p. 666 and QM, Annex III.126, Vol. 7, p. 125. See, also, paras.
5.32-5.33, below.
84 BM, para. 252.
85 QM, Annex III.126, Vol. 7, p. 125, at p. 128. See, also, BM, paras. 312, 314, 319 (where
Bahrain also records the British conclusion that the Ruler disclaimed sovereignty over
Zubarah) and 322.
86 QM, Annex III.126, Vol. 7, p. 125, at p. 132.87 See, BM, para. 272.
88 QM, paras. 8.31, et seq.
89 See, QM, Annex III.120, Vol. 7, p. 89.
90 See, para. 5.17(2), above.
91 QM, para. 8.43.
92 BM, para. 31.
93 BM, paras. 31, 287, 288.
94 See, para. 3.133, above.
95 BM, Annex 292, Vol. 5, p. 1190, at p. 1191.
96 QM, Annex III.232, Vol. 8, p. 143, at p. 147.
97 QM, Annex III.240, Vol. 8, p. 183.
98 See, para. 5.2, above.
99 QM, Annex III.261, Vol. 8, p. 295, at p. 297.
100 QM, Annex III.247, Vol. 8, p. 211, at p. 214; emphasis added.
101 QM, Annex III.248, Vol. 8, p. 215.
102 QM, Annex III.258, Vol. 8, p. 273.
103 QM, Annex III.260, Vol. 8, p. 283.
104 QM, Annex III.266, Vol. 8, p. 317, at pp. 320-321; emphasis added.
105 QM, Annex IV.118, Vol. 10, p. 83.
106 QCM, Annex III.49, Vol. 3, p. 279.
107 See, letter from the Political Resident to the British Foreign Secretary of 13 June 1957
(QM, Annex III.283, Vol. 8, p. 401, at p. 407), where the Political Resident also reported that
the present Ruler of Bahrain had admitted that he "had no... right [to exercise sovereignty]
over Zubarah" (ibid., at p. 405).
108 BM, Annex 213, Vol. 4, p. 896.
109 BM, Annex 223, Vol. 4, p. 931.
110 BM, para. 10.111 QM, Annex III.297, Vol. 8, p. 487, at p. 491.
112 BM, p. 27.
113 BM, para. 74.
114 BM, para. 75.
115 BM, Annexes 74 and 83, Vol. 3, p. 371, at p. 397 and p. 439, at pp. 492-493.
116 Lorimer, op. cit., QM, Annex II.5, Vol. 3, p. 143, at p. 247; emphasis added.
117 BM, para. 75.
118 See, paras. 3.14 and 5.19, above.
119 BM, Annex 74, Vol. 3, p. 371, at p. 397.
120 BM, para. 75.
121 Lorimer, op. cit., QM, Annex II.5, Vol. 3, p. 143, at pp. 198 and 250.
122 BM, para. 113.
123 See, para. 5.11, above.
124 See, para. 5.17(2), above.
125 BM, Annex 74, Vol. 3, p. 371, at p. 398; emphasis added.
126 Ibid., at p. 396.
127 Ibid., at p. 395; emphasis added.
128 See, paras. 5.35-5.36, above.
129 Bahrain thus implicitly acknowledges that it is prepared to give up any claim to a territory
occupied by a tribe which switches its allegiance to the Ruler of Qatar.
130 BM, Annex 74, Vol. 3, p. 371, at p. 396.
131 Ibid.
132 BM, Annex 229, Vol. 4, p. 981, at p. 983 a.
133 Ibid.
134 BM, paras. 91, et seq.135 See, also, para. 5.11, above, which provides evidence that tribes other than the Naim were
also present in the region of Zubarah.
th
136 Sir R. Jennings and Sir A. Watts, (eds.), 9 ed., Harlow, 1992, QCM, Annex III.56,
Vol. 3, p. 331.
137 I.C.J. Reports 1975, p. 42, para. 88.
138 Ibid., p. 44, para. 95.
139 Ibid., pp. 47-48, paras. 103-104.
140 I.C.J. Reports 1975, p. 68, para. 162; emphasis added.
__________
PART IV
MARITIME DELIMITATION
CHAPTER VI
GENERAL ASSESSMENT OF BAHRAIN'S POSITION
Section 1. Main points of agreement and disagreement between the Parties
A. Points of agreement between the Parties
6.1 A reading of the Bahrain Memorial shows that there is a measure of agreement between
the Parties at least on certain points.
6.2 Thus, it is agreed that the Court is requested to draw a single maritime boundary. It also
does not appear to be in dispute that in the southern sector of the area to be delimited the
Court is asked to define the respective territorial seas of the Parties and that these territorial
seas overlap1, and that in the northern sector the delimitation involves essentially a division of
continental shelves and fishing zones 2.
6.3 The Parties also seem to agree on the law to be applied to the maritime delimitation: they
both call for a decision of the Court "in accordance with international law3. Nor does there
seem to be a difference of opinion as to the relevance of the 1958 Geneva Conventions or the
1982 Convention on the Law of the Sea. Since Qatar is not a party to those Conventions, they
are relevant only to the extent that some of their provisions may be declaratory of customary
international law or have been generally accepted as customary international law 4 . The Parties
also agree that a fundamental principle of that law is the search for an equitable result. They
both consider that in order to achieve such an equitable result, the principle of equidistance
combined with special or relevant circumstances is to be applied. Furthermore, the Parties
agree that their delimitation agreements with Iran constitute a relevant circumstance for themaritime delimitation. The Parties also share the view that no third State has sovereignty or
sovereign rights over the maritime areas to be delimited 5.
6.4 The agreement between the Parties appears to stop there. As will be seen, the agreement
on the applicable law hides deep divergences on its implementation in the present case.
B. Points of disagreement between the Parties
6.5 There are indeed many points upon which the Parties are in disagreement. At this juncture
Qatar can only list a few of the more significant of these points, leaving more detailed
treatment to later sections or chapters.
6.6 There is disagreement as to the determination and selection of basepoints for the drawing
of the delimitation line. Bahrain has drawn baselines which take into account all the maritime
features which it claims are above water at low tide 6. On the contrary, Qatar's view is that in
the particular circumstances of the present case, the delimitation line has to be drawn by
taking exclusively into consideration the two main opposite coasts, without regard to the
numerous particular features existing in the area 7.
6.7 Further, while Bahrain has put forward an alternative claim to archipelagic status 8, Qatar
has shown that an archipelagic claim by Bahrain is irrelevant 9 .
6.8 The Parties also disagree on the special circumstances to be taken into account as regards
the delimitation in the southern sector. Qatar considers that one such special circumstance is
the line resulting from the British decision of 1947 10 . On the other hand, Bahrain asserts that
there are no special circumstances 11; to all intents and purposes, it remains silent over the
1947 decision as if it did not exist.
6.9 The status of Dibal and Qit'at Jaradah is a further point of disagreement between the
Parties. Bahrain, while vacillating somewhat as to whether these features are islands or low-
tide elevations, asserts that it has acquired title over them by the performance of acts of
sovereignty 12. For Qatar, on the contrary, they are low-tide elevations and their status is
therefore governed by the law of the sea 13.
6.10 The Parties also disagree about Bahrain's claims concerning the existence or relevance of
alleged historic rights over pearl banks.
6.11 In the following sub-sections Qatar will examine in greater detail some of the issues
upon which the Parties have disagreed.
Section 2. Bahrain's sovereignty argument
A. The falsity of Bahrain's argumentation concerning acquisition of rights over
maritime features
6.12 As a starting hypothesis for the maritime delimitation, the Bahrain Memorial takes the
alleged sovereignty of Bahrain over the Hawar islands, Janan island and Zubarah. However,
as has already been demonstrated, sovereignty over the Hawar islands, Janan and Zubarah lies
with Qatar and not with Bahrain. Accordingly, no claim to maritime areas can accrue to
Bahrain from land territory to which it does not have title.6.13 The basic structure of the Bahraini claim to maritime areas relies on two conflicting
premises which appear to create a circular reasoning. On the one hand Bahrain appears to live
in a fantasy world, claiming from time to time that it has sovereignty over all the sea areas
between Bahrain and Qatar (and indeed all the sea areas between Bahrain and Saudi Arabia);
the sea areas between Bahrain and Qatar are, from this point of view, a mare clausum over
which Bahrain exercises exclusive sovereignty 14 . The Court will no doubt readily accept that
any idea that the open sea, let alone the territorial sea of a neighbour State, could be under the
sovereignty of a State has been considered to be outmoded for nearly three hundred years.
6.14 On the other hand the claim of Bahrain at times takes another form, according to which
Bahraini sovereignty extends over all the islands and low-tide elevations in the maritime area
lying between the two States. Consequently, in Bahrain's view, ownership of these features
confers rights over the surrounding seas. This claim is just one example of Bahrain's
expansionist policies, which have never been accepted by any of Bahrain's neighbours 15.
6.15 The arguments presented by Bahrain in support of this second contention stem from a
false analogy between acquisition of land territory and acquisition of sovereign rights over
maritime areas 16. The rules asserted by Bahrain are taken from the law on acquisition of land
territories. These rules do not in principle apply to maritime features other than islands (and in
particular do not apply to low-tide elevations). Thus Bahrain tries to show that it has acquired
sovereignty over maritime features such as shoals by evidence of acts such as markings or the
erection of beacons or "monuments" 17; granting of oil concessions and surveys made in the
area18 ; fishing; use of pearling banks19; and acts of administration over Dibal and Qit'at
Jaradah 20 such as lighting or buoying 21.
6.16 As Qatar has already shown in its Memorial, sovereign rights over low-tide elevations
entirely depend on the law of the sea and not on the law governing acquisition of land
territory22. In its judgment of 11 September 1992, in the case concerning the Land, Island and
Maritime Frontier Dispute (El Salvador/Honduras: Nicaragua intervening), the Chamber of
the Court drew a sharp distinction between an island and a low-tide elevation, remarking
about the island of Meanguerita:
"That Meanguerita is 'capable of appropriation', to use the wording of the dispositif of the
Minquiers et Ecrehos case is undoubted; it is not a low-tide elevation, and is covered by
vegetation, although it lacks fresh water" 23 .
Furthermore, the rules governing the status and legal effect of low-tide elevations vary
according to the location of such features. The law of the sea does not permit a State to
acquire sovereignty over low-tide elevations beyond the outer limits of its territorial sea.
6.17 Even before the adoption of the Geneva Convention of 1958 on the Continental Shelf,
the British Government had recognized that position, for instance in 1937 with regard to Fasht
Jarim and other shoals of the region 24 or in 1951 during the London talks with Saudi Arabia
concerning the maritime boundary between Bahrain and Saudi Arabia 25.
6.18 As has been seen elsewhere in the present Counter-Memorial 26, the Bahrain/Saudi
Arabia agreement of 1958 is a good example of the practice followed in the Gulf. In that
agreement, all the islands and shoals that had been discussed during the negotiations were
allocated on the basis that shoals or submerged banks should belong to the State on whose
side of the median line dividing the Bahrain/Saudi Arabia sea-bed area they lay 27.6.19 In this context the decision of the British Government in 1947 to allocate sovereign
rights over the Dibal and Qit'at Jaradah shoals to Bahrain appears to have been mistaken. At
the time of the 1947 decision, Dibal and Qit'at Jaradah, being low-tide elevations, located in
an area then beyond the outer limits of the Parties' territorial seas, should have been allocated
to Qatar because they were on the Qatari side of the median line.
B. The so-called evidence of Bahraini "acts of sovereignty"
6.20 Bahrain claims that various acts are to be considered as evidence of Bahraini
sovereignty:
- erection of beacons or cairns
- activities in the area by oil companies operating in Bahrain
- aids to fishermen provided by the Bahraini Government on some fashts
- exclusive use of the fashts by Bahraini fishing boats
- navigational safety and police
1. Erection of beacons or cairns
6.21 According to the Bahrain Memorial:
"Bahrain's acts of sovereignty in relation to these maritime features have taken several forms.
In the first place, Bahraini monuments or markers have been erected on all of these maritime
features since the 1930s" 28.
Bahrain has however provided no basis for this proposition, either in fact or in law. Qatar has
already in its Memorial dealt in some detail with the significance of the erection of markers
and beacons by Bahrain 29 . In any event, the erection of markers or beacons has never been
recognised as a means of acquisition of territory; and this was recognised by British officials
at the time30.
2. Activities of oil companies operating in Bahrain
6.22 In this regard Bahrain seeks to rely on activities carried out on some shoals by private oil
companies operating in Bahrain 31. In this respect, documents in the British archives show that
structure holes were drilled between June and August 1940 by or on the orders of BAPCO.
Thus, in a letter of 20 July 1940 to the Political Resident, the Political Agent Bahrain stated:
"I understand that a local contractor is drilling a structure hole for the Bahrain Petroleum
Company on the Fisht [sic] al Jibal [sic] as part of their general exploration programme" 32.
Bahrain fails to say, however, that these activities met with strong protests from the British
authorities. The Political Resident considered that Belgrave had acted improperly in giving
BAPCO permission to drill without consulting the Political Agent. In a letter to Peel of the
India Office, dated 18 October 1941, Prior wrote:"I cannot explain why Belgrave took it upon himself to sanction drilling which he must have
realised was beyond his powers and trenching on international politics, and I have sent him an
official reprimand through Alban" 33.
6.23 After the war, BAPCO applied on 13 May l946 for permission to carry out structural
drilling at locations "E" (lying southeast of Dibal) and "F" (southeast of Qit'at Jaradah) 34, but
permission was refused 35.
6.24 Contrary to what might be inferred from Bahrain's contentions, Qatar has also been
active in the area. On 5 August 1949 Qatar awarded its first off-shore concession to
CMIC/Superior Oil Co. At the same time, in order to avoid interstate problems, the British
authorities decided to initiate a policy of safe areas. Thus in 1950, while acknowledging that
the CMIC/Superior Oil concession ended on the Bahraini side with the 1947 line, the British
Government imposed restrictions in a triangular area in the north of the concession area
(BLV - 27° N 51°20 E - territorial waters of Qatar North of Ras Rakan). To the south of that
area a rectangular zone was described where exploration. The Qatari concessionaire surveyed
the area around Dibal and Qit'at Jaradah shoals between 1950-1952.
6.25 As there was a gap between the northern end of the 1947 line (BLV) and the median line
with Iran in the Gulf, the British authorities in July 1950 authorized CMIC/Superior to survey
in the triangular area BLV - 27° N 51° E - territorial waters north of Ras Rakan.
6.26 In 1952 the same concession limits were recognized and the same safe areas imposed on
Shell Overseas Exploration Company Limited.
6.27 The same position was taken with Bahrain. BAPCO was notified in 1952 that it had to
respect the 1947 line. The same was confirmed in 1965 with BAPCO's successor, Continental
Oil Co. of Bahrain.
6.28 Since 1970 (for Superior Oil (Bahrain) Inc.) and since 1973 (for Wintershall in Qatar)
the concession agreements on both sides have adopted as operating limits the 1947 line
prolonged to the north, up to the median line in the Gulf. The same line has been respected on
both sides since then. Qatari concessionaires surveyed the whole zone of their concession (in
1973-1974). The concessionaires on both sides have respected that line in their drilling
operations.
6.29 It is therefore submitted that survey work by private oil companies operating out of
Bahrain, and even the drilling of structure holes on a low-tide elevation, particularly when
carried out in the circumstances just described, constitutes no evidence of "acts of
sovereignty" by Bahrain over Dibal and Qit'at Jaradah.
3. Aids to fishermen provided by the Bahrain Government
6.30 Bahrain also relies on alleged aids to fishermen on some fashts. Thus Bahrain invokes as
an "act of sovereignty" the building by the Bahraini Government of artesian wells on Dibal 36
and on Qit'at Jaradah 37.
6.31 This presentation of the facts is highly misleading. First, Dibal has traditionally been
known as a low-tide elevation where fishermen could find fresh underwater springs. This gift
of nature was therefore certainly not a creation of Bahrain. Second, it appears from aconfidential BAPCO memorandum dated 10 September l950 that the so-called "artesian well"
on Dibal was in fact a structure-hole bored by or on behalf of the Company for its own
purposes, which happened to strike water. It was therefore not built as an artesian well on
behalf of the Bahrain Government:
th
"This structure-hole was drilled... and the final depth of 490' was reached on August 27 ,
1940.
The hole was plugged back... with a bull plug for conversion to a water well, if required, at
the request of the Bahrain Government. I understand that the bull plug has been removed from
this well by some unauthorized person and that it is flowing a small stream of water which is
used by the local fishing dhows etc." 38.
As to the alleged artesian well on Qit'at Jaradah, there is no evidence either of an
authorisation given by the Government to drill it, or of any sign of water having either been
sought or found. The so-called Bahraini aids to fishermen were therefore provided by nature
or BAPCO, and not by the Government of Bahrain.
4. Exclusive use of fashts by Bahraini boats
6.32 This allegation is without substance. When Belgrave, by a letter to the Political Agent
Bahrain of 18 August 1941 mentioned among the diving anchorages Fasht Abu Sa'afa, Fasht
Al Jarim and Fasht al Dibal 39, Prior in a letter of 18 October l941 to Peel, of the India Office,
remarked:
"Fasht al Dibal is not in any sense peculiarly a Bahrain anchorage and is freely utilised by all
pearlers in this neighbourhood. When I was Political Agent at Bahrain [i.e. April l929 -
November l932] neither the shaikhs nor Belgrave had any idea of claiming it, or pretended
that it was theirs, and if their present claim were to be known it would certainly be
challenged" 40.
5. Navigational safety and police
6.33 A last argument concerns navigational safety 41 and police in the sea between the two
countries. Here again, Bahrain alleges that it has exercised exclusive jurisdiction as regards
these matters. This again is a false claim.
6.34 As to buoying, lighting, and marking for safety purposes, etc. this was never a special
responsibility of Bahrain. The matter was until 1949 in the hands of a special service of the
Government of India based in Basrah. After that date the British Government relinquished
responsibility for the service and passed the task to a newly formed international company
known as the Persian Gulf Lighting Service (PGLS), with a base in Bahrain. Its name was
changed in 1966 to the Middle East Navigation Aids Service (MENAS).
6.35 There is no substance whatsoever to the Bahraini allegations that the sea is under the
unchallenged authority of the Bahraini coast guards 42. Qatar would like to emphasise, first,
that such patrols are not necessarily by themselves evidence of sovereignty and, second, that
Qatari coastguard boats are also patrolling in that area.6.36 It follows from the foregoing that the various arguments used to support a claim by
Bahrain to sovereignty over shoals based on concepts relating to the acquisition of land
territory are totally unconvincing and unsound both as a matter of law and as a matter of fact.
They have no more force here than they had in relation to Saudi Arabia or elsewhere in the
Gulf.
Section 3. The Bahrain claim relating to pearling and fishing
6.37 As usual Bahrain proceeds by way of unsupported assertions which bear little or no
relation to either the facts or the law. Let us examine in turn these two sectors of activity.
A. Pearl fishing
6.38 According to the Bahrain Memorial the pearling banks "have appertained to Bahrain
since time immemorial" 43 and Bahrain has consistently exercised "jurisdiction and control
over them" 44. However, pearl fishing - like fishing for swimming fish - was traditionally a
right exercised in common by all tribes throughout the Gulf 45 .
6.39 The sea-bed proclamations issued by Gulf States did not affect traditional pearling and
fishing rights. The Bahraini sea-bed proclamation of 5 June 1949 stated that:
"Nothing in this Proclamation shall be considered to affect the character as high seas of the
waters of the Persian Gulf above the seabed and outside the limits of the territorial waters... or
the fishing and traditional pearling rights in such waters" 46 .
Similarly, the Qatari proclamation of 8 June 1949 stated that:
"Nothing in this Proclamation shall be considered to affect the character as high seas of the
waters of the Persian Gulf above the seabed and outside the limits of the territorial waters... or
the fishing and traditional pearling rights in such waters" 47 .
6.40 Conversely, when continental shelf rights for the riparian State emerged, it was clear that
alleged historic rights of third States to sedentary species would not alter the sovereign rights
of the riparian State. This is why the attempt by Bahrain to obtain a modification of the
delimitation line between itself and Saudi Arabia on account of its alleged historic pearling
rights over Fasht Bu Saafa was unsuccessful. Fasht Bu Saafa was eventually recognised as
being a part of the continental shelf appertaining to Saudi Arabia by virtue of paragraph l6 of
Article 1 of the offshore boundary agreement concluded between Bahrain and Saudi Arabia
on 22 February 1958 48.
6.41 Similarly, it will be recalled that in 1962 the British Government did not accept Bahrain's
attempt to obtain a revision of the 1947 line based on such alleged historic rights to pearling
banks 49 .
6.42 It is important to recall that there were no pearling banks in the southern sector where
Bahrain and Qatar are opposite. The pearling banks were mainly located in the northern sector
and it is mainly in that sector that Bahrain's present claim seeks further to modify, radically in
Bahrain's favour, a notional equidistance line between the two States. Bahrain's account of its
own claim is however marked by factual inaccuracies 50.6.43 The first inaccuracy concerns the location of the twelve "principal pearling banks"
claimed by Bahrain, which are listed at paragraph 647 of Bahrain's Memorial and illustrated
on Maps 9 and 10 51 . Bahrain has indicated no source for its maps, and Qatar has therefore
attempted to verify the information they contain by referring to the Persian Gulf Pilot and
various marine charts 52. However, while some banks are mentioned by the Persian Gulf Pilot
and indicated on the charts, such as Shutayah 53, Hayr Abu Ath Thamah 54, Shiquitah55 or Bu
Sa'afa56, these are shown on Bahrain's Maps 9 and 10 as not appertaining to Bahrain. On the
other hand, only one of the banks claimed by Bahrain - Fasht Naywah (Al Amari) - is
mentioned in the Persian Gulf Pilot 57 and appears on two of the marine charts 58 . In other
words, 11 out of the 12 pearling banks which are relied upon by Bahrain, for purposes of
drawing a part of the line of delimitation in the northern sector, appear to have no significance
as far as navigation and fishing are concerned, and cannot be verified on the basis of the
available documentation.
6.44 Furthermore, Bahrain's Maps 9 and 10 are puzzling in that, while "Bahrain pearling
banks" are indicated in red and "Other pearling banks" in blue, several banks indicated in
blue, such as Shutayah and Hayr Abu Ath Thama, lie to the north of Bahrain in an area
bounded by Bahrain's maritime boundaries with Saudi Arabia and Iran and by the line from N
to NSLB, BLV and 2(2B) claimed by Qatar in the northern sector. In other words, Bahrain
appears to be saying that it has no jurisdiction over such banks, despite the fact that they lie
within its own undisputed maritime area.
6.45 Qatar does not propose to enter into a detailed legal discussion here concerning the
location of the various pearling banks which are claimed by Bahrain. However, it feels
obliged to point out a glaring inconsistency in relation to the bank named Fasht Naywah (Al
Amari), which is indicated in red on Bahrain's Maps 9 and 10 and thus as appertaining to
Bahrain. This bank can clearly be of no relevance to the maritime delimitation between Qatar
and Bahrain, since it is situated well to the west of the delimitation area in the northern sector.
Indeed, it lies to the south of the continental shelf boundary established in 1968 between
Saudi Arabia and Iran 59, to the west of the maritime boundary laid down in the agreement of
22 February 1958 between Saudi Arabia and Bahrain, and to the north-east of the northern
limit of the joint petroleum development zone established under Article 2 of the same
agreement 60. In other words, the bank clearly falls within the exclusive jurisdiction of Saudi
Arabia, as is admitted by Bahrain itself in its agreement with Saudi Arabia. Such
inconsistency must surely also cast severe doubts upon the reliability of Bahrain's purported
claims to other pearling banks.
6.46 A second inaccuracy concerns the names given by Bahrain to the various pearling banks
it claims. Thus, while it may be surmised that the bank referred to by Bahrain as "Fasht
Naywah (Al Amari)" is the same bank as is shown on various charts as "Fasht an Najwah" 61,
the documentation available to Qatar does not identify by name any of the other pearling
banks claimed by Bahrain, and verification is impossible because of the lack of indication of
any source for Bahrain's maps.
6.47 Finally, a third inaccuracy concerns the shape of the pearling banks depicted on
Bahrain's Maps 9 and 10. Here again, the absence of any indication of a source for Bahrain's
maps means that proper verification is impossible. However, an inconsistency is apparent in
Bahrain's own position with respect to the bank indicated as Khrais Al Thayr, the eastern edge
of which Bahrain uses in order to determine the location of turning point S on its proposed
maritime boundary 62. Thus, if one compares Bahrain's present depiction of this bank with itsmap attached to its letters dated 2 and 10 March 1964 63, it becomes apparent that neither the
location nor the shape of the bank is the same on the two maps.
6.48 In view of these various inaccuracies relating to certain purely factual aspects of
Bahrain's presentation of the pearling banks, it is clear that all of Bahrain's evidence and
assertions in this respect must be treated with the utmost caution.
6.49 In any event, pearl fishing has progressively disappeared throughout the whole region. A
few figures are self-explanatory. In 1930, 500 Bahraini boats with 20 000 men were engaged
in the pearling industry. These figures had fallen to 11 boats and 500 men in 1954 64. The
activity was considered as moribund in 1948 65, was "rapidly declining" in Bahrain and Qatar
in 1949 66 and was defunct by 1972:
"... in recent years the competition of cultured pearls and the lure of better and easier jobs in
the oil industry have reduced this once major activity to negligible proportions. For practical
commercial purposes pearling in the Gulf must now be regarded as defunct" 67.
Bahrain itself acknowledges that
"In the 1930s, however, cultured pearls were developed in Japan and threw the Bahraini
pearling industry into a depression from which it has yet to recover. However, as late as the
1960s the industry still continued. Feasibility studies are under way in order to determine how
to revive it"68.
This is an understated way of recognizing that pearl fishing is now defunct. It is difficult to
understand how an activity which has ceased could now have any consequences on the
delimitation of the single maritime boundary between Qatar and Bahrain.
B. Swimming fish
6.50 According to the Bahrain Memorial:
"The entire area between Bahrain's main island and the Qatar coast is an area of traditional
Bahrain fishing" 69.
However, what has been said above about pearl fisheries applies in general to swimming fish.
Until very recent times, fishing has traditionally been common to all tribes in the Gulf.
6.51 The British decision of 23 December 1947 provided that the seabed delimitation did not
affect the waters above the sea-bed. This was confirmed by letters of 17 February 1948 to the
two Rulers stating that the said decision:
"... is not intended to and does not affect any fishing or other rights in the waters on either side
of the line, nor is it intended to deprive Qatar/Bahrain nationals of rights in private property
such as fish-traps which may lie in the waters on the Bahrain/Qatar side of the line nor
Qatar/Bahrain nationals of similar rights in the waters on the Bahrain/Qatar side of the
line"70.
6.52 Freedom of fishing continued to be the common practice locally until the 1970's, when
various Gulf States adopted unilateral legislation concerning fishing zones. In particular,Qatar enacted a Proclamation on 2 June 1974, concerning the rights of the State of Qatar to
the natural and marine resources of the areas adjacent to its territorial waters 71. On 3 March
1983 a further law was enacted in Qatar on exploitation and conservation of the maritime
living resources in Qatar 72. These enactments met with no protest from Bahrain.
6.53 As to the importance of actual fishing activities in the waters of the northern and
southern sectors, information is fragmentary on both sides. Bahrain puts forward figures in its
Memorial designed to show that its economy depends heavily on fishing 73. Quite apart from
the consideration that economic factors of this nature are irrelevant to a maritime delimitation,
Bahrain has not provided any evidence to demonstrate that these fishing activities constitute a
significant part of its overall economy. Similar general statistics could be provided by Qatar,
but would be equally irrelevant and could not prove more than the Bahraini figures prove 74 .
6.54 In this regard, it is worth recalling that the waters between the two States in the southern
sector are shallow and full of shoals, rocks and reefs. They are not easily accessible to large
boats. In any event, the Bahraini fishing ports are located in the north (Muharraq, Sitrah, etc.).
The Fasht al-Azm shoal constitutes a natural obstacle of reefs 75 (most of them under water at
low tide) posing a real danger for navigation towards the south. Only small fishing boats are
able to operate there.
6.55 Since 1986, a number of arrests of fishing boats have taken place in the maritime area
lying between Qatar and Bahrain, leading to protests on both sides. There have also been
many incidents since 1991 between Bahraini and Qatari coastguard boats, the Bahraini boats
trying to prevent Qatari boats from patrolling in Qatari waters. Some of these incidents have
already been notified by Qatar to the Registrar of the Court 76 .
6.56 The incidents mentioned in the previous paragraph demonstrate that the allegations of
Bahrain that the maritime area between the two States has always been an exclusive fishing
ground for Bahrain are without foundation. The disputed maritime area was used by the
fishermen of both countries without incident up to 1986. It is only since that date that Qatar
has taken a firmer stand against Bahraini infringements of its territorial waters or its fishing
zone outside territorial waters.
Section 4. The Bahraini claim to archipelagic status
6.57 At this stage of the written proceedings, Qatar must draw attention to the strange way in
which Bahrain has presented its archipelagic claim in its Memorial. Not only is the Bahraini
claim based on certain disputable assumptions, which will be dealt with in this section of the
Counter-Memorial, but the claim itself is quite irrelevant for the purpose of the delimitation of
the single maritime boundary that the Court has been asked to draw in the present case 77 .
A. The extraordinary presentation of the Bahraini claim
6.58 In its Memorial, Bahrain has chosen to develop complex and obscure reasoning in order
to sustain its ill-founded proposition that in drawing the maritime boundary, all the insular and
other maritime features in the relevant area would have to be taken into account, whatever
might be the "status" of Bahrain, either "as a continental and multiple island State", or "as a
multiple island State", or "as an archipelago", in the international legal denotation of this
term 78. As a matter of fact, according to the geographical description given in the Bahrain
Memorial, nearly all of the sea area which separates Bahrain and Qatar has for a long timebeen "a Bahraini lake" 79 and even "a protected maritime enclave" 80, a situation then
summarized by asserting "Bahrain's control over the entire maritime area between its main
island and Qatar" 81. In the view of Bahrain, it is obvious that such control over the sea area
necessarily includes Bahrain's control and rights over all the maritime features lying in that
area82 . And it is also self-evident from Bahrain's point of view that its rights over those
features generate by themselves rights over the whole of the maritime area. Carrying this
perverted logic to its conclusion, Bahrain does not hesitate to state that "[t]he area of sea to
the west of the Hawar islands, between these islands and the main Bahrain island, is
comprised of internal waters of Bahrain" 83 .
6.59 It is in such a context that the Bahraini archipelagic claim is presented as part of an
"alternative claim", together with a claim to normal baselines, on the hypothesis that the Court
were to decide that Bahrain has no sovereignty over Zubarah 84. However, curiously enough,
that so-called alternative claim relating to archipelagic baselines appears also to be part of the
Bahraini "principal claim". While the Bahraini Memorial leads up to this in a roundabout
manner, there is a first hint of it when Bahrain characterises itself as being "an insular and
archipelagic ensemble, together with the continental territory of Zubarah" 85 . But a few pages
further on, it is clearly stated:
"Even in the event that the Zubarah region was deemed to appertain to Bahrain... the concept
of an archipelagic State might still be applied to characterise the State of Bahrain" 86 .
Such a proposition is wholly incompatible with the relevant provisions of the 1982
Convention on the Law of the Sea, on which Bahrain bases its archipelagic claim. Moreover,
it contradicts what Bahrain calls the "contingency" on which its alternative claim is based and
the assumption made in that connection, namely "that Bahrain is composed wholly of
islands"87 .
B. The concept of a geographical archipelago
6.60 The traditional concept of an archipelago, in geographical terms, is that it is a group of
islands. In that respect, Qatar agrees with the idea that Bahrain has been regarded as a de facto
archipelago 88 and that "[t]he description of Bahrain as an archipelago - using that term in a
geographical sense - is long-established and well-documented" 89. However, in its Memorial,
Bahrain confines itself to drawing attention to different publications where the word
"archipelago" has been used in relation to the Bahrain islands. But, in doing so, Bahrain
refrains from mentioning the extent assigned to the "Bahrain archipelago" in those
publications. Thus, in his Gazetteer of the Persian Gulf, Lorimer not only used the term but
indicated precisely the geographical extent of the Bahrain archipelago:
"The present Shaikhdom of Bahrain consists of the archipelago formed by the Bahrain,
Muharraq, Umm Na'asan, Sitrah and Nabi Salih islands and by a number of lesser islets and
rocks which... form a compact group almost in the middle of the gulf which divides the
promontory of Qatar from the coast of Qatif..." 90.
The same list has been reproduced in more recent descriptions of the "Bahrain archipelago",
such as that given, for example, in a 1933 letter from the India Office 91 or in a Military
Report on the Arabian Shores of the Persian Gulf 92 . The latter again noted, as did Lorimer at
the beginning of this century, that the Bahrain islands as a whole form a compact group 93.6.61 It is noteworthy that none of those descriptions listed the Hawar islands as a component
of the "Bahrain archipelago". On the contrary, there is considerable documentation showing
that "Hawar Island is clearly not one of the Bahrain group" 94. Thus, in a letter sent on
9 August 1933 by the India Office to the Board of Trade, it was expressly stated that:
"Hawar... belongs in any case geographically to Qatar, and is the westernmost and largest of a
group of islands just off the Qatar coast on the west side of the entrance of Duhat-al-
Adhwan" 95.
The reason is that the Hawar islands, previously defined by Qatar as "a flanking offshore
island group" 96 characterised by its "compact nature" 97, appear as an archipelago entirely
distinct from the Bahrain island group, in fact a Qatari coastal archipelago. Therefore, from a
geographical point of view, contrary to what is said in Bahrain's Memorial 98, it is not possible
to include the Hawar islands in the "Bahrain archipelago".
6.62 Moreover, Bahrain has not provided the Court with a detailed and precise list of the
different islands comprising the "Bahrain archipelago". When characterising that archipelago
as "an intrinsic geographical entity", the Bahrain Memorial is content to enumerate "the main
Bahrain island, the immediately adjacent islands of Sitrah and Al Muharraq, approximately
50 other islands (including the Hawar Islands) and 22 low-tide elevations" 99. As has just been
demonstrated, the Hawar islands do not constitute, geographically, part of the entity known as
the Bahrain islands. And perhaps that is why Bahrain has tried to advance some muddled
arguments, mixing the geographical concept and the legal notion of an archipelago. Thus, the
Bahrain Memorial argues unconvincingly that "there does not need to be historical evidence
that the entire group was considered to be an archipelago" 100, and "(i)t could not be
expected... that in 1939 the British Government would recognise that the Hawar group of
islands formed part of the Bahrain archipelago" 101; for "in 1939 such a concept had not been
established" 102 and, prior to the 1982 Convention, "the geographical extent of a legal
archipelago was not defined" 103. Qatar would in any event submit that the inclusion of low-
tide elevations cannot be justified insofar as, geographically speaking, they are not per se to
be regarded as part of an archipelago defined as an island group 104.
6.63 From the mere fact that the Bahrain islands were generally described in the past as an
archipelago, now Bahrain seeks, by means of some incidental remarks, to give the false
impression that as early as 1947, and even 1937, it was claiming some kind of archipelagic
status105, while recognising however that: "the translation of this claim... into actual
archipelagic baselines... had to await the stage at which a clear international consensus
emerged over the whole concept of the archipelagic State" 106. And then, relying on a general
statement made by the Bahraini Representative during the second session of the Third Law of
the Sea Conference in Caracas 107, it does not hesitate to state explicitly that its claim "was
clearly expressed as early as 1974, without objection from Qatar" 108. But if one looks closely
at the Bahrain statement to which reference is being made, it will be seen that it does not
amount to the expression of a claim to archipelagic status on the part of Bahrain. In fact,
according to the summary records of the 40th plenary meeting, as printed in the Official
Records of the Conference, the relevant passage of that statement reads as follows:
"Consisting as it did of an archipelago, Bahrain supported the right of archipelagic States to
draw straight baselines which safeguarded their territorial, political, economic and national
unity and within which they might exercise their sovereignty, subject to the right of innocent
passage" 109 .That wording differed noticeably from the clear and unambiguous position taken up during
the same session of the Conference by other delegations claiming recognition of their
archipelagic status110 . It would be wrong to construe the words used by Bahrain's
representative as if the general "support" given to the notion of archipelagic status were
equivalent to a claim of such status by Bahrain itself. Furthermore, when the item
"Archipelagoes" was later discussed in the Second Committee of the Conference, on 12 and
13 August 1974, Bahrain did not make any further official statement. It is also noteworthy
that there was not a single word about any archipelagic claim by Bahrain in the statement
made by Dr. Al-Baharna on 8 December 1982 at the final session of the Conference held at
Montego Bay, Jamaica 111.
6.64 Whatever might be Bahrain's possible legal entitlement to claim archipelagic status or to
draw archipelagic baselines after it ratified the 1982 Convention in May 1985 and since the
entry into force of the Convention in November 1994, the fact remains that no formal claim
was presented by Bahrain prior to the filing of its Memorial in the present case on 30
September 1996. In its Memorial, Bahrain acknowledges that its claim to archipelagic status
has been delayed until the filing of the first written pleadings, allegedly "because of Bahrain's
commitment under the principles of mediation of 1982-83 'not to change the current situation
in respect of the disputed issue'"112. But as will now be seen, Qatar submits that such a claim
is irrelevant and that the Court should take no account of it in the present case.
C. Irrelevance of any Bahraini archipelagic claim for the present maritime delimitation
6.65 First of all, it must be underlined that Qatar and Bahrain agree on the law applicable to
the maritime delimitation in the present case, which is to be effected in accordance with
customary international law 113 . They also agree that, notwithstanding the fact that the 1958
and 1982 Conventions are not in force between them, the delimitation rules embodied in those
Conventions generally reflect the state of customary international law and are therefore
applicable to the present case. In addition, Bahrain assumes that the provisions contained in
Part IV of the 1982 Convention, dealing with archipelagic States, "can properly be said to
reflect the current, generally accepted rules of international law on the matter" 114. Insofar as
"generally accepted rules of international law" may be regarded as amounting to "rules of
customary international law", Qatar disagrees. The rules enunciated in the provisions of
Part IV of the Convention cannot be considered to be an expression of present-day customary
international law. Accordingly, Bahrain cannot invoke them in the present case. The
consequence is that any Bahraini archipelagic claim based on those rules is irrelevant in
relation to the present case between Qatar and Bahrain.
D. Irrelevance of archipelagic baselines in State practice
6.66 In maritime delimitation agreements involving archipelagic States, it seems that it has
only been on a very few occasions that the agreed boundary has been affected by straight
archipelagic baselines. From this point of view, a distinction has to be made, depending on
whether the delimitation has taken place between two archipelagic States or between an
archipelagic State and another coastal State.
6.67 In the first situation, the boundary line has been drawn with some effect given to
archipelagic baselines. But there are only two agreements of this type: one concluded on
13 December 1980 between Indonesia and Papua New Guinea, where some basepoints on the
respective archipelagic baselines affected the lateral delimitation line115 ; the other one signedon 25 January 1989 between Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands, where the
boundary line was drawn by taking into account most of the segments of the archipelagic
baselines 116. Although it does not involve two archipelagic States, the agreement signed on
19 January 1983 between Fiji and France may be compared with the two previous
agreements, insofar as it affects two French overseas territories (New Caledonia, Wallis and
Futuna) formed by geographical archipelagoes. One segment of the boundary line dividing the
respective exclusive economic zones of Fiji and the French Wallis and Futuna islands seems
to have been slightly affected by one of Fiji's archipelagic baselines 117.
6.68 The situation appears to be quite different when the delimitation involves an archipelagic
State and another coastal State (or States). The archipelagic baselines drawn by the former
have, as a matter of consistent State practice, played no part in determining the location of the
maritime boundary with the latter. This was the case in the following delimitation agreements:
- Australia-Indonesia, 18 May 1971 118, 9 October 1972 119 , and 12 February 1973 120;
- Australia-Papua New Guinea, 18 December 1978 121 ;
- India-Indonesia, 8 August 1974 122;
- India-Indonesia-Thailand, 22 June 1978 123;
- Indonesia-Malaysia-Thailand, 21 December 1971 124 ;
- Indonesia-Thailand, 17 December 1971 125 .
The agreement stipulating the territorial sea boundary lines between Indonesia and the
Republic of Singapore in the Strait of Singapore, signed on 25 May 1973, is of particular
relevance here, for the archipelagic baselines of Indonesia were not given full consideration in
drawing the boundary. They were even disregarded in determining a portion of the maritime
boundary, with one turning point being located within the Indonesian archipelagic baseline, so
that a small area of Singapore's territorial waters cuts into Indonesia's straight archipelagic
baselines 126.
6.69 These elements of State practice demonstrate the existence of a trend according to which,
in a maritime delimitation involving an archipelagic State and another coastal State, no effect
is given to archipelagic baselines in the drawing of the boundary line. Such a trend is
apparently broadly accepted by the different archipelagic States which have entered into
delimitation agreements. This is a factor that would have to be taken into account in the
present case, if it were admitted, contrary to Qatar's submission, that Bahrain would be
entitled to claim archipelagic baselines. For this reason also, Qatar submits that archipelagic
baselines are irrelevant for the purpose of drawing the Qatar-Bahrain maritime boundary 127.
6.70 In any event, in Qatar's view Bahrain does not meet the requirements set out in the 1982
Convention on the Law of the Sea, and is thus precluded from validly claiming archipelagic
baselines. However, the irrelevance of the Bahraini archipelagic claim, as demonstrated
above, renders it unnecessary to examine that claim.
Section 5. The division of the relevant maritime area into two sectors A. The artificial character of the Bahraini dividing line between the two sectors
6.71 Both Parties agree on the necessary division of the maritime area relevant to the
delimitation into two sectors, and they both identify a southern sector and a northern sector.
But their agreement does not go beyond the recognition of such a necessary division, since
they have proposed different dividing lines. The line between the two sectors as suggested by
Bahrain is highly artificial insofar as it does not reflect the actual coastal geography of the
area, while that consideration is fully reflected in the dividing line suggested by Qatar.
6.72 Quite surprisingly, the Bahrain Memorial restricts itself to stating that the line dividing
the area into a southern sector and a northern sector is "a line from Fasht ad Dibal to Ra's
Rakan (on the northern point of Qatar)" 128 . No explanation is given for the choice of that line.
Furthermore, as will be seen below, the line suggested by Bahrain does not reflect the
geographical realities in the relevant maritime area 129.
1. The distortion by Bahrain of the geographical relationship between the two States
6.73 Bahrain's distinction between the two sectors does not really start with the geographical
configuration of the area, but is based on the different legal nature of the zones to be
delimited 130. Qatar's submission is that the difference between the legal nature of the
maritime zones to be delimited cannot really be the sole (or even primary) criterion for a
division of the maritime area into two sectors. Firstly, as admitted by Bahrain itself, in a part
of the northern sector, the boundary to be defined is also a territorial sea boundary as in the
entire southern sector 131. Secondly, the task of the Court in the present case is to draw "a
single maritime boundary between the maritime areas of seabed, subsoil and superjacent
waters appertaining respectively to the State of Qatar and the State of Bahrain" 132, whatever
may be the legal nature of the respective maritime areas thus delimited.
6.74 In previous maritime delimitation cases when the Court, or an international tribunal, has
had to divide the relevant area into different sectors, this has always been done on the basis of
purely geographical considerations. Suffice it to mention here the cases concerning the
Continental Shelf (Tunisia/Libyan Arab Jamahiriya) 133 and the Delimitation of the Maritime
Boundary in the Gulf of Maine Area 134, or the United Kingdom-France arbitration on the
Delimitation of the Continental Shelf 135 . This is why Qatar has insisted, in its Memorial, on
the geographical circumstances upon which it has based the division of the area into two
sectors136 .
6.75 It is only when examining the characteristics of the southern sector that Bahrain's
Memorial enters, quite incidentally, into a brief and partly inaccurate description of the
geographical relationship between the respective coasts of the two countries. It states, except
with regard to the maritime area lying off the so-called "Zubarah coast" (resulting from
Bahrain's extravagant claim over that region) that:
"the Court's task is to carry out a delimitation between opposite coasts which are practically
parallel, whether one considers the coast of Qatar vis-à-vis that of the main Bahrain island, or
... vis-à-vis that of the insular and other legally relevant maritime features which appertain to
Bahrain" 137.
6.76 However, Bahrain does not rely on the coast of any of its islands in order to establish the
closing line of the southern sector. Instead, it uses a non-coastal feature, namely the low-tideelevation of Dibal, which moreover is one of the subject-matters in dispute between the two
States that has been submitted to the Court in this case. It seems therefore quite illogical to
use it, at the very first stage of the identification of the relevant maritime area, to divide that
area into two distinct sectors. Furthermore, Dibal, being a low-tide elevation separated from
Bahrain's main coast, cannot properly be considered as representing the Bahraini coast facing
Qatar's coast 138.
6.77 Those remarks also apply, to some extent, to the other terminal point of Bahrain's closing
line, which is presented by Bahrain as "the northern point" or "the northern extremity" of
Qatar 139. That point is not situated on the actual coast of the Qatar peninsula but, from the
different maps attached to the Bahrain Memorial, it appears to be located offshore, about
5 kilometres beyond the coastline, and presumably at the northernmost point on the low-water
line of Ras Rakan islet 140 .
6.78 The Bahraini presentation of the closing line accordingly distorts the geographical
situation, insofar as it does not really reflect the geographical relationship of opposition
between the relevant coasts of the two States. And the line suggested by Bahrain for that
purpose appears all the more artificial in that it has been drawn on the false presupposition
that Dibal forms an integral part of the relevant coast of Bahrain 141.
2. The treatment of what Bahrain terms "insular and other legally relevant maritime
features"
6.79 In its Memorial, Bahrain has constantly made use of the expression "insular and other
legally relevant maritime features" 142 , with the exception of two slight variants which are
used twice over 143. But it has never given a precise definition of the so-called "legally
relevant maritime features". It merely provides an indication of what might be meant by that
phrase when, on one occasion, it refers to "islands and other maritime features to which
international law assigns relevance in maritime boundary delimitation" 144. Undoubtedly, for
Bahrain, this was a convenient means to an end, i.e. it was designed to substitute different
remote islets, rocks, reefs or shoals for the actual coast of Bahrain itself. The basic reason for
this lies in the Bahraini view according to which the whole of the sea area between Bahrain
and the Qatar peninsula is simply a "Bahraini lake" 145. Two distinct lines of argument are
followed to support the Bahraini position.
6.80 The first one consists in reducing to an absolute minimum the significance of the Qatari
coast opposite that of Bahrain in the maritime delimitation. While Bahrain claims that it "does
not contest Qatar's right to a territorial sea and does not claim the entire area of sea as far as
the coast of Qatar" 146, the Bahraini demonstration in reality amounts to just such a claim. As
a matter of fact, arguing that "Only a negligible proportion of the population of Qatar lives on
the west coast" 147, Bahrain goes on to state:
"Qatar as a whole is left with open access to the high seas by virtue of its extensive east-
facing coastline, along which virtually its entire population lives" 148.
It must be emphasised that Bahrain seems simply to forget that what matters in the law of
maritime delimitation is the coast itself, whatever the size of the population on the land
behind that coast might be. The question of whether the land is sparsely or densely populated
is of no relevance for the purposes of a maritime delimitation, particularly as between
opposite coasts, as most recently illustrated for example in the case concerning MaritimeDelimitation in the Area between Greenland and Jan Mayen 149. In fact what Bahrain is
suggesting would have the consequence of ignoring more or less the western coast of Qatar
because of its sparse population, while failing to mention that Bahrain's eastern coast is
similarly sparsely populated.
6.81 If the western coast of Qatar were ignored in this way, this would of course leave open
the way to Bahrain's second line of argument, according to which the relevant coastline of
Bahrain would in effect consist of an imaginary line drawn though several "insular and other
legally relevant maritime features".
a) Features recognised as being low-tide elevations are not the relevant Bahraini coast
6.82 As clearly shown on Map 14 annexed to Bahrain's Memorial, apart from the Hawar
islands over which Bahrain is claiming sovereignty, five features are deemed to represent part
of the coast of Bahrain 150 . Four of these features are expressly recognised by Bahrain as
being low-tide elevations. This in itself would normally preclude Bahrain from arguing that
these features constitute part of the Bahraini coast opposite Qatar's coast. The fifth feature,
Qit'at Jaradah, is presented by Bahrain as being an island, while in fact it is also just a low-
tide elevation.
6.83 Qatar takes note of Bahrain's admission that Dibal, together with Qit'at ash Shajarah,
Qita'a el Erge and Fasht Bu Thur, are maritime features falling into the legal category of low-
tide elevations, as defined by Article 11 of the 1958 Convention on the Territorial Sea and
Article 13 of the 1982 Convention on the Law of the Sea 151. Furthermore Qatar notes that, at
the same time, Bahrain rightly recognises Qit'at ash Shajarah as distinct from Fasht al Azm
which forms a quite different feature 152 , while maps appended to Bahrain's Memorial show
no discontinuity between those two features 153, contrary to official Bahraini nautical
charts154 .
6.84 All those features are distinctly detached from the eastern coast of Bahrain, as the maps
presented to the Court by both States show 155. Of course, they are not located at a great
distance from the Bahraini coast, nor are they at a great distance from the Qatari coast. In fact,
one has to take into account the narrowness of the sea area between Bahrain and the Qatar
peninsula, because it is rather a question of proportion, and not of absolute distance. From that
point of view, they are surely not features closely integrated with the main Bahraini coast 156.
6.85 Concerning more particularly the low-tide elevation of Dibal, as already stated above 157,
that feature cannot be considered as the northernmost point of Bahrain's coast, of which it is
not a part158. Moreover, it is closer to the shore of Qatar than to the shore of Bahrain 159.
Consequently, by taking account of Dibal to draw a line for dividing into two sectors the
relevant maritime area, as if that shoal were the northern tip of Bahrain's territory opposite the
coast of Qatar, Bahrain has falsely presented the geographical, hydrographical and legal
reality in that area.
b) Qit'at Jaradah is a low-tide elevation
6.86 While not directly related to the question of the division of the relevant maritime area
into two sectors, it is convenient at this stage to make some observations on Bahrain's
treatment of Qit'at Jaradah. According to the Bahrain Memorial, "[t]he status of Qit'at Jaradahmerits special attention" 160. Qatar endorses this view, the more so as Bahrain's presentation is
inaccurate and renders it necessary to rectify certain distortions.
6.87 Contrary to the true facts, Bahrain contends that Qit'at Jaradah is a maritime feature
which is "above water at high tide" 161. Bahrain states that this feature is to "be treated as an
island for the purposes of determining the single maritime boundary" 162 , because: (i) it had
become an island some years ago as a result of natural accretion; (ii) it would still be an island
today if Qatar had not intervened in 1986; and (iii) it is in the process of becoming an island
again by means of an inexorable natural accretion. Bahrain even goes so far as to assert that in
1986 "Qatari bulldozers removed that part of Qit'at Jaradah which was exposed at high
tide"163. It is necessary for Qatar to set the record straight.
6.88 It must first be recalled that an agreement was reached in 1978 to preserve the status quo
in the area pending the Saudi Arabian mediation. That agreement was recorded again, when
Qatar and Bahrain undertook to freeze the situation and to avoid any action that might
escalate the dispute, in a Gulf Cooperation Council ("GCC") resolution of 8 March 1982 164.
The 1983 agreed principles of the framework for a settlement reiterated the status quo
commitment, and the two States undertook to refrain from acting in any way that would
strengthen or weaken the legal position of either of them 165.
6.89 However, on 24 October 1985, the Bahrain Defence Force entered into a contract with
the Dutch firm Ballast Nedam Groep N.V. in order to reclaim two "islands" and provide them
with a seawall and facilities 166. On 16 February 1986, the Amir of Qatar complained to the
King of Saudi Arabia about encroachments performed by Bahrain on the status quo: "In
Jaradah, Bahrain put a lighthouse, and a pontoon near it to be used... for the purpose of coast
guarding" 167. On 29 April 1986, a further Qatari communication complained that:
"... Bahrain has built a lighthouse on Jarada, and alongside it has placed a pontoon used by the
people who are there for the purpose of guarding the coast.
With regard to Dibal Shoal, Bahrain has contracted with a foreign company to turn it into an
artificial island to make it into a Bahrain coastguard station" 168.
Those acts provoked a military intervention by Qatar on 26 April 1986, in order to restore the
status quo.
6.90 In the course of the negotiations for a pacific settlement which ensued, in a letter dated
14 May to the Amir of Qatar, the King of Saudi Arabia made the following proposals:
"... One: Removal of the floating mooring in Jaradah shoal to its previous location and
removal of all installations set up in the area after the landing of Qatari troops in Dibal shoal.
...
Three: The company executing the filling-in works in Dibal shoal, or any other selected
company, shall completely remove all works executed there so that the shoal returns to its
previous state. This should be carried out under the supervision of the commission comprising
Saudi Arabia and the Secretariat of the Cooperation Council and with the participation of
observers from council countries, i.e. the Sultanate of Oman, United Arab Emirates and the
State of Kuwait 169".6.91 The conditions of the removal operations were carefully considered and agreed within
the framework of GCC procedures. The programme of work provided inter alia that the
contracting company had to take over the sites in Dibal and Qit'at Jaradah and ensure
demolition and removal of the works constructed 170. The task assigned to the company was to
restore the status quo. Thus, the effect of the Qatari action was to forestall the attempts by
Bahrain artificially to transform those two low-tide elevations into islands. Accordingly, the
charge in the Bahrain Memorial that, in 1986, Qatari bulldozers removed that part of Qit'at
Jaradah which was exposed at high tide is a complete fabrication and gross distortion of the
truth. In point of fact, no Qatari bulldozers came on to the shoal. As Qatar has demonstrated,
the reversion to the status quo was effected as an international operation under the supervision
of the Gulf Cooperation Council.
6.92 As Qatar has amply demonstrated in its Memorial 171, Qit'at Jaradah was in the past and
still is a low-tide elevation. It may be added that descriptions of Qit'at Jaradah whether in a
geographical context or as a navigational aid have never depicted this feature as above water
at high tide. For example, the list of features in the Persian Gulf prepared for Aramco by
Hudson and Young on 5 January 1950 (when, according to Bahrain, the accretion process had
already sufficiently begun) is revealing. Hudson and Young described Qit'at Jaradah as a
"reef, ... a sandbar on the southeastern side of the reef rises seven feet above the water at low
tide"172. Indeed, even Bahrain admits that "for some periods prior to 1947" Qit'at Jaradah was
a low-tide elevation 173.
B. The reasons for the choice of the notional line joining points MQ and RK as defined
by Qatar
6.93 Having demonstrated the artificial character of the Bahraini line dividing the northern
sector from the southern sector, Qatar will now explain the reasons for preferring the dividing
line which it proposes 174. In order to divide the relevant maritime area, one has to start with
the geographical situation. As recalled by the Chamber of the Court formed to deal with the
case concerning Delimitation of the Maritime Boundary in the Gulf of Maine Area, "the facts
of geography are not the product of human action amenable to positive or negative judgment,
but the result of natural phenomena, so that they can only be taken as they are" 175. And it
cannot be contested that, in the field of maritime delimitation, the primacy of geographical
considerations relates to coastal geography, i.e. the physical characteristics of the coastal
front, involved in the delimitation process. Due to the situation prevailing in the present case,
where the relevant maritime area is at least in the south comprised between the opposite
coasts of the two States, it is important to rely strictly on the actual coast of each of them; and
to identify the point on each coast beyond which the maritime area no longer lies between
opposite coasts.
1. The actual coast of the two States
6.94 As the previous cases decided by the Court clearly demonstrate, coastal geography is
regarded as "the leading factor in maritime delimitation" 176 , and coastal fronts and the
physical configuration of coasts are the dominant parameters in this respect 177. In particular
the word "coast" has been defined by a Working Group of the International Hydrographic
Organisation dealing with the technical aspects of the law of the sea as follows:
"The sea-shore. The narrow strip of land in immediate contact with any body of water
including the area between high and low water lines" 178.6.95 From a technical point of view, the coast is thus the shore or the littoral, and it includes
that part of the shore (foreshore, or middle shore, or strand) which is submerged at high-tide
and exposed at low-tide. Consequently, there is properly speaking no shore on a maritime
feature which qualifies as a low-tide elevation, and a low-tide elevation therefore is not part of
the coast. That is why, in Qatar's submission, only the mainland coasts are of any relevance,
in other words: Qatar's western coast and Bahrain's eastern coast.
2. The northernmost points of the two opposite coasts
6.96 The map of the general area of the dispute 179 clearly shows that only one part of the
relevant maritime area lies between the opposite coasts of the Parties. That part of the
maritime area, which has been called the southern sector, may be identified by drawing a
notional line between two points which are located on the respective coasts of the two States,
and which constitute the ultimate reach of their respective mainland territories into the
Arabian Gulf, i.e. the northernmost point on each coast.
a) The northernmost point of the coast of Qatar
6.97 The northernmost point of the coast of Qatar has been designated in Qatar's Memorial as
point RK, and is defined by its geographical coordinates: 51°15'02"E, and 26°09'25"N 180. It
constitutes the final point on the Qatari coast that faces both the opposite Bahraini coast and
the maritime area to be delimited. From that point there is a change in the direction of the
coast of the Qatar peninsula, since beyond point RK that coast begins to run in a southeasterly
direction and therefore no longer has any relationship either with the Bahraini coast or with
the maritime area relevant to the delimitation in this case.
6.98 Point RK, chosen by Qatar as one of the two relevant points for the drawing of the
dividing line between the southern and the northern sectors, is situated on the high-water line
of the coast of Qatar's mainland, of which it really represents the northern extremity. That
choice has been made having regard to the necessity of relying strictly on the actual coast 181
and, as already explained in Qatar's Memorial, out of a desire to be consistent with Qatar's
position in the present case, that no account should be taken of islets, rocks and low-tide
elevations 182. Thus, in Qatar's view, and contrary to what has seemingly been Bahrain's
choice, the low-water line on Ras Rakan islet cannot be regarded as representing the northern
tip of the Qatar peninsula and as a relevant point for that purpose 183 .
b) The northernmost point of the coast of Bahrain
6.99 The northernmost point of the coast of Bahrain, designated by Qatar as point MQ, is
likewise defined by its geographical coordinates: 50°37'54"E, and 26°17'15"N 184 . It is located
at the northern edge of Muharraq island, where there is a change in the direction of the
Bahraini coast. From that point, the coast begins to run in a south-southwesterly direction, and
thus no longer has any geographical relationship with the Qatari coast for delimitation
purposes. It must also be recalled that the coast of Muharraq is to be regarded as part of the
main Bahraini coast insofar as Muharraq itself may be considered as part of the main Bahrain
island and as forming with it one and the same territory, being connected to it by a
causeway 185 . It must also be added that, like point RK on Qatar's coast, point MQ is situated
on the high-water line 186 .6.100 The location of point MQ, situated almost 8 minutes of latitude further north than the
most northerly point of Qatar's mainland, involves a slightly further extension northwards of
the Bahraini coast. While this could legitimately appear as insignificant in absolute terms, in
the present case it is not totally unimportant, due to the relatively short distance between
points MQ and RK and the relative narrowness of the maritime area in that region. As a result
of this dissimilarity between the two coasts, the projection of the Bahraini coastal front
towards the middle of the Gulf tends, in fact, to encroach upon the maritime area situated to
seaward of the Qatari facing coast in that region, a situation which is reminiscent, to some
extent, of what the Anglo-French Court of Arbitration was faced with in 1977 as regards the
Atlantic region of the arbitration area 187.
3. The resulting line dividing the relevant maritime area into two sectors
6.101 The notional line (MQ-RK) joining the northern points of the two facing coasts may be
regarded as the closing line of the area where Qatar and Bahrain have opposite coasts, as
shown on Map 17 facing page 266 of Qatar's Memorial 188. Up to that line, the relevant
maritime area in the southern sector is confined to a relatively narrow channel between the
two opposite coasts. Beyond that line, in the northern sector, the relevant maritime area
extends seawards from the coasts of the two countries into the open spaces of the Arabian
Gulf and lies off, rather than between, those coasts 189.
C. The southern and the northern limits of the relevant maritime area and existing
delimitations with third States
1. The agreed northern limit resulting from delimitation agreements with Iran
6.102 Both Parties agree on the relevance of the agreements signed by Qatar and Bahrain with
Iran in 1969 and 1971, respectively, concerning the delimitation of the continental shelf, and
they both consider it necessary to take those delimitation agreements into consideration 190.
Although, as will be seen in the last Chapter of the present Counter-Memorial, there may be
some difference in the consequences drawn by the Parties from these existing agreements 191 ,
this does not undermine their shared perception that the lines delimited in these agreements
define the northern limit of the maritime area to be delimited in the present case.
2. Inconsistency in the Bahraini treatment of delimitation with Saudi Arabia in the south
6.103 The Bahrain Memorial however shows some inconsistency in its treatment of
delimitation with third States. While it recognises that, in the northern sector, the delimitation
between Qatar and Bahrain is to be effected "in the context of the existing agreements"
concluded with Iran by each of the Parties 192, and that the existence of those agreements
constitutes a "special circumstance" 193 , it considers that the 1958 delimitation agreement
between Saudi Arabia and Bahrain is "irrelevant" for the drawing of the Qatar-Bahrain
maritime boundary in the southern sector 194. This is all the more surprising given that the
same reason is put forward in order to support the relevance of the former delimitations and
the irrelevance of the latter. On both occasions, Bahrain relies on one and the same argument
to reach entirely different conclusions. Thus, as regards the Qatar/Iran and Iran/Bahrain
agreements, after having said that "[n]either of those agreements purports to determine a
single Bahrain/Iran/Qatar tripoint", the Bahrain Memorial goes on to state: "Nevertheless, the
provisions of these agreements are obviously relevant to the delimitation of the maritime
boundary in the northern sector" 195 . On the contrary, concerning the Bahrain/Saudi Arabiaagreement, it is said that point 1 defined by that agreement is irrelevant, because "it was never
intended to be a Bahrain/Qatar/Saudi Arabia tripoint" 196. Therefore, according to Bahrain,
"the southernmost point of the maritime boundary cannot be defined precisely at this time",
and the last segment of the suggested boundary line, in the case of Bahrain's alternative claim,
as in that of its principal claim, is depicted by "an arrow indicating a directional bearing197.
6.104 If, as Bahrain acknowledges, the delimitations arrived at with Iran are to be taken into
consideration in the north, there appears to be no reason for regarding the delimitation
between Bahrain and Saudi Arabia in the south as irrelevant. As a matter of fact, in any
maritime delimitation between two States, existing delimitation agreements concluded by one
or both of them with third States have generally been considered as relevant factors or
circumstances. This is so especially when the pre-existing dividing lines abut on the area
where the delimitation is to be effected between the two States.
6.105 As was stated in Qatar's Memorial, at the entrance of the Dawhat Salwah, taking
account of the delimitation agreement between Saudi Arabia and Bahrain, the Saudi Arabian
maritime zone does not extend to the north of point 1 defined in that agreement and referred
to as point S1 by Qatar 198. On the other hand, on the assumption that Qatar has sovereignty
over the island of Janan and the Hawar islands, the maritime zone pertaining to Bahrain
cannot extend to the east of point S1. As a result, that point S1 may be regarded as
representing both the southern limit of the relevant maritime area and the starting or the
terminal point of the maritime boundary to be drawn by the Court in the present case 199.
PART IV MARITIME DELIMITATION 187
CHAPTER VI GENERAL ASSESSMENT OF BAHRAIN'S POSITION 187
Section 1. Main points of agreement and disagreement between the Parties 187
A. Points of agreement between the Parties 187
B. Points of disagreement between the Parties 188
Section 2. Bahrain's sovereignty argument 189
A. The falsity of Bahrain's argumentation concerning acquisition of rights over
maritime features 189
B. The so-called evidence of Bahraini "acts of sovereignty" 192
1. Erection of beacons or cairns 193
2. Activities of oil companies operating in Bahrain 193
3. Aids to fishermen provided by the Bahrain Government 195
4. Exclusive use of fashts by Bahraini boats 196
5. Navigational safety and police 198Section 3. The Bahrain claim relating to pearling and fishing 198
A. Pearl fishing 198
B. Swimming fish 203
Section 4. The Bahraini claim to archipelagic status 205
A. The extraordinary presentation of the Bahraini claim 205
B. The concept of a geographical archipelago 208
C. Irrelevance of any Bahraini archipelagic claim for the present maritime
delimitation 213
D. Irrelevance of archipelagic baselines in State practice 213
Section 5. The division of the relevant maritime area into two sectors 217
A. The artificial character of the Bahraini dividing line between the two sectors
217
1. The distortion by Bahrain of the geographical relationship between the two
States 218
2. The treatment of what Bahrain terms "insular and other legally relevant
maritime features" 221
a) Features recognised as being low-tide elevations are not the relevant
Bahraini coast 223
b) Qit'at Jaradah is a low-tide elevation 224
B. The reasons for the choice of the notional line joining points MQ and RK as
defined by Qatar 227
1. The actual coast of the two States 227
2. The northernmost points of the two opposite coasts 228
a) The northernmost point of the coast of Qatar 228
b) The northernmost point of the coast of Bahrain 230
3. The resulting line dividing the relevant maritime area into two sectors 230
C. The southern and the northern limits of the relevant maritime area and
existing delimitations with third States 231 1. The agreed northern limit resulting from delimitation agreements with Iran
231
2. Inconsistency in the Bahraini treatment of delimitation with Saudi Arabia in
the south 231
1 QM, paras. 11.11, et seq.; BM, para. 589. In this regard Qatar is pleased to note Bahrain's
acknowledgement that Qatar is entitled to a territorial sea!
2 BM, paras. 559-560.
3 BM, para. 561; QM, inter alia, para. 10.59.
4 BM, para. 563 and QM, para. 12.13.
5 BM, para. 562.
6 BM, paras. 619, et seq.
7 See, QM, para. 11.37 and paras. 7.24, et seq., below.
8 BM, paras. 660, et seq.
9 See, QM, paras. 11.43, et seq., and paras. 6.65, et seq., below.
10 QM, paras. 11.19, et seq.
11 BM, para. 631.
12 BM, paras. 568, et seq.
13 QM, paras. 10.53, et seq. See, also, paras. 6.82, et seq., below.
14 See, QM, paras. 10.27, et seq., and QCM, Appendix 2, Vol. 5, p. 145.
15 See, paras. 2.64, et seq., above, and QCM, Appendix 2, Vol. 5, p. 145.
16 BM, paras. 600 and 603 and Bahrain's formal submissions at BM, p. 301.
17 BM, paras. 575 and 582-583.
18 BM, para. 576.
19 BM, paras. 588 and 639, et seq.
20 BM, paras. 577, et seq., and 590, et seq.
21 BM, para. 579.
22 QM, paras. 10.59, et seq.23 I.C.J. Reports 1992, p. 570, para. 356; emphasis added.
24 Seal (Admiralty, Military Branch), in a letter to Clauson (India Office), of 29 April 1937,
impliedly suggested that sovereignty over Fasht al Jarim, Dibal and other fashts of the region
(also called rocks or islands) should in general be attributed according to proximity. See, QM,
Annex IV.35, Vol. 9, p. 161.
25 Fry, (Foreign Office), dealing with the case of Fasht al Jarim wrote to Sir Rupert Hay on
3 April 1951 as follows: "We do not trace any claim to Fasht-al-Jarim... ever having been
made by Ibn Saud and presume therefore that it is acknowledged to belong to Bahrain; as it
will fall on the Bahrain side of the sea-bed boundary which we intend to propose, we have
omitted it from our list". See, QM, Annex IV.191, Vol. 10, p. 465.
26 See, paras. 2.64, et seq., above, and QCM, Appendix 2, Vol. 5, p. 145.
27 See, QM, Annex IV.216, Vol. 11, p. 235. See, also, QM, Annex IV.162, Vol. 10, p. 311:
th
"We are glad to see from your letter EA 1276/1 of the 27 January, to Sir R. Hay that you
contemplate that, where there is no clear cut title to any island it will go to the State in whose
sea-bed it is situated". See, also, QM, Annex IV.192, Vol. 10, p. 469: "... the Rennie and Bu
Sa'afah shoals... are not, to the best of my belief, strictly speaking shoals at all, in that they are
never exposed at any state of the tide though they both have lights or some sort of marker on
them. Their ownership should, in my opinion, be based on any decision which may be
reached regarding the position of the sea-bed boundary. On the other hand, if these two shoals
are taken into account in the forthcoming negotiations, we shall also probably have to take
into consideration other similar shoals such as Ashira and Bu Athama".
28 BM, para. 575.
29 See, QM, paras. 6.41, et seq.
30 See, QM, paras. 6.101, et seq.
31 BM, paras. 576 and 587.
32 See, QM, Annex IV.65, Vol. 9, p. 319. Some more details about these structure holes were
revealed by a confidential BAPCO memorandum dated 10 September 1950 (see, QM, Annex
IV.176, Vol. 10, p. 379).
33 QM, Annex IV.69, Vol. 9, p. 335.
34 See, QM, Annex IV.77, Vol. 9, p. 373.
35 See, QM, Annexes IV.58, IV.71 and IV.85, Vol. 9, pp. 283, 345 and p. 405.
36 BM, para. 577.
37 BM, para. 584.
38 QM, Annex IV.176, Vol. 10, p. 379.39 QM, Annex IV.68, Vol. 9, p. 331.
40 QM, Annex IV.69, Vol. 9, p. 335.
41 BM, para. 587.
42 BM, paras. 598-599.
43 BM, para. 638.
44 BM, paras. 643, et seq.
45 See, QM, paras. 10.38, et seq., and QM, Appendix 4, Vol. 15, p. 111.
46 See, QM, Annex IV.138, Vol. 10, p. 203.
47 See, QM, Annex IV.139, Vol. 10, p. 207.
48 See, QM, Annex IV.216, Vol. 11, p. 235. See, also, QCM, Appendix 2, Vol. 5, p. 145.
49 See, QM, paras. 10.34, et seq., and para. 8.85, below.
50 For ease of comprehension of the following discussion, Qatar has prepared a map showing
Bahrain's location of the principal pearling banks (Map No. 3, facing this page).
51 BM, Vol. 7.
52 British marine charts 2837 and 2847 (scale 1:750 000), 3790 (scale 1:150 000), 3788 (scale
1:150 000) and 2886 (scale 1:350 000); French marine chart 6635D (scale 1:415 000). A copy
of British charts 3790 and 3788 is being deposited with the Registry of the Court in
accordance with Article 50, paragraph 2 of the Rules of Court. A copy of British chart 2886
and French chart 6635D was deposited with the Registry of the Court at the time of the filing
of Qatar's Memorial.
53 QM, Annex II.1, Vol. 3, p. 1, at p. 44, para. 8.50; British charts 2847 and 3790.
54 QCM, Annex IV.52, Vol. 4, p. 401, at p. 404, para. 4.52; British chart 2847.
55 Ibid., at p. 405, para. 8.78; British charts 2847 and 3790.
56 Ibid., at p. 406, para. 8.96; British chart 2847 and French chart 6635D.
57 Ibid., at para. 8.94 and at p. 407.
58 British chart 3788 and French chart 6635D.
59 QM, Annex IV.258, Vol. 12, p. 71.
60 According to Article 2 of the 1958 Agreement between Saudi Arabia and Bahrain, (QM,
Annex IV.262, Vol. 12, p. 95) this zone, known as the "Fasht bu Saafa Hexagon" or as the"Joint Oil Revenue Arrangement Saudi Arabia/Bahrain" (See, Map No. 3, facing p. 196), falls
under the "sovereignty and administration of the Saudi Arabian Government", while its oil
resources are shared equally between the parties.
61 See, French chart 6635D and British chart 2886.
62 BM, Map 10, Vol. 7.
63 See, QM, Map 13, Vol. 17.
64 See, M.G. Rumaihi, Bahrain: Social and Political Change since the First World War,
London, 1976, QM, Annex IV.317, Vol. 13, p. 231, at p. 237. Sir Humphrey Waldock
acknowledged this decline in his February 1954 opinion, QM, Annex IV.206, Vol. 11, p. 67,
at p. 113.
65 See, QM, Annex IV.128, Vol. 10, p. 155.
66 See, QM Annex IV.150, Vol. 10, p. 255.
67 R. Young, "The Persian Gulf", in New Directions in the Law of the Sea, London, 1973,
QM, Annex IV.327, Vol. 13, p. 291, at p. 297.
68 BM, para. 48.
69 BM, para. 595.
70 See, QCM, Annexes IV.2 and IV.3, Vol. 4, p. 9 and p. 13.
71 QM, Annex IV. 269, Vol. 12, p. 169.
72 QM, Annex IV. 276, Vol. 12, p. 223. This text was amended by Decree-Law No. 17
(1993) amending certain provisions of Law No. 4 of 1983, concerning the exploitation and
protection of living marine resources in Qatar, QCM, Annex IV.31, Vol. 4, p. 253.
73 BM, paras. 595, et seq.
74 In this context it may be noted that the Bahraini assertion in para. 44 of its Memorial that
"the eastern reaches of the Gulf of Bahrain have for many centuries effectively been a
Bahraini lake" is quite without substance. It is noteworthy that Bahrain's eastern coast to the
south of Ar-Rifaa al-Sharqi, opposite Sitrah island is very thinly populated. Thus, a list of
towns on the eastern coast of Bahrain compiled in 1908 reveals that even at the beginning of
the present century this coastal area was sparsely settled. Southwards of Ar-Rifaa al-Sharqi,
the only villages described were Askar, Jau and Salbah (Lorimer, op. cit., QM, Annex II.3,
Vol. 3, p. 61, at pp. 69, 73 and 79). Further, a descriptive tour of Bahrain's coastal villages in
1915 mentioned along that part of the coast only the towns of Jau, Askar and Dour (see, map
of Bahrain in Khuri, op. cit., QCM, Annex IV.48, Vol. 4, p. 383, at p. 385). The tribal
settlements on the eastern coast of Bahrain which were drained of their population when pearl
fishing lost its economic supremacy in favour of oil were the same three: Jau, Askar and Dour
(ibid., at p. 387), the land beyond Dour being described as "barren and absolutely
uninhabited" (T.A. Anthony, "Documentation of the Modern History of Bahrain fromAmerican sources (1900-1938)" in Bahrain through the ages, the History, Shaikh Abdullah
bin Khalid Al-Khalifa and M. Rice (eds.), QCM, Annex IV.76, Vol. 4, p. 303). The absence
of any significant population on this eastern coast of Bahrain is quite simply explained by the
extreme barrenness of the area, the fertile land fringing only the northern and western parts of
the island (see, para. 2.62, above).
75 There is of course a very narrow fishermen's channel. See, para. 8.48, below.
76 See, QM, Appendix 1, Vol. 14, p. 1, and QCM, Appendix 1, Vol. 5, p. 1.
77 See, QM, paras. 9.14 and 11.43, et seq.
78 BM, para. 657.
79 BM, para. 44.
80 BM, para. 47.
81 BM, para. 588.
82 According to Bahrain, the "large number of insular and other legally relevant maritime
features, from Janan in the south to Fasht ad Dibal in the north... are all, without exception,
subject to the sovereignty of Bahrain" (BM, para. 567).
83 BM, para. 621.
84 BM, paras. 657, et seq.
85 BM, para. 606.
86 BM, para. 657(3), fn. 731.
87 BM, para. 666.
88 BM, para. 680.
89 BM, para. 661.
90 Lorimer, op. cit., QM, Annex II.3, Vol. 3, p. 61, at p. 88.
91 QM, Annex III.84, Vol. 6, p. 431.
92 BM, Annex 330, Vol. 6, p. 1446.
93 See, also, QMJA, Annex I.18, Vol. II, p. 101.
94 See, QM, Annex III.88, Vol. 6, p. 449.
95 QM, Annex III.91, Vol. 6, p. 461.96 QM, para. 4.7.
97 QM, para. 4.5.
98 BM, paras. 606, 619, and 669.
99 BM, para. 669.
100 BM, para. 680.
101 Ibid.
102 Ibid.
103 Ibid.
104 See, H.W. Jayewardene, The Regime of Islands in International Law,
Dordrecht/Boston/London, 1990, QCM, Annex IV.47, Vol. 4, p. 379.
105 BM, para. 661.
106 BM, para. 662.
107 The statement of Mr. Al-Nimer was made at the 40th plenary meeting, on 12 July 1974,
and not at the 37 meeting, on 11 July 1974, as wrongly stated in BM, para. 662, fn. 737.
108 BM, para. 662. This assertion is inconsistent with what Bahrain has written in another
paragraph, where it is said that "the legal claim to archipelagic status... in Bahrain's case could
not have been reasonably expected prior to the 1982 Convention" (BM, para. 680).
109 BM, Annex 352, Vol. 6, p. 1529.
110 See, for example, the statements made on 8 July 1974 by the representatives of the
Philippines (QCM, Annex IV.18, Vol. 4, p. 123) and the Bahamas (QCM, Annex IV.19, Vol.
4, p. 127.
111 See, the verbatim records of the 190 thplenary meeting, Official Records, Vol. XVII, pp.
87-88, paras. 61-74. See, also, The Law of the Sea. Archipelagic States. Legislative History of
Part IV of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, United Nations, New York,
1990 (E.90.V.2).
112 BM, para. 680.
113 QM, paras. 11.36 and 12.13; BM, para. 563.
114 BM, para. 664.
115 J.I. Charney & L.M. Alexander, International Maritime Boundaries, Martinus Nijhoff,
Dordrecht/Boston/London, 1993, Vol. I, pp. 1039-1048.116 Ibid., pp. 1155-1165. Referring to State practice, Bahrain has mentioned the national
practice of Indonesia and the Philippines concerning archipelagic baselines; but its
presentation is somewhat partial and inaccurate (BM, para. 673). It must therefore be
emphasized: (a) that there is no delimitation agreement between these two archipelagic States;
(b) that the Indonesian Miangas Island is located approximately 60 nautical miles from the
nearest principal Indonesian island, and the main island of Celebes is 245 miles to the south;
and (c) that the Philippines have never accepted or recognised Miangas Island as a basepoint
in the 1960 Indonesian straight baseline system.
117 J.I. Charney & L.M. Alexander, op. cit., Vol. I, pp. 995-1001.
118 Ibid., Vol. II, pp. 1195-1205.
119 Ibid., pp. 1207-1218.
120 Ibid., pp. 1219-1228.
121 Ibid., Vol. I, pp. 929-975.
122 Ibid., Vol. II, pp. 1363-1370.
123 Ibid., pp. 1379-1388.
124 Ibid., pp. 1443-1454.
125 Ibid., pp. 1455-1463.
126 Ibid., Vol. I, pp. 1049-1056. When the boundary line established by the 1973 Indonesia-
Singapore agreement is compared to the median line claimed by Bahrain as depicted on
Map 13 appended to its Memorial (BM, Vol. 7), it will be seen that Bahrain has shown a great
sense of black humour when it states that its claimed archipelagic baselines do not cut off the
Qatari territorial waters from the high seas: "In relation to the area of Qatari territorial sea to
the south-west of the Qatar peninsula, access from this territorial sea to Qatar's exclusive
economic zone and the high seas is possible via the band of Qatari territorial sea situated
between the Hawar Islands and the Qatar peninsula" (BM, para. 685). But Bahrain has
refrained from indicating that navigational access would surely not be possible (see, QM,
Map 5, Vol. 17).
127 On a more general level, it will be remembered that the irrelevance of any newly claimed
baselines may also be deduced from the Agreement between the Government of Bahrain and
the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia concerning the Delimitation of the Continental Shelf. As a
matter of fact, Saudi Arabia's Decree No. 33 of 16 February 1958 among other things
provided for the drawing of possible straight baselines by using in particular low-tide
elevations situated not more than 12 nautical miles from the mainland or from a Saudi
Arabian island (Supplement to Laws and Regulations on the Regime of the High Seas
(volumes I and II) and Laws concerning the Nationality of Ships, ST/LEG/SER.B/8, U.N.
Publication, Sales N° 59.V.2, p. 29). But the baselines claimed by Saudi Arabia very shortly
before the signature of the delimitation agreement with Bahrain, on 22 February 1958, did not
affect the location of the maritime boundary between the two countries (see, J.I. Charney &
L.M. Alexander, op. cit., Vol. II, pp.1489-1497).128 BM, para. 559.
129 See, paras. 6.76, et seq., below.
130 Such a position is taken in the framework of Bahrain's principal claim but is not modified
within its alternative claim. See, BM, paras. 559 and 690.
131 BM, para. 636.
132 Para. 41, II, of Qatar's Application.
133 I.C.J. Reports 1982, p. 18.
134 I.C.J. Reports 1984, p. 246.
135 International Legal Materials, Vol. XVIII, No. 2, March 1979, p. 397.
136 See, QM, paras. 9.2, et seq., and 12.23, et seq.
137 BM, para. 566.
138 See, paras. 6.82, et seq., below.
139 BM, paras. 559, 564 and 633.
140 See, BM, Maps 8, 10 and 14, Vol. 7.
141 In fact Dibal cannot "be said to be comprised within the coastline of the mainland itself"
to use the words of the Anglo-French Court of Arbitration decision dated 30 June 1977 when
it described the situation of the Isle of Wight at the entrance of the Port of Southampton
(QCM, Annex IV.34, Vol. 4, p. 273, at p. 275).
142 BM, paras. 566, 567, 568, 606 and 688.
143 The first variant is: "other legally relevant formations" (BM, para. 568); the second one:
"other legally relevant features" (BM, para. 608).
144 BM, para. 603.
145 BM, para. 44. See, para. 6.58, above.
146 BM, para. 589.
147 BM, para. 68.
148 BM, para. 686.
149 In its Judgment of 14 June 1993, after having said: "Jan Mayen has no settled population"
(I.C.J. Reports 1993, p. 46, para. 15), the Court stated that "the attribution of maritime areas
to the territory of a State, which, by its nature, is destined to be permanent, is a legal processbased solely on the possession by the territory concerned of a coastline"; and it therefore
concluded "that, in the delimitation to be effected in this case, there is no reason to consider
either the limited nature of the population of Jan Mayen or socio-economic factors as
circumstances to be taken into account" (ibid., p. 74, para. 80).
150 BM, Map 14, Vol. 7: "Median line (southern sector) using normal baselines".
151 BM, paras. 45 and 626. See, also, QM, para. 10.54, and QM, Appendix 5, Vol. 15, p. 125.
Concerning more particularly Dibal, it is noteworthy that there has been a significant
evolution since the Bahraini claim of 16 August 1961 where it is stated that: "The Ruler
contends that both Jaradah and Fasht Aldeeble are islands i.e. that Jaradah and a part of Fasht
Aldeeble are permanently above water at high tide" (see, QM, Annex IV.254, Vol. 12, p. 17,
at p. 26) sent under a covering letter from the Ruler of Bahrain to the PRPG (see, QM,
Annex IV.233, Vol. 11, p. 353).
152 They are separately enumerated in the list laid down in BM, para. 626. On Fasht al Azm,
see, paras. 7.6, et seq. and 8.45, et seq., below.
153 See, BM, Maps 6, 7, 8, 9, 11, 12, 13, 14 and 15, Vol. 7.
154 See, in particular Chart No. 5001 "Sitrah to Tighaylib", scale 1:50,000, and Chart
No. 5005 "Qit'at Jaradah to Gulf of Bahrain, scale 1:100,000, published December 1987 by
the Ministry of Housing, Survey Directorate, Hydrographic Department, Bahrain. A copy of
each of these charts is being deposited with the Registry of the Court, pursuant to Article 50,
paragraph 2 of the Rules of Court.
155 See, QM, Maps 2 and 11, Vol. 17, and BM, Map 6, Vol. 7.
156 A striking example is that of Qit'at ash Shajarah which lies closer to Qatar than to
Bahrain. See, also, para. 7.10, below; D. Bowett, "Islands, Rocks, Reefs and Low-tide
Elevations in Maritime Boundary Delimitations", (QCM, Annex IV.37, Vol. 4, p. 307); and
Charney and Alexander (eds.), op. cit., Vol. I, pp. 131-151 (in particular pp. 147-150).
157 See, para. 6.76, above.
158 See, also, para. 8.56, below.
159 QM, para. 9.11.
160 BM, para. 622.
161 BM, para. 619.
162 BM, para. 624.
163 BM, para. 623.
164 QCM, Annex IV.25, Vol. 4, p. 203.
165 See, QMJA, Annex II.10, Vol. III, p. 51.166 QCM, Annex IV.27, Vol. 4, p. 213.
167 QMJA, Annex II.11, Vol. III, p. 53, at p. 58.
168 QCM, Annex IV.28, Vol. 4, p. 217.
169 QMJA, Annex II.12, Vol. III, p. 63, at pp. 77-78.
170 QCM, Annex IV.30, Vol. 4, p. 243.
171 QM, paras. 10.44, et seq., and QM, Appendix 5, Vol. 15, p. 125, at pp. 135, et seq.
172 QCM, Annex IV.6, Vol. 4, p. 47.
173 BM, para. 622.
174 See, also, QM, para. 12.63.
175 I.C.J. Reports 1984, p. 271, para. 37.
176 P. Weil, "Geographical Considerations in Maritime Delimitation", in Charney and
Alexander (eds.), op. cit., Vol. I, QCM, Annex IV.57, Vol. 4, p. 449.
177 See, P. Weil, The Law of Maritime Delimitation - Reflections, Cambridge, 1989, QCM,
Annex IV.58, Vol. 4, p. 453, at p. 457.
178 QCM, Annex IV.46, Vol. 4, p. 375.
179 See, QM, Map 2, Vol. 17.
180 QM, para. 9.4, fn. 10. By a clerical error, point RK was later mistakenly indicated as
being located at longitude 51°12'02" E (QM, para. 12.63).
181 See, paras. 6.93, et seq., above.
182 See, QM, paras. 12.32 and 12.63.
183 See, para. 6.77, above.
184 See, QM, para. 12.63.
185 See, ibid.
186 See, QM, para. 12.7, fn. 6.
187 QCM, Annex IV.34, Vol. 4, p. 273, at p. 294.
188 See, also QM, Vol. 17.
189 See, QM, paras. 12.10, et seq.190 QM, paras. 9.7 and 12.37, et seq.; BM, paras. 637, 651 and 655.
191 See, paras. 8.11, et seq., below.
192 BM, para. 637.
193 BM, para. 651.
194 BM, para. 628.
195 BM, para. 651.
196 BM, para. 628.
197 Ibid.
198 QM, para. 11.32.
199 QM, para. 11.47.
__________
CHAPTER VII
THE SINGLE MARITIME BOUNDARY IN THE SOUTHERN SECTOR
Section 1. Geographical characteristics
7.1 As noted above, although both Parties divide the maritime delimitation area into a 1
northern and a southern sector, they disagree on the dividing line between these two sectors .
For purposes of the present geographical discussion, Qatar will rely on its own definition of
the southern sector, having dealt previously in this Counter-Memorial with the unfounded
nature of Bahrain's dividing line .
7.2 In the southern sector, the western coast of Qatar and the eastern coast of Bahrain are
opposite and run roughly parallel to each other, with no notable irregularities of form. The
western coast of Qatar is low and consists of sand, gravel and sabkhas. Along this coast there
are numerous small bays, lagoons, and inlets. The eastern coast of Bahrain is also low and
level, the northern region of Bahrain and the linked islands of Muharraq and Sitrah forming a
low plateau seldom more than three metres above sea level. There are few bays or inlets, and
the adjoining sea is shallow.
7.3 Between the western coast of Qatar and the eastern coast of Bahrain in the southern sector
lie the Hawar islands and Janan island. In addition, there are countless islets, rocks and reefs
lying between the two coasts, including Qit'at Jaradah. Dibal, on the other hand, lies almost
totally in the northern sector.7.4 Bahrain itself refers in its Memorial to "the presence, between the eastern coast of the
main Bahrain island and the western coast of Qatar, of a large number of insular and other
legally relevant maritime features, from Janan in the south to Fasht ad Dibal in the north"
which, it sweepingly asserts, "are all, without exception, subject to the sovereignty of
Bahrain" . It thus describes itself as "an ensemble consisting of the main Bahrain island, the
islands immediately adjacent to it (Sitrah and Al Muharraq), the Hawar Islands and all the
other insular and other legally relevant maritime features, together with the continental
Zubarah region" . 4
7.5 While of course not disputing the existence of very numerous insular and other maritime
features in the southern sector, Qatar does dispute both their alleged legal relevance and
Bahrain's sovereignty over them, questions which have been dealt with elsewhere in this
Counter-Memorial . 5
7.6 As far as the geographical facts are concerned, and perhaps conscious of the weakness of
its legal position in regard to its alleged appropriation of all maritime features - whether
islands or not - by the performance of so-called acts of sovereignty , Bahrain has sought as far
as possible to describe maritime features in the southern sector as islands. Thus, it relies on
Belgrave's letter of 14 August 1937, where it is stated, somewhat self-contradictorily, that
among the "islands" belonging to Bahrain are several reefs, including Dibal, and "Qattah
Jarada (an island)..." . Similarly, while asserting that Fasht al-Azm is a low-tide elevation and
8 9
is not in itself an island , it nevertheless argues that it is an integral part of Sitrah island .
7.7 In fact, Fasht al-Azm is a further illustration of the complexity of the southern sector: it is
a large shoal, some 25 kilometres long, which dries in patches. Lying perpendicular to the
general direction of Bahrain's eastern coast, it represents a considerable obstacle to navigation
in the area, between the open sea to the north and the coast of Bahrain to the south of Sitrah
island.
7.8 Bahrain asserts in its Memorial that this shoal is separated from Sitrah 10land only by a
"narrow artificial channel, 3 metres deep, which was dredged in 1982" . It may be noted
however that Bahrain has not provided any evidence to show that prior to the dredging there
existed no natural channel between Sitrah and Fasht al-Azm. In fact, as will be seen below,
prior to that date there did exi11 a natural fishermen's channel which was filled in during
reclamation work by Bahrain . Consequently, Bahrain cannot argue that in its natural state
Fasht al-Azm formed an integral part of Sitrah island.
7.9 Paragraph 606 of Bahrain's Memorial is quite frankly puzzling. Correctly anticipating
Qatar's position, which is based on the law and State practice in the region, Bahrain asserts
that:
"To describe the present delimitation as a delimitation between the coasts of two mainlands
between which insular and other legally relevant maritime features are scattered would be
seriously to distort the political and geographical relationship between the two countries" . 12
13
For Bahrain, "the reality is quite different" , yet it fails to explain why - leaving aside the
question of the legal relevance of the features - such a delimitation would be a distortion of
the "geographical relationship". Indeed, as has been seen, there are so many scattered islands,
islets and other maritime features in the southern sector that any delimitation other than a
mainland-to-mainland delimitation would be extremely difficult if not practically impossible.Furthermore, it is in many instances extremely difficult to determine at any particular point of
time whether the hydrographical characteristics of the features may or may not legally qualify
them as low-tide elevations.
7.10 Finally, Qatar must point out a glaring omission in Bahrain's presentation of the southern
sector. In attempting to push its baselines as close as possible to the coast of Qatar, Bahrain
lists several low-tide elevations which, it claims, lie within 12 miles of the Bahraini mainland
or of another feature claimed by Bahrain, the low-water lines of which "are therefore
available to Bahrain for use as baselines" . What Bahrain omits to say is that in each case the
feature also lies within 12 miles of Qatar's mainland and that in several cases - a striking
example is that of Qit'at ash Shajarah - the feature is closer to Qatar than to Bahrain.
Section 2. Historical circumstances
7.11 Qatar has examined at length in its Memorial what appears as an important historical
aspect of the question of maritime delimitation in the present case, namely the decision made
by the British Government in 1947 concerning the delimitation and the resulting dividing line
of the sea-bed between the two countries . In contrast to this, the Bahrain Memorial contains
hardly a single word about it. In Qatar's submission, that pre-existing sea-bed dividing line
constitutes a highly relevant factor for the delimitation in the southern sector.
A. The silence of Bahrain concerning the 1947 line
7.12 Bahrain refers directly only once in its Memorial to the British decision of 23 December
1947 when it refers to that decision as being merely a statement of Britain's "views as to the
maritime delimitation between the Parties" 16. Later on, there are only two other indirect
references to the British decision . Bahrain is very discreet on the subject and unwilling to
mention the decision as such. Indeed, it carries its discretion so far as to refrain from even
producing the text of the British Political Agent's letter dated 23 December 1947 by which the
Ruler of Bahrain was informed of the decision arrived at by the British Government
concerning the division of the sea-bed between Qatar and Bahrain 18.
7.13 The silence of Bahrain in its Memorial concerning the 1947 line is still more surprising
given that in 1961 the Ruler of Bahrain tried to obtain from the British Government a revision
of the 1947 decision and suggested a new dividing line in a Memorandum dated 8 August
1961 , a suggestion that the British Government was not prepared to accept . 20
B. The relevance of the pre-existing sea-bed dividing line
7.14 As already indicated in Qatar's Memorial, there is evidence of a trend in State practice
whereby pre-existing contine21al shelf boundaries are used to delimit a subsequent all-purpose
single maritime boundary . It will now be demonstrated that such a trend supports Qatar's
submission according to which part of the 1947 sea-bed dividing line could be transformed
into an all-purpose boundary, and more particularly into a territorial sea boundary in the
southern sector of the delimitation area.
1. The taking into account of a pre-existing delimitation in the drawing of an all-purpose
maritime boundary7.15 Among several examples of delimitation agreements to be found in State practice, the
Exchange of Notes between Turkey and the USSR on the Delimitation of the Exclusive
Economic Zone in the Black Sea, dated 23 December 1986 and 6 February 1987, was a
typical example of the trend referred to above. Through that exchange of notes, the two
countries agreed that the boundary line of their continental shelf, determined by an agreement
signed on 23 June 1978, should be valid for the delimitation of their respective exclusive
22
economic zones, thus becoming a single delimitation line . Another illustration may be found
in a series of agreements concluded between Finland and the USSR: after having signed two
agreements concerning the boundaries of their continental shelves in the Gulf of Finland and
the North Eastern part of the Baltic Sea, dated respectively 20 May 1965 and 5 May 1967 , 23
the two parties used those continental shelf boundaries as delimitation lin24 for their
respective fishing zones by an agreement signed on 25 February 1980 ; and finally, on 5
February 1985, they agreed to convert those previously established boundary lines into an all-
purpose single maritime boundary . 25
7.16 The same trend exists in the practice of the Gulf States and is regarded by both Qatar and
Bahrain as applicable to the present case with respect to the previous continental shelf
delimitation agreements they have each concluded with Iran . 26
7.17 The trend towards single maritime boundaries coinciding with prior continental shelf
delimitation lines indicates how, in general, States decide, either for practical or legal reasons,
to transform what may initially have been a sea-bed dividing line into a multipurpose
maritime boundary. The same reasons that induce States to transform a continental shelf
boundary into a single maritime boundary apply also when it is a question of converting a pre-
existing continental shelf delimitation into a territorial sea boundary. This is clearly illustrated
by the United Kingdom-France agreement of 2 November 1988 modifying the status of their
boundary in the Straits of Dover: following the extension of the United Kingdom's territorial
sea to 12 nautical miles on 1 October 1987, they decided to transform the relevant part of the
continental shelf boundar27 determined by an agreement signed on 24 June 1982, into a
territorial sea boundary .
7.18 It must however be recognised that a pre-existing delimitation line is not always
automatically converted into a boundary for other jurisdictional purposes, but is sometimes
simply given special consideration. This was done for example in the Convention between
France and Italy signed on 28 November 1986 for the Delimitation of the Maritime
Boundaries in the Area of the Strait of Bonifacio 2.
7.19 That is an example which Qatar submits should be followed in the present case with
respect to the role to be played by the sea-bed dividing line described in the 1947 British
decision . In the southern sector of the delimitation area, where the single maritime boundary
will be a territorial sea boundary, Qatar submits that the delimitation has to be made with due
regard to the 1947 line.
2. The precedent of the maritime delimitation between Venezuela and Trinidad and
Tobago, an archipelagic State
30
7.20 If, contrary to Qatar's submission , the Court were to take account of Bahrain's
archipelagic claim, this would not preclude the Court from drawing the single maritime
boundary with due regard being paid to the 1947 sea-bed dividing line. This conclusion is
supported by the agreements signed on 4 August 1989 and 18 April 1990 between Venezuelaand Trinidad and Tobago that have determined a single maritime boundary which, in the Gulf
of Paria, is partly based, with some technical changes, on the delimitation line drawn for the
sea-bed by the well-known Treaty of 26 February 1942 between the United Kingdom and
Venezuela relating to the submarine areas of the Gulf of Paria . It is noteworthy that by an
Act of 11 November 1986, Trinidad and Tobago declared itself an archipelagic State, with
baselines drawn around the component isla32s, including the Dragon's Mouth islands at the
northern entrance of the Gulf of Paria , and that that archipelagic claim did not prevent the
pre-existing sea-bed delimitation from being taken into consideration.
Section 3. The maritime boundary in the southern sector
7.21 Qatar and Bahrain agree on the law applicable to the maritime delimitation in the
southern sector. Both of them consider that the rule enunciated in Article 15 of the 1982
33
Convention on the Law34f the Sea is at present "part of customary international law" or "is
generally accepted" . Accordingly, they both admit that the equidistance method or the
median line is the "first step" 35or the "starting point" for the drawing of the boundary
dividing their respective territorial seas in that sector.
7.22 However, the Parties disagree on the practical method of applying the rule. Bahrain
asserts that it is first necessary to define the baselines of the two countries' coasts for
determining the points that generate the median line , and that account has to be taken for
that purpose 38 all the maritime features which in Bahrain's view are all under Bahrain's
sovereignty . Then, according to Bahrain, the determination of the median line would be a
purely technical matter , and "no exceptional circumstances" would justify any adjustment or
modification of the median line . In order to sustain such an assertion, Bahrain goes so far as
to state that there is no disparity or disproportion be41een the coastal lengths and that "[t]he
two States' coastlines have similar characteristics" .
7.23 Bahrain's presentation completely distorts the geographical facts which characterise the
southern sector, as well as the legal significance of factors like baselines in relation to an
inter-State maritime delimitation process. In reality, having regard to the natural geographical
situation in the southern sector, only a mainland-to-mainland delimitation is practically
possible.
A. Mainland-to-mainland delimitation: general considerations
1. The rationale of using the mainland coasts in a territorial sea delimitation between
States having opposite coasts
7.24 There are probably two situations where the delimitation line between two opposite
coasts should prima facie be a median line calculated from mainland to mainland: either when
the maritime area to be delimited does not include any island or any other similar feature, or
on the contrary when that area is dotted with a great number of small islands, islets, rocks,
reefs and shoals. The first situation speaks for itself and is self-explanatory. The second one
renders it impossible to rely on countless maritime features for the drawing of a boundary line
which would satisfy both the requirement of simplicity and the aim of arriving at an equitable
result. That requirement and that aim form the basis of the security and stability of any
maritime boundary. This is particularly important in a relatively restricted maritime area
where there is no room to compensate, and even more so when the status of numerous
maritime features is uncertain both in terms of legal characterisation as islands or low-tideelevations and in terms of their appurtenance. In such a situation, the boundary line can only
be drawn from the mainland coasts of the two States involved.
7.25 The basic reason for a mainland-to-mainland delimitation lies in the security interests of
the two States concerned. That reason is reinforced in the case of a territorial sea delimitation,
for the territorial sea is mainly a maritime security belt for coastal States. In fact, "security
interests are most prominent in dealing with maritime boundaries close to the coast" . Such a
preoccupation generally induces State practice and the jurisprudence to avoid the drawing of
the boundary line too close to the coast of one of the parties. Thus, while using a negative
form, the Court stated in the case concerning the Continental Shelf (Libyan Arab
Jamahiriya/Malta):
"the delimitation which will result from the application of the present Judgment is... not so
near to the coast 43 either Party as to make questions of security a particular consideration in
the present case" .
It may be recalled that the Court had here noted that even though "security considerations are
of course not unrelated to the concept of the continental shelf", the case submitted to it did not
raise "the question whether the law at present attributes to the44oastal State particular
competences in the military field over its continental shelf" . When, as here in the southern
sector, the delimitation involves the territorial sea, those considerations become all the more
important.
2. The consequences
7.26 It follows that, in the delimitation process, no account is to be taken of tiny islets, rocks
and shoals scattered in a relatively restricted area of shallow sea, because they may be
regarded as insignificant or unusual, if not distorting, features. These characteristics
undeniably apply to numerous small features lying in the southern sector in this case. They
are insignificant features as compared to islands of a larger size presenting some social,
economic or political importance. They are unusual features insofar as they are not closely
linked to the coast of either Party, and particularly to the main Bahrain island. They may be
distorting features because of their potential effect on the course of the eventual maritime
boundary. But their unusual or even extraordinary character is also obvious in the light of the
short distance between the two opposite mainland coasts.
7.27 When claiming that full effect should be given to all the maritime features lying in the
delimitation area 45, Bahrain's attitude is based upon an approach which is inconsistent with
the law of maritime delimitation as revealed in State practice and the jurisprudence. In no case
has a small islet been given the same effect as the mainland coast in drawing a median line
vis-à-vis an opposite mainland coast. And the taking into account of an island and the effect
given to it closely depend on its location, size and importance. Even an island State such as
Malta did not receive full effect vis-à-vis Libya in the Court's Judgment of 3 June 1985.
46
Therefore, when the so-called relevant maritime features qualify only as low-tide elevations ,
they are to be ignored in the delimitation process. This is all the more evident in the present
case where the maritime boundary proposed by Bahrain in the southern sector, either in its
principal claim or in its alternative claim, is an illustration of what surely cannot be done, as is
quite clear from maps 8 and 14 appended to Bahrain's Memorial. In either circumstance, the
Bahraini line is located in the immediate vicinity of Qatar's coast. It is even drawn so close to
that coast that it would certainly create - if it were to be adopted - serious problemsconcerning the security interests of the State of Qatar. As was said by the arbitral tribunal in
the Guinea/Guinea-Bissau arbitration, it is essential "à assurer à chaque Etat le contrôle des
territoires maritimes situés en face de ses côtes et dans leur voisinage" and in order to avoid
that "pour une raison ou pour une autre, une des Parties voie s'exercer en face de ses côtes et
dans leur voisinage immédiat des droits qui pourraient... compromettre sa sécurité" . 47
Therefore, Qatar must firmly stress its grave concern about the implications of Bahrain's
claimed line in the southern sector for its national security.
B. Application of the mainland-to-mainland method in the present case
48
7.28 The agreement between the Parties as to the drawing of a provisional median line is
more apparent than real, for they hold differing views with respect to the means of
establishing that line. While Bahrain claims that such a line is to be drawn from the respective
territorial sea baselines , Qatar submits that only the two main coasts are to be taken into
consideration for this purpose and that the provisional median line is to be calculated from
those coasts. In addition, Qatar submits that the provisional median line thus calculated then
has to be adjusted in order to take into account and to reflect the relevant circumstances of the
particular case, including geographical and historical circumstances.
1. The provisional median line
7.29 Bahrain relies on the rule expressed in Article 15 of the 1982 Law of the Sea
Convention, which it regards as being expressive of customary international law . It states
that there exists an identity between that rule, on the one hand, and the equidistance-special
circumstances rule set out in Article 6 of the 1958 Continental Shelf Convention. It also finds
a similar identity between that rule and the customary rule applicable to maritime
delimitations not governed by those conventions 51. Qatar does not wish to challenge that
statement, but it finds it necessary to make the following observation.
7.30 Under the Geneva Convention on the Continental Shelf, "the obligation to apply the
equidistance principle is always one qualified by the condition 'unless another boundary line
is justified by special circumstances'", as was stated by the Anglo-French Court of Arbitration
in 1527 when it referred to the existence of a combined equidistance/special circumstances
rule . And the Court has recently underlined that the concept of special circumstances "was
and remains linked to the equidistance method", and that it includes "those circumstances
which might modify the result produced by an unqualified application of the equidistance
53
principle" . However, the rule in Article 15 of the 1982 Convention makes it clear that the
special circumstances clause may be linked not only to the equidistance principle itself, but
also to the manner of calculating the median line. As a matter of fact, the second sentence of
that Article specifies that special circumstances may justify the drawing of a line "in a way
which is at variance" with the first sentence as a whole, which provides for the equidistance
line to be drawn "from the nearest point[s] on the baselines". Moreover, on several occasions,
in applying the equidistance method the jurisprudence in the field of maritime delimitation
has not used the baselines used for measuring the breadth of the territorial sea 5.
7.31 In the present case, Qatar submits that the provisional median line must be drawn from
relevant points on the two mainland coasts and not, as Bahrain asserts, from the baselines
claimed by Bahrain 55.
a) The provisional median line cannot be drawn from the baselines claimed by Bahrain7.32 The basic reason which should lead the Court to draw a provisional median line
independently of the baselines for measuring the breadth of the territorial sea is derived from
the fact that basepoints used for delimiting a maritime boundary between two States with
opposite coasts may well differ from the baselines for measuring the breadth of their
respective territorial seas. In addition, for the delimitation of a maritime boundary effected by
an international tribunal, the task of the tribunal is not to split the difference between the two
extreme claims, but to arrive at an equitable solution.
(i) Basepoints used for delimitation purposes
7.33 According to a general trend in the jurisprudence concerning maritime delimitation since
the North Sea Continental Shelf cases, basepoints used for delimiting maritime areas between
two States do not necessarily coincide with the baselines and basepoints from which the
breadth of the territori56 sea is measured, and they have in fact been regularly treated as
distinct from the latter .
7.34 In the Tunisia/Libya Continental Shelf case, the Court did not take account of the straight
baselines claimed by Tunisia and said that it was "not making any ruling as to the validity or
57
opposability to Libya of the straight baselines" . Furthermore, concerning the element of a
reasonable degree of proportionality between the extent of the continental shelf appertaining
to the coastal States involved and the length of the relevant part of their coasts, the Court
stated that "the element of proportionality is related to lengths of the coasts of the States
concerned, not to straight baselines drawn round those coasts" 58.
7.35 In the Gulf of Maine case, the Chamber of the Court, when objecting to the possibility of
making use of the method defined in Article 6 of the Continental Shelf Convention, pointed
out that:
"a line drawn in accordance with the indications given by that provision... might well
epitomize the inherent defects of a certain manner of interpreting and applying the method
here considered...; inasmuch as the likely end-result would be the adoption of a line all of
whose basepoints would be located on a handful of isolated rocks, some very distant from the
coast, or on a few low-tide elevations: these are the very type of minor geographical features
59
which, as the Court and the Chamber have emphasized, should be discounted..." .
As has been made clear by one of the commentators of that decision, the position thus adopted
by the Chamber was perfectly explicit:
"des accidents géographiques qui ont pu (ou pourraient) être pris légitimement, au regard du
droit international, comme points de base pour la mer territoriale, peuvent ne pas être
appropriés comme points de base pour une délimitation" . 60
7.36 In the Libya/Malta Continental Shelf case, when the Court decided to proceed with the
drawing of a median line as a provisional step, it considered that it could not construct that
line from straight baselines on the Maltese coast, in particular those connecting the island of
Malta to the uninhabited islet of Filfla, for the reason that "in any event the baselines as
determined by coastal States are not per se identical with the points chosen on a coast to make
it possible to calculate the area of continental shelf appertaining to that State" 61. Therefore,
although Filfla islet was used as a basepoint for the drawing of the Maltese baselines, theCourt found it equitable "not to take account of Filfla in the calculation of the provisional
62
median line between Malta and Libya" .
7.37 The position thus taken by the Court, according to which basepoints used for
delimitation purposes are selected independently of the baselines of the territorial sea, has also
been followed in the international arbitral jurisprudence. Thus the 1977 decision of the Anglo-
French Court of Arbitration made a clear-cut distinction between the two categories when it
stated:
"The Court does not possess any competence to determine base-points as such, but only for
the purpose, and in the course, of discharging its task... of delimiting t63 boundary of the
continental shelf as between the Parties within the arbitration area" .
In the Guinea/Guinea-Bissau Arbitration, no reference was made to the baselines of the
territorial sea. The award of 14 February 1985 stated that:
"Le problème des lignes de base nécessaires pour établir la limite de 200 milles reconnue par
les Parties comme régissant leur zone économique exclusive n'intéresse pas directement le
Tribunal, car ces lignes relèvent de la décision unilatérale des Etats intéressés" . 64
Nevertheless, the arbitral tribunal observed that any line of equidistance would have given,
"[a]u voisinage des côtes... une importance exagérée à certains accidents non significatifs du
littoral... [et] produir[ait] un effet d'amputation" .5
7.38 In reviewing that jurisprudence, one author has recently considered that, from the mere
fact that a straight line joining two or more points is - or might be - used legitimately as a
baseline for measuring the breadth of the territorial sea and other maritime jurisdictional
zones of a State, it cannot be inferred that that line must necessarily be taken by a judge or an
arbitrator as a basis for drawing a maritime boundary between that State and a neighbouring
State whose coasts are adjacent or opposite. Similarly, from the fact that an island, an islet, a
rock, or a low-tide elevation may be regarded as generating its own territorial sea or as legally
entitled to be incorporated in the baselines of the territorial sea of a State, it does not follow
that, for that reason only, such an island, islet, rock, or low-tide elevation is to be considered
as an appropriate basepoint for the construction of a delimitation line between the interested
State and another State whose coasts are opposite or adjacent 66.
(ii) The Court's task is not "to split the difference" between the two extreme claims
7.39 In its most recent judgment on the subject of maritime delimitation, the Court has
recognized that "[t]he 'area of overlapping claims'... between the two lines representing the
67
Parties' claims, is of obvious relevance to any case involving opposed boundary claims" .
However, the Court immediately added:
"But maritime boundary claims have the particular feature that there is an area of overlapping
entitlements, in the sense of overlap between the areas which each68tate would have been able
to claim had it not been for the presence of the other State" .
7.40 The southern sector of the delimitation area in the present case has some parallels with
what was called "the area of overlapping potential entitlement" in the above-mentioned case . 69
In the southern sector, the Qatari western coast, no less than Bahrain's eastern coast, generatesa potential title to a 12-mile territorial sea. To recognize that the opposite Bahraini coast could
there be represented by a series of points located on various features separate from Bahrain's
mainland coast and close to Qatar's coast would run wholly counter to the rights of Qatar in
that sector. As a matter of fact, it would amount to negating Qatar's entitlement to a territorial
sea.
7.41 In the southern sector, where the sea area is restricted and the water shallow and where
shoals and reefs are numerous, to take these features into account and particularly to use low-
tide elevations scattered throughout the zone as basepoints for delimitation would give them a
disproportionate and distorting effect in an area where the respective territorial waters
overlap. It would deprive the concept of territorial sea belt of any effect and would achieve an
unreasonable result. It would moreover be contrary to the general practice in the Gulf which
has been to give preference to drawing median lines as between mainland coasts, only taking
70
into account, where necessary, large islands forming an integral part of the coastal front .
b) The drawing of the provisional median line from relevant points on the two mainland
coasts
7.42 If it is accepted, as Qatar submits, that the provisional median line is to be drawn from
appropriate points located on the mainland coasts of the two States, the only question to be
solved is a technical one. It consists in selecting the relevant points on the eastern coast of
Bahrain and on the western coast of Qatar (including the Hawar islands - on the assumption
that the Court will recognize Qatar's sovereignty over those islands).
7.43 As indicated on Map. No. 5 facing this page, the provisional median line in the southern
sector, up to the closing line of the two sectors, is constructed by reference to 12 basepoints
located on the high water line of the Bahraini coast and 14 basepoints located on the high
water line of the Qatari coast. The resulting median line comprises a series of 18 turning
points in that sector. However, the line is a provisional one, insofar as the geographical and
historical circumstances of the area make certain adjustments to it necessary.
2. The adjustment of the median line
71
7.44 In support of the view that its own highly questionable provisional median line does
not require any adjustment or shifting, Bahrain considers that "no exceptional circumstances -
historical or of any other nature - justify modifying the median line in the southern sector" . 72
This statement, made in the context of Bahrain's principal claim, is repeated in the framework
of its alternative claim: "in the circumstances of the present case no adjustment... is called
73
for" . However, Bahrain has produced no explanation or justification for this position beyond
stating that "there is no 'disparity or disproportion between the coastal lengths'" and that "[t]he
two States' coastlines have similar characteristics" .74
7.45 Contrary to Bahrain's assertion, there is in the present case some disparity between the
lengths of the two opposite mainland coasts. As shown in the Qatar Memorial, the length of
the relevant coast of Bahrain, measured in its general direction from Ras al Barr in the south
to the northern tip of Muharraq, is around 29.9 nautical miles or 55.5 kilometres, while the
relevant coast of Qatar, measured in its general direction from Ras Uwaynat in the south to
Ras Rakan in the north, is about 47.6 nautical miles or 88.2 kilometres. Thus, the ratio
between t75 two coastal fronts, measured following their general direction, is 1:1.59 in favour
of Qatar .7.46 According to the jurisprudence of the Court, such a disproportion might be reflected in
the location of the boundary line, as was done in the Gulf of Maine case, where the ratio
between the coastal fronts was 1:1.38. The Chamber of the Cou76 considered that such a
disparity justified in itself the shifting of the median line . And it made a general remark in
that respect:
"a maritime delimitation can certainly not be established by a direct division of the area in
dispute proportional to the respective lengths of the coasts belonging to the parties in the
relevant area, but it is equally certain that a substantial disproportion to the lengths of those
coasts that resulted from a delimitation effected on a different basis would constitute a
circumstance calling for an appropriate correction. In the Chamber's opinion, the need to take
this aspect into account constitutes a valid ground for correction, more pressing even than
others..." .
The Court has recently reaffirmed that78the disparity between the lengths of coasts...
constitutes a special circumstance" .
7.47 If a significant difference between the lengths of the relevant coasts is a special
circumstance which may justify the adjustment of the provisional median line, the
consequence in the present case would be a shifting of that line closer to the coast of Bahrain,
i.e. its transposition in a westward direction. And one can paraphrase here what the Court said
in the Libya/Malta Continental Shelf case: "Once it is contemplated that the boundary requires
to be shifted [westward] of the median line between [Qatar and Bahrain], it seems appropriate
79
first to establish what might be the extreme limit of such a shift" .
7.48 The limit of the transposition of the provisional median line in the present case is, subject
to what is said in paragraph 7.49 below, provided by the pre-existing dividing line decided in
1947 by the Br80ish Government. That line is in Qatar's view another special or relevant
circumstance . It constitutes a historical circumstance which is to be combined with the
geographical circumstance of the disparity between coastal lengths . 81
C. The taking into account of the 1947 line
7.49 As underlined in Qatar's Memorial, "the 1947 line is now certainly an important factor to
be taken into account for the purpose of drawing the single maritime boundary" . The Court
will remember that, in the view of Qatar, only the part of that line extending northward from
83
point L up to BLV is to be regarded as relevant . Qatar does not need to repeat in the present
Counter-Memorial what has been explained and demonstrated in its Memorial concerning the
necessity of disregarding the portion of the 1947 line enclaving the Hawar islands, on the
assumption that those islands are recognized by the Court as appertaining to Qatar 8. Nor is it
necessary to revert to what has been s85d about the southernmost segment of the 1947 line,
which must equally be disregarded .
7.50 The adjustment of the provisional median line between Qatar and Bahrain by shifting it
until it meets the 1947 line, in order to draw the single maritime boundary along that line,
north of point L, will generate a reasonable and equitable boundary line. The fundamental
norm of any maritime delimitation is recognized today as being the norm of an equitable
result, whatever may be the practical method or methods used to reach such a result, whether
under customary international law or under conventional rules. This was the idea that appears
to have been at the basis of the 1947 British decision. Thus, referring to the line laid down atthat time, in a letter dated 14 May 1951 to the Ruler of Bahrain, the Political Agent stated
that:
"[t]his line was determined in accordance with equitable principles after careful examination
of Your Highness' claims and of those of the Ruler of Qatar and is the only line recognised by
His Majesty's Government" 86.
As demonstrated in Qatar's Memorial, the method applied at that time was pursuant to the
general aim of arriving at an equitable solution. In order to achieve that aim, the British
authorities gave exclusive consideration to the two mainland coasts of Qatar and Bahrain,
selected certain fixed turning points, and drew a simplified line .7
7.51 It is noteworthy that the 1947 line was drawn in such a way as to satisfy the requirement
of simplicity, thus avoiding the construction of "a line which, on account of the refinements in
the technical method used to determine its course, follows a complicated or even a zigzag
path, made up of a succession of segments on different bearings" . In these circumstances,
the adjustment of the provisional median line and the alignment of the maritime boundary on
the 1947 line north of point L would have the effect of simplifying the course of the boundary
line, since between point L and NSLB the 1947 line is a straight line. And in a maritime area
like the southern sector, characterized by short distances and the presence of numerous shoals
and rocks, it is important to have a boundary line that is as simple as possible. The boundary
line now claimed by Bahrain as a median line, using either archipelagic or normal baselines,
does not fulfil the requirement of simplicity.
7.52 As shown on Map No. 6 facing the previous page, the taking into account of the 1947
line would involve a shift westward of the provisional median line to the north of point X,
which is the point of intersection of the 1947 line and the provisional median line. South of
point X, and as far as point L of the 1947 line, the provisional median line would have to be
shifted eastward. The adjusted line would th89 be the 1947 line north of point L, while south
of that point it would be the segment L-S1 . The resulting single maritime boundary
requested by Qatar in the southern sector was depicted on Map 16 of the Memorial and is
reproduced on Map No. 7 facing this page.
CHAPTER VII THE SINGLE MARITIME BOUNDARY IN THE SOUTHERN
SECTOR 221
Section 1. Geographical characteristics 221
Section 2. Historical circumstances 223
A. The silence of Bahrain concerning the 1947 line 224
B. The relevance of the pre-existing sea-bed dividing line 225
1. The taking into account of a pre-existing delimitation in the drawing of an
all-purpose maritime boundary 225
2. The precedent of the maritime delimitation between Venezuela and Trinidad
and Tobago, an archipelagic State 226 Section 3. The maritime boundary in the southern sector 227
A. Mainland-to-mainland delimitation: general considerations 228
1. The rationale of using the mainland coasts in a territorial sea delimitation
between States having opposite coasts 228
2. The consequences 230
B. Application of the mainland-to-mainland method in the present case 231
1. The provisional median line 231
a) The provisional median line cannot be drawn from the baselines claimed by
Bahrain 232
(i) Basepoints used for delimitation purposes 233
(ii) The Court's task is not "to split the difference" between the two
extreme claims 236
b) The drawing of the provisional median line from relevant points on the two
mainland coasts 237
2. The adjustment of the median line 237
C. The taking into account of the 1947 line 239
1 See, paras. 6.71, et seq., above.
2 See, ibid.
3 BM, para. 567.
4 BM, para. 606.
5 See, paras. 6.12, et seq., above.
6 See, BM, paras. 589, et seq.
7 BM, para. 581.
8 BM, para. 626.
9 BM, para. 620.
10 Ibid.
11 See, paras. 8.48, et seq., below.12 BM, para. 606.
13 Ibid.
14 BM, para. 626.
15 QM, Chaps. X and XI.
16 BM, para. 40.
17 BM, paras. 569 and 574.
18 QM, Annex IV.116, Vol. 10, p. 75.
19 See, QM, paras. 10.34, et seq., and QM, Annex IV.254, Vol. 12, p. 17.
20 See, QM, Annex IV.245, Vol. 11, p. 411.
21 QM, para. 11.17; see, also, B. Oxman, "Political, Strategic and Historical Considerations",
in Charney & Alexander (eds.), op. cit., Vol. I, p. 4, (in particular pp. 34-36).
22 Charney & Alexander (eds.), op. cit., Vol. II, pp. 1701-1707.
23 Ibid., pp. 1959-1969 and 1971-1978.
24 Ibid., pp. 1979-1987.
25 Ibid., pp. 1989-1996.
26 QM, paras. 12.8-12.9, 12.37, et seq., and 12.41-12.42; BM, paras. 637, 651 and 655.
27 Charney & Alexander (eds.), op. cit., Vol. II, pp. 1752-1753.
28 Ibid., pp. 1571-1580.
29 QM, para. 11.19.
30 See, paras. 6.57, et seq., above.
31 QM, Annex IV.72, Vol. 9, p. 349. See, also, Charney & Alexander (eds.), op. cit., Vol. I,
pp. 639-689.
32 Charney & Alexander (eds.), op. cit., p. 668. See, Map No. 4 facing this page.
33 QM, para. 11.36.
34 BM, para. 609.
35 QM, para. 11.37.36 BM, paras. 614 and 691 (concerning "the alternative maritime boundary" claimed by
Bahrain).
37 BM, para. 615.
38 BM, para. 619.
39 BM, para. 615.
40 BM, paras. 631 and 694.
41 BM, para. 631.
42 Oxman, op. cit., QCM, Annex IV.51, Vol. 4, p. 397, at p. 400.
43 I.C.J. Reports 1985, p. 42, para. 51.
44 Ibid.
45 BM, paras. 619, et seq., and 689.
46 See, paras. 6.79, et seq., above.
47 QCM, Annex IV.33, Vol. 4, p. 265, at p. 267 and p. 271.
48 See, para. 6.3, above.
49 See, para. 7.22, above.
50 BM, para. 609.
51 BM, paras. 610-611.
52 Para. 70 of the decision of 30 June 1977 (QCM, Annex IV.34, Vol. 4, p. 273, at pp. 281-
282), quoted by the Court in its Judgment of 14 June 1993, I.C.J. Reports 1993, pp. 60-61,
para. 51.
53 I.C.J. Reports 1993, p. 62, para. 55.
54 See, paras. 7.33, et seq., below.
55 See, QM, para. 11.37.
56 See, P. Weil, "A propos de la double fonction des lignes et points de base dans le droit de
la mer", Essays in Honour of Judge Taslim Olawale Elias, Dordrecht/Boston/London, 1992,
Vol. I, QCM, Annex IV.56, Vol. 4, p. 429, in particular pp. 434-442.
57 I.C.J. Reports 1982, p. 76, para. 104.
58 Ibid.59 I.C.J. Reports 1984, p. 332, para. 210.
60 Weil, "A propos de la double fonction des lignes et points de base dans le droit de la mer",
op. cit., QCM, Annex IV.56, Vol. 4, p. 429, at p. 441.
61 I.C.J. Reports 1985, p. 48, para. 64.
62 Ibid.
63 Para. 19 of the decision, QCM, Annex IV.34, Vol. 4, p. 273, at p. 279.
64 QCM, Annex IV.33, Vol. 4, p. 265, at p. 268.
65 Ibid., at p. 279.
66 Weil, "A propos de la double fonction des lignes et points de base dans le droit de la mer",
op. cit., QCM, Annex IV.56, Vol. 4, p. 429, at p. 442:
"Il ne suffit donc pas qu'une ligne droite reliant deux ou plusieurs points serve (ou puisse
servir) légitimement de ligne de base à un calcul de la largeur de la mer territoriale et des
autres juridictions maritimes d'un Etat pour que cette ligne doive nécessairement être retenue
par le juge ou l'arbitre comme base pour le tracé d'une délimitation maritime entre cet Etat et
un Etat voisin dont les côtes sont adjacentes aux siennes ou leur font face.
Il ne suffit pas non plus qu'un point saillant de la côte, une île, un îlot, un rocher, un haut-fond
découvrant, puisse être considéré comme engendrant une mer territoriale propre ou comme
susceptible juridiquement de faire partie des lignes de base de la mer territoriale d'un Etat
donné pour que, pour cette seule raison, ce saillant, île, îlot, rocher, haut-fond découvrant soit
à regarder comme un point de base approprié pour la construction d'une ligne de délimitation
entre l'Etat intéressé et un autre Etat dont les côtes font face aux siennes ou lui sont
adjacentes".
67 Case concerning Maritime Delimitation in the Area between Greenland and Jan Mayen,
I.C.J. Reports 1993, p. 64, para. 59.
68 Ibid.
69 Ibid., p. 47, para. 19 and p. 64, para. 59.
70 See, QM, para. 11.37.
71 Qatar considers that the median line suggested by Bahrain is unacceptable for the reasons
given in paras. 7.31, et seq., above.
72 BM, para. 631.
73 BM, para. 694.
74 BM, para. 631.75 QM, para. 12.32. See, also, para. 8.101, below. Due to a technical error, slightly different
lengths were given in para. 9.5 of Qatar's Memorial.
76 I.C.J. Reports 1984, p. 336, para. 222.
77 Ibid., p. 323, para. 185.
78 Case concerning Maritime Delimitation in the Area between Greenland and Jan Mayen,
I.C.J. Reports 1993, pp. 68-69, para. 68.
79 I.C.J. Reports 1985, p. 51, para. 72.
80 See, QM, paras. 11.35, et seq.
81 See QM, para. 10.21.
82 QM, para. 11.3. See, also, QM, para. 11.19.
83 QM, para. 11.34.
84 QM, paras. 11.21, et seq.
85 QM, paras. 11.27, et seq.
86 QM, Annex IV.193, Vol. 10, p. 473, at p. 476.
87 See, QM, paras. 10.16, et seq.
88 Judgment of 12 October 1984, Gulf of Maine case, I.C.J. Reports 1984, p. 330, para. 202.
89 See, QM, para. 11.33 and QM, Map 16, Vol. 17.
__________
CHAPTER VIII
THE SINGLE MARITIME BOUNDARY IN THE NORTHERN SECTOR
Section 1. General remarks
8.1 According to Bahrain, the maritime delimitation in the northern sect1r is to be made in the
area lying "to the north of the line from Fasht ad Dibal to Ra's Rakan" up to the continental
shelf boundary determined by the agreement concluded on 20 September 1969 between Qatar
and Iran2. Bahrain claims a dividing line linking points O, Q, R, S, T, U and Z (see, Map No.
8, facing this page). However, the superficial discussion that Bahrain devotes to an attempt to
4
justify this line in its Memorial suffers from two main defects: first, there are surprising
omissions; and second, the result is a clearly inequitable delimitation. A. The omissions in the Bahrain Memorial
8.2 As already noted , one of the most significant omissions is that Bahrain's Memorial
contains only a few discreet allusions to the British decision of 23 December 1947 . However,
it is difficult to ignore this decision as a relevant circumstance, since it is an important
element in the delimitation not only in the southern sector, but also in the northern sector. As
Qatar has already shown , a large part of the maritime area lying to the north of a line drawn
between the northernmost points of Al Muharraq and the Qatar peninsula has already 8een
delimited, by that same British decision, between points N, NSLB and BLV . This is therefore
a very strange omission on the part of Bahrain, which can hardly be explained other than by a
desire to disregard or forget circumstances which it finds embarrassing.
8.3 The Court will also note Bahrain's second omission concerning the Memorandum sent on
16 August 1961 by the Ruler of Bahrain to the British Government, seeking a revision of the
9
1947 British decision .
8.4 Finally, although Bahrain's Memorial deals, albeit incompletely, with oil development in
the southern sector where Qatar and Bahrain are opposite each other , it remains silent as to
the history of the petroleum permits granted by Qatar and Bahrain in the northern sector. This
omission is no doubt largely due to the fact that Bahrain's oil activities in the northern sector
have always been located to the west of the dividing line N, NSLB, BLV, 2 (2B) claimed by
Qatar , with the exception of the Athari 1 well, which lies just to the east of the BLV-2 (2B)
12
segment of that line . It may also be explained by the fact that the western limit of the
concession granted by Qatar to Wintershall in 1973 also undermines Bahrain's claim based on
alleged "historic rights to the pearling banks" in the northern sector , and highlights the
unreasonable nature of that claim.
B. The clearly inequitable nature of the maritime boundary claimed by Bahrain in the
northern sector
8.5 The dividing line claimed by Bahrain in the northern sector links points O, Q, R, S, T, U
and Z 14. Map No. 8, facing page 243 shows that Bahrain's claim is a maximalist claim and
that its proposed delimitation would produce a wholly unreasonable and inequitable result.
The method adopted by Bahrain, and the results thereof, take no account of the actual
geographical situation nor, in particular, of the geographical relationship existing between the
Parties to the present case. Bahrain's line makes no allowance for the normal seaward
projection of Qatar's coasts, and encroaches upon the natural prolongation of Qatar in the
geographical sense of the term. In this context, it is necessary to bear in mind the principle
mentioned by the Arbitral Tribunal in its award of 14 February 1985 in the maritime boundary
delimitation case between Guinea and Guinea-Bissau:
"Pour faire reposer une délimitation sur une base équitable et objective, il faut autant que
possible chercher à assurer à chaque Etat le contrôle des territoires maritimes situés en face de
16
ses côtes et dans leur voisinage" .
8.6 Moreover, the first section of the maritime boundary claimed by Bahrain, linking points
17
O, Q and R , is untenable. The construction of the so-called "equidistance line", which rests
upon a closing line between Dibal and Ras Rakan, is certainly not in conformity with the law
of maritime delimitation. As has already been shown above, Dibal is not an appropriate
basepoint for such a construction 18. As the Parties agree , Dibal is a low-tide elevation which,given its geographical location, cannot be considered as an integral part of the coastline of
20
Bahrain .
8.7 The second section of the maritime boundary claimed by Bahrain in the northern sector,
linking points R, S, T, U and Z , is equally untenable . Bahrain characterises this section as
an adjustment made to the equidistance line on the basis of "Bahrain's historic rights to the
pearling banks" lying to the north and north-east of Qatar. In fact, it is a significant
modification made by Bahrain to the already unacceptable equidistance line , to its own great
advantage. This modification which, according to Bahrain, results from an allegedly relevant
circumstance relating to sedentary fisheries that have not existed for more than half a century,
a circumstance which has been consistently disregarded by the jurisprudence, is highly
abusive. In its judgment of 12 October 1984, the Chamber strongly criticised Canada for
advancing a similarly extreme modification in the Gulf of Maine case:
"... instead of taking into account other special circumstances which might be present in the
area to be delimited and which might - with perhaps greater justification - have suggested the
desirability, or even the necessity, of correcting the original line by displacing it towards the
Nova Scotia coast, [Canada] only took into account a special circumstance which might
operate in its favour and enable it to displace the line still more towards the opposite coast of
Massachusetts" . 24
Exactly the same is true of Bahrain in the present case.
8.8 Qatar will demonstrate that the maritime boundary claimed by Bahrain in the northern
sector cannot be justified. Not only does it take no account of the geographical realities of the
area, as will be seen in Section 3, but it has no legal basis whatsoever, as will be seen in
Section 4. In Section 5 it will be shown that the delimitation proposed by Qatar is the only one
to ensure an equitable result, in conformity with the applicable customary international law.
However, it will first be shown, in Section 2, that there are some points of agreement between
the Parties on this aspect of the case before the Court.
Section 2. Points of agreement between the Parties in the northern sector
A. The Parties' agreement as to the nature of the dividing line to be determined by the
Court
8.9 It is hardly necessary to mention the first point upon which Qatar and Bahrain are in
agreement with respect to mari25me delimitation, which is that the Court is requested to draw
a single maritime boundary .
8.10 This agreement as to the necessity for a single dividing line naturally does not mean that
there is agreement between the Parties as to its course nor as to the defi26tion of the
delimitation area in the northern sector. For Qatar, as already noted , the relevant
delimitation area in this sector is situated to the north of a closing line linking points RK and
MQ, i.e. the northernmost points of the Qatar peninsula and of the island of Al Muharraq 27,
28
and the boundary has already been determined up to point BLV ; consequently, to the north 29
of that point, the delimitation is entirely new. For Bahrain, as has also already been noted ,
the delimitation area in the northern sector is quite different. From Bahrain's point of view,
"[t]he northern sector... lies to the north of the line from Fasht ad Dibal to Ra's Rakan" 30. It
should be added that the Parties' disagreement as to the determination of the delimitation areain the northern sector relates not only to its southern limit, corresponding to the closing line of
the area where Qatar and Bahrain face each other directly, but also to the eastern and western,
and even the northern limits, despite the Parties' agreement in principle that the existing
31
delimitations between themselves and Iran have to be taken into consideration, insofar as the
determination of the points of intersection of the eastern and western limits with the northern
limit is concerned . The Court will in addition note that a large part of Bahrain's line in the
northern sector is, in its most extreme segments , to the east of the delimitation area as
defined by Qatar.
B. The Parties' agreement to take into consideration the delimitation agreements with
Iran
8.11 The second point upon which Qatar and Bahrain are in agreement is that the continental
34
shelf delimitat35n agreements concluded by them with Iran on 20 September 1969 and
17 June 1971 , respectively, must be taken into consideration. For Qatar, these agreements
must be taken into account in order to achieve an equitable result in the maritime delimitation
to be effected in the northern sector . Similarly, for Bahrain, this delimitation has to be made
37
"in the context of the existing agreements" concluded between the Parties and Iran . Thus,
for both Parties, the dividing line established by treaty with Iran in the central part of the
Arabian-Persian Gulf cannot be disregarded in the present case, even though that dividing line
38
concerns only the continental shelf . It has an inevitable impac39on the determi40tion in the
present case of the Qatar/Iran/Bahrain tripoint. Both Qatar and Bahrain claim, as the end-
point of the maritime boundary in the northern sector, a point on the boundary established by
the agreements that they concluded in 1969 and 1971 with Iran. But, naturally, this point is
41
not the same: for Qatar, it is point 2 (2B) of the 1971 agreement between Bahrain and Iran ;
for Bahrain, it is point 2 (2Q) of the 1969 agreement between Qatar and Iran . 42
8.12 The Parties are also in agreement in acknowledging that these two continental shelf
delimitation agreements raise a difficulty of interpretation for the determination of the
segment of the dividing line where the Qatar/Iran and the Bahrain/Iran boundaries meet. In
Qatar's view, these agreements of 1969 and 1971 defined 43ither point 1 of the Qatar/Iran
boundary nor point 1 of the Bahrain/Iran boundary . As for Bahrain, it considers that the
"point of termination of the maritime boundary in each of these agreements is determined
only by reference to an azimuth" 44.
8.13 However, as already noted , among the previous conventional delimitations to be taken
into consideration, the Bahrain Memorial, unlike the Qatar Memorial 46, does not mention the
agreement on delimitation of 47e continental shelf concluded on 22 February 1958 between
Saudi Arabia and Bahrain . The dividing line laid down by that agreement is not, of course,
as a whole a relevant circumstance for the maritime delimitation in the present case.
Nevertheless, a part of it cannot be disregarded, i.e. the northernmost segment lying between
point WB to the north of point S.14 of that boundary and point 4 of the Bahrain/Iran
agreement of 1971, which coincides with the terminal point of the Saudi Arabia/Bahrain
agreement of 1958, thus forming the Saudi Arabia/Bahrain/Iran tripoint 48. This segment from
WB to 4 (4B) is in fact the northern part of the weste49 boundary of the area to be delimited
between Qatar and Bahrain in the northern sector . Therefore, from Qatar's point of view, it
is necessary to take into consideration as a relevant circumstance the 1958 delimitation
agreement between Saudi Arabia and Bahrain for the above-mentioned part of the dividing
line, and in particular, as will be seen below, in order to make the proportionality calculationswhich are necessary to test the equity of the maritime boundary claimed by Qatar in the
50
northern sector .
C. The partial agreement of the Parties as to the law applicable to the present dispute
8.14 The third point upon which Qatar and Bahrain are in agreement, at least partially,
concerns the law applicable to the maritime delimitation in the northern sector. For Qatar, it is
quite clear that "the principles of customary international law relating to maritime
delimitation, as identified inter alia by the jurisprudence, will... be applicable to 51e
delimitation of the continental shelf and fishing zones in the northern sector" . More
precisely, Qatar has shown in its Memorial that three guidelines were naturally to be followed
in delimiting the maritime areas situated to the north of point BLV. First, the delimitation
must be made in accordance with the "fundamental norm" that equitable principles must be
applied in drawing the dividing line and that all relevant circumstances must be taken into
account in order to reach an equitable result . Second, the principles applicable to the
delimitation of maritime areas lying outside the Parties' territorial waters are the same,
53
whether they are applied to the continental shelf, fishing zones or exclusive economic zones .
Finally, for the delimitation in the northern sector, particular attention should be paid to a
principle that is constantly referred to in the jurisprudence, namely "equity does not
54
necessarily imply equality" .
8.15 Bahrain's position concerning the law applicable to the maritime delimitation in the
northern sector is identical to Qatar's on certain essential points. First, Bahrain is in agreement
with Qatar when Qatar "requests that the Court decide 'in accordance with international law'"
and states that "[t]he Court is thus asked by the two parties to decide in law, and not ex aequo
et bono" . Bahrain is also in agreement with Qatar when it argues, like Qatar , that neither
the 1958 Geneva Conventions nor the 1982 Convention on the Law of the Sea are in force
between the Parties, and when it infers from this fact that:
"The maritime delimitation in the present case therefore falls to be effected in accordance
with the principles and rules of customary international law. The applicable legal principles
and rules are contemporary legal principles and rules, as they are expressed in State practice,
in the decisions of the Court and of international arbitral tribunals, and in provisions of
international conventions which reflect the state of customary international law" 57.
58
Finally, like Qatar , and referring in particular to the Court's Judgment of 14 June 1993 in the
Denmark/Norway case , Bahrain argues that "the fundamental principle is that of the search
for an equitable result" and that it is necessary to take into consideration "the 'relevant
circumstances' which custom61y international law requires to be taken into account in all
maritime delimitations" .
8.16 The concurrence of the Parties' positions as to the law applicable to the maritime
delimitation in the northern sector is, however, not as complete as, prima facie, one might
think. Indeed, in its discussion of this point, the Bahrain Memorial displays certain
deficiencies to which Qatar must draw attention. Thus, whereas Qatar lays considerable
emphasis upon the three universally acknowledged components of the "fundamental norm"
concerning mariti62 delimitation - equitable principles, relevant circumstances and an
equitable result - and attributes equal value to them, Bahrain more or less disregards the first
component, i.e. equitable principles, to which it refers only once, and then indirectly . This 63
reserve, which is quite unusual in cases of this kind, betrays a certain unease or hesitancy asregards the basis of Bahrain's position. In fact, Bahrain is effectively ignoring certain
significant considerations of equity. For example, Bahrain ignores even the most undisputed
equitable principle with respect to which, as Professor Weil has stressed, "the courts are
unanimous" , namely the principle that "equity does not necessarily imply equality" . 65
Bahrain also ignores the equally well-established principle of non-encroachment which
requires that the chosen method of delimitation must not leav66one State with maritime areas
extending across the coasts of the other State concerned . Bahrain cannot, on the one hand,
claim to be applying customary international law to the maritime delimitation operation in the
northern sector and, on the other hand and at the same time, reject at least implicitly, or in any
event disregard, certain of the most important rules of that law by its extreme claim in that
same sector. Bahrain is in reality attempting, in its proposal for delimitation in the northern
sector , based upon its distorted statement of the applicable law, to "completely refashion
nature" or to "totally refashion geography", contrary to the principles constantly reiterated in
68
the jurisprudence of the Court .
Section 3. The maritime boundary claimed by Bahrain in the northern sector fails to
take "geographical realities" into account
8.17 In its Memorial Bahrain gives only a superficial and incomplete picture of the
geographical realities that are to be taken into consideration in making the maritime
delimitation in the northern sector. This is so when it states that "the northern sector does not,
unlike the69outhern sector, contain numerous insular and other legally relevant maritime
features" . It would have been more accurate to state that there are no islands, rocks or low-
tide elevations to interrupt the uniformity of the sea-bed in the maritime areas lying off the
north of Qatar and to the north of point BLV. Bahrain has omitted to mention that:
"... the sea-bed in that area is characterised by its geological and geomorphological unity.
There is no fundamental discontinuity forming a sort of natural boundary to interrupt the
extension of Qatar's continental shelf towards the north and north-west, or that of Bahrain's
70
continental shelf towards the east and north-east" .
8.18 Moreover, Bahrain's Memorial gives a one-sided and distorted picture of the
geographical facts , which are decisive for the maritime delimitation in the northern sector,
and although their legal relevance has consistently been reiterated in the jurisprudence. As the
Chamber recalled in its Judgment of 12 October 1984 in the case concerning maritime
delimitation in the area of the Gulf of Maine, the identification of the relevant equitable
principles and the choice of the practical methods of delimitation "are basically founded upon
72
geography", and these methods must be "use[d] against a background of geography" . This
should naturally be understood to mean, as the Court noted in its Judgment of 3 June 1985 in
the case concerning the Continental Shelf (Libyan Arab Jamahiriya/Malta), "the general
geographical context in which the delimitation will have to be effected" . But above all, to
use Professor Weil's words, one should be aware that "it is, of course, the physical aspect
which has held the attention of the courts, to the point of becoming the most important
relevant circumstance" 74. And the same author expresses the same fundamental idea when he
asserts that "There is... one circumstance which the courts are agreed is relevant: the coastal
75
geography" .
A. Bahrain has wrongly characterised the delimitation to be performed in the northern
sector8.19 In Bahrain's view, the delimitation to be performed in the northern sector "is a
76
delimitation between adjacent, rather than opposite, coasts" . This characterisation of the
geographical situation in this area is a mere assertion made without any justification. In any
event, it is not a proper analysis of the situation . Indeed, the northern sector is quite clearly a
prolongation of the southern sector, which is an obvious case of delimitation between States
with opposite coasts. Nevertheless, "the delimitation in this area cannot be categorized as a
delimitation relating to a situation of 'adjacent States'", yet the delimitation area in the
northern sector lies off, rather than between, the area where the respective coasts of the Parties
are opposite each other . This is why Qatar, with a view to achieving as objective as possible
an analysis, was determined not to be locked into the alternative between "opposite States"
and "adjacent States", and maintained that it was unnecessary to make this categorisation in
the northern sector, because in the final analysis, the rules expressed in both 1958 and 1982
are essentially the same in both situations, and the jurisprudence attaches no decisive
79
importance to this distinction .
8.20 Qatar would nevertheless observe that if, as Bahrain alleges, the delimitation in the
northern sector were to be treated as a lateral delimitation between adjacent States, it would
80
be necessary to draw all the consequences from this situation . But this is exactly what
Bahrain has failed to do in the present case.
8.21 In order to be consistent with its acknowledgment of the distinction between opposite
and adjacent coasts and with its own categorisation of the northern sector, Bahrain should
have applied in the present case all the legal consequences that the jurisprudence has drawn
from the distinction. It should not be forgotten that the Court confirmed this distinction in its
Judgment of 3 June 1985 in the Libya/Malta Continental Shelf case, and that in that Judgment
it recalled "the precise reason" why the Court, in its Judgment of 1969, made a distinction
between the effects of an equidistance line, depending on whether the coasts are opposite or
adjacent:
"In the latter situation, any distorting effect of a salient feature might well extend and increase
through the entire course of the boundary; whilst in the former situation, the influence of one
feature is normally quickly succeeded and corrected by the influence of another, as the course
of the line proceeds between more or less parallel coasts" 81.
In thus endorsing the dichotomy between opposite and adjacent coasts, and in putting the
maritime delimitation in the northern sector directly into the category of lateral adjacency,
Bahrain should have taken into account the warning contained in the Court's dictum cited
above, in order to achieve an equitable result. Yet by relying on the feature of Dibal, this is
precisely what Bahrain has failed to do when constructing the OQR equidistance line in the
northern sector . It has not taken into account the "distorting effect of a salient feature"
constituted by that low-tide elevation, an effect which not only, as the Court foresaw, "might
83
well extend and increase through the entire course of the boundary" , but which increases
even further when Bahrain relies upon the alleged relevant circumstance of "Bahrain's historic
rights to the pearling banks" 84to make, from point R to point Z (2Q) , a considerable
adjustment to the equidistance line . 86
B. The course of Bahrain's line in the northern sector takes no account of the disparity
or disproportion between the lengths of the relevant coasts of the Parties8.22 In determining the law that is applicable to this maritime dispute, Bahrain has completely
ignored the equitable principle that is 87st frequently referred to by the jurisprudence, namely
that "equity does not imply equality" . In this context, Qatar would draw attention to the
following two facts. First, Bahrain omits any reference to a geographical fact which is of
decisive importance in the present dispute, namely the disparity in the lengths of the Parties'
relevant coasts: thus, Bahrain has ignored the primacy in maritime delimit88ions of coastal
geography, which has always been relied upon by the jurisprudence . On the other hand,
Bahrain has made numerous references to the kind of general economic considerations that
have always been disregarded by the Court and arbitral tribunals.
1. Bahrain's silence with respect to coastal geography
8.23 In its general geographical description of the area and in the characteristics it identifies
for purposes of maritime delimitation, Bahrain makes no mention of the most significant
characteristic of what it calls "the geographical relationship between the respective coasts of
Bahrain and Qatar" 90, namely the disparity or disproportion between the respective lengths of
the Parties' relevant coasts. Yet Bahrain takes no account of this factor in the line that it
91 92
proposes to the Court, either in the southern or the nor93ern sector, despite the
proportionality ratio of 1.59 to 1 in favour of Qatar .
8.24 Bahrain's failure to mention this disproportion in the lengths of the coasts of Qatar and
Bahrain is all the more surprising in view of the fact that the jurisprudence has consistently
acknowledged that coastal geography, of which the lengths of the coastal fronts are a major
element, plays a fundamental role in the law of maritime delimitation. In its Memorial, Qatar
has already mentioned some of the most significant dicta to be found in the jurisprudence . 94
Mention will be made here only of the most recent illustration given by the Court in its
Judgment of 14 June 1993 in the Denmark/Norway case, when it held that:
"... the frequent references in the case-law to the idea of proportionality - or disproportion -
confirm the importance of the proposition that an equitable delimitation must, in such
circumstances, take into account the disparity between the respective coastal lengths of the
relevant area" 95.
2. Bahrain's use of general economic considerations that have consistently been rejected
by the jurisprudence
a) Disparity of natural resources
8.25 First, Bahrain emphasizes the disparity in the natural resources of the Parties, in
particular their respective oil and natural gas resources and reserves , with the consequences
that this disparity entails for the per capita income of their populations 9. Thus, Bahrain is
adopting, at least implicitly, the strategy outlined by Professor Weil, according to whom "In
certain cases, the State endowed with fewer natural resources... has argued that equity requires
that the delimitation should not aggravate, indeed should correct, this imbalance" 98. Yet the
response of the Court and of international tribunals to this has been consistent and unanimous;
as the same author has remarked:
"Here, the courts have shown themselves particularly firm. The greater wealth of the one, the
more conspicuous poverty of the other, especially in energy or fishery resources, are notfactors which can have any influence on the assessment of the equity of the provisional line of
equidistance, or of any other line" 99.
8.26 Thus, in the Tunisia/Libya Continental Shelf case, Tunisia had insisted upon "its relative
poverty vis-à-vis Libya in terms of absence of natural resources like agriculture and minerals,
compared with the relative abundance in Libya, especially of oil and gas wealth as well as
agricultural resources" 100. But in its Judgment of 24 February 1982, the Court rejected this
point of view, holding that:
"... these economic considerations cannot be taken into account for the delimitation of the
continental shelf areas appertaining to each Party. They are virtually extraneous factors since
they are variables which unpredictable national fortune or calamity, as the case may be, might
at any time cause to tilt the scale one way or the other. A country might be poor today and
become rich tomorrow as a result of an event such as the discovery of a valuable economic
resource" 10.
8.27 The Court confirmed this view in its Judgment of 3 June 1985 in the Libya/Malta
Continental Shelf case. It rejected Malta's theory, according to which "the relevant equitable
considerations... include the absence of energy resources on the island of Malta, its
requirements as an island developing country, and the range of its established fishing
102
activity" . Indeed, it stated that:
"The Court does not... consider that a delimitation should be influenced by the relative
economic position of the two States in question, in such a way that the area of continental
shelf regarded as appertaining to the less rich of the two States would be somewhat increased
in order to compensate for its inferiority in economic resources. Such considerations are 103
totally unrelated to the underlying intention of the applicable rules of international law" .
8.28 In other words, Bahrain's arguments as to the relevance of the disparity between the
Parties as regards natural resources are clearly contrary to the jurisprudence of the Court
104
when, as in the present case, it has not been authorised to decide ex aequo et bono .
b) Traditional fishing activities
8.29 At this stage of the Counter-Memorial, it should be stressed from a general perspective
that the jurisprudence concerning maritime delimitation has consistently sought to down-play
the legal consequences of economic factors taken as a whole, and particularly of traditional
fishing activities in the areas concerned. Thus, in its Judgment of 12 October 1984 in the Gulf
of Maine case (where the Chamber was also called upon to delimit a single maritime
boundary), the Chamber rejected the position of the United States, which relied on its
nationals' traditional fishing activities:
"... it can only confirm its decision not to ascribe any decisive weight, for the purposes of the
delimitation it is charged to carry out, to the antiquity or continuity of fishing activities carried
on in 105 past within that part of the delimitation area which lies outside the closing line of the
Gulf" .
The Chamber then added, in terms which must be repeated, since they apply precisely to the
present case:"Until very recently... these expanses were part of the high seas and as such freely open to the
fishermen not only of the United States and Canada but also of other countries, and they were
indeed fished by very many nationals of the latter. The Chamber of course readily allows that,
during that period of free competition, the United States, as the coastal State, may have been
able at certain places and times - no matter for how long - to achieve an actual predominance
for its fisheries. But after the coastal States had set up exclusive 200-mile fishery zones, the
situation radically altered. Third States and their nationals found themselves deprived of any
right of access to the sea areas within those zones and of any position of advantage they might
have been able to achieve within them. As for the United States, any mere factual
predominance which it had been able to secure in the area was transformed into a situation of
legal monopoly to the extent that the localities in question became legally part of its own
exclusive fishery zone. Conversely, to the extent that they had become part of the exclusive
fishery zone of the neighbouring State, no reliance could any longer be placed on that
predominance. Clearly, whatever preferential situation the United States may previously have
enjoyed, this cannot constitute in itself a valid ground for its now claiming the incorporation
into its ow106xclusive fishery zone of any area which, in law, has become part of
Canada's" .
And the Chamber concluded:
"In any case, the purpose of the delimitation cannot conceivably be held to lie in the
maintenance of such a position, or even of its restoration in the event of its having weakened
in the course of time... However, there is no reason to consider de jure that the delimitation
which the Chamber has now to carry out within the areas of overlapping apparent as between
the respective exclusive fishery zones must result in each Party's enjoying an access to the
107
regional fishing resources which will be equal to the access it previously enjoyed de facto" .
c) The role of present-day or recent fishing activities
8.30 It must be added that it is not only traditional but even present-day or recent fishing
activities, together with access to fisheries in the disputed area, that international tribunals
consider as largely irrelevant for the purposes of determination of a single maritime boundary.
Thus, in the Gulf of Maine case, the Chamber declared that:
"It is, therefore... evident that the respective scale of activities connected with fishing... cannot
be taken into account as a relevant circumstance or, if the term is preferred, as an equitable
108
criterion to be applied in determining the delimitation line" .
8.31 The same approach may be found in the arbitral award of 10 June 1992 in the Case
concerning the Delimitation of Maritime Areas between Canada and the French Republic.
While accepting that access to the fisheries in the disputed zone lay at the centre of the case
on delimitation, the arbitral tribunal confirmed that "the criteria governing delimitation are to
be found primarily in the geographical facts"; it acknowledged "that it has not been requested
or authorized to apportion resources on the basis of need or other economic factors", and
concluded that "economic dependence and needs were not taken into account in the process of
delimitation, as described above" 109.
8.32 More generally still, in its Judgment of 14 June 1993 in the case concerning Maritime
Delimitation in the Area between Greenland and Jan Mayen, the Court rejected Denmark's
view that significant differences in "socio-economic factors" between Greenland and JanMayen were relevant for the purposes of delimitation. In particular, Denmark had asserted
"the importance for Greenland of fishing and fisheries-related activities, which constitute the
mainstay of its economy", whereas "Norwegian fishing interests in the waters surrounding Jan
Mayen are... the interests of mainland Norway, not of Jan Mayen as such, where there are no
fishermen" 110. Denmark had even "relied on what it refers to as the 'cultural factor', the
attachment of the people of Greenland to their land and the surrounding sea" 111. Yet the Court
accepted none of these arguments, since the absence of local fishing activities on Jan Mayen
and, more generally, the socio-economic factors of the States concerned were not
circumstances to be taken into account in the delimitation operation. Thus, in the final
analysis, in the Court's opinion, "the attribution of maritime areas to the territory of a State,
which, by its nature, is destined to be permanent, is a l112l process based solely on the
possession by the territory concerned of a coastline" .
8.33 In conclusion, therefore, Bahrain's position concerning maritime delimitation in the
northern sector conflicts with customary international law and consistent jurisprudence. First,
Bahrain cannot invoke any alleged disparity in the existing or potential natural resources of
the States concerned. Second, Bahrain equally cannot invoke the fishing activities that it may
have had in the past to the north of Qatar, nor the socio-economic or cultural factors that it
might still invoke today, in order to obtain a deviation in the course of the maritime
delimitation in the northern sector in its own favour and to Qatar's disadvantage. Finally, and
above all, it must never be forgotten that an operation of this kind, performed in accordance
with the international law of maritime delimitation, must be made in particular on the basis of
the geographical facts and in particular the coastal geography of the States concerned. By
failing to mention the geographical relationship between the Parties' respective coasts, and by
disregarding completely the disproportion between the respective lengths of their coastal
fronts, Bahrain has refashioned geography, or refashioned nature. It has contravened "the
equitable principle that nature must be respected" 113, since it is quite true that equity does not
114
"seek to make equal what nature has made unequal" .
C. The line drawn by Bahrain takes no account of the maritime projection of Qatar in
the northern sector and ignores the principle of non-encroachment
115
8.34 As has already been noted , in its examination of the law applicable to the present
maritime delimitation Bahrain has been curiously silent as regards one of the equitable
principles that is frequently relied upon in maritime delimitation cases, namely the principle
of non-encroachment, according to which the line of delimitation must not cut off the natural
maritime projections of the States concerned. Indeed, it is beyond dispute that the jurisdiction
of coastal States over their territorial waters is derived from their sovereignty over their land
territory; as early as its Judgment of 18 December 1951 in the Fisheries case, the Court had
proclaimed "the close dependence of the territorial sea upon the land domain. It is the land
116
which confers upon the coastal State a right to the waters off its coasts" . Nor can it be
disputed that the sovereign rights exercised by coastal States over the resources of the
continental shelf and superjacent waters are derived from their sovereignty over land territory.
The Court's dictum, in its Judgment of 20 February 1969, according to which "it is...
necessary to examine closely the geographical configuration of the coastlines of the
countries... since the land is the l117l source of the power which a State may exercise over
territorial extensions to seaward" is just as applicable to fishing zones and the exclusive
economic zone as it is to the contiguous zone and the continental shelf. But as has been
noted 118, a glance at the maps where Bahrain's line is shown 119 is sufficient to show just howfar Bahrain infringes these fundamental principles and disregards, from a third point of view,
"the geographical facts" which must form the basis for the delimitation in the northern sector.
8.35 The maritime boundary claimed by Bahrain in the northern sector cuts off to a great
extent Qatar's natural maritime projection towards the open sea. Bahrain's line implies that the
coastal front on the north of the Qatar peninsula is not entitled to its natural extension in the
direction of the central part of the Arabian-Persian Gulf which has already been delimited by
the agreements concluded by Iran in 1969 and 1971 with Qatar and Bahrain, respectively.
Indeed, point U, which is the easternmost point on Bahrain's line, is at longitude 51°38'E,
which more or less forms a tangent with Qatar's eastern coast. In other words, Bahrain's line
encroaches upon and cuts off a considerable part of Qatar's natural prolongation towards the
North.
8.36 Whe120s Qatar's line, constructed in accordance with the modified perpendicularity
method , makes full allowance for Bahrain's maritime projection in the northern sector,
without the slightest encroachment, Bahrain's line literally separates the coast of Qatar from
its natural maritime projection, because it has no normal or logical connection with Bahrain's
landmass 121. Bahrain's line gives an exaggerated, distorting and disproportionate effect to a
minor feature, Dibal, which is not even a point of land on the coastline, but simply a low-tide
elevation situated "on the wrong side of the median line" which, as will be shown, can in no
event serve as a basepoint under customary international law 122for the delimitation in the
northern sector. Thus, Bahrain's line is incompatible with the basic geographical relationship
between the Parties' respective coasts. It takes no account of the natural links between Qatar's
coastal front and its projection in the northern sector. In a word, it is a clear infringement of
the principle of non-encroachment.
8.37 The principle of non-encroachment has frequently been applied by international
tribunals, as a clear reflection of reason and equity. A trace of it may already be found in the
award of 23 October 1909 in the Grisbadarna case, where the arbitral tribunal ensured that
the principle of non-encroachment was complied with by effecting the delimitation using the
method of perpendicularity to the general direction of the coast in order to determine the
maritime boundary between Sweden and Norway in the area where their coasts are adjacent
"pour arriver à une détermination légitime et justifiée de la frontière" 12.
8.38 The principle of non-encroachment has been confirmed in modern jurisprudence. In
1969, in the North Sea Continental Shelf cases, the Court referred to it in order to exclude
application of the equidistance method which "would frequently cause areas which are the
natural prolongation or extension of the territory of one State to be attributed to another, when
the configuration of the latter's coast makes the equidistance line swing out laterally124ross the
former's coastal front, cutting it off from areas situated directly before that front" . Further,
in the Case concerning delimitation of the maritime boundary between Guinea and Guinea-
Bissau, the arbitral award of 14 February 1985 insisted forcefully, and on several occasions,
upon the importance of the principle of non-encroachment:
"Pour faire reposer une délimitation sur une base équitable et objective, il faut autant que
possible chercher à assurer à chaque Etat le contrôle des territoires maritimes situés en face de
ses côtes et dans leur voisinage" 125.
8.39 Moreover, Qatar would like to place particular emphasis on the Judgment of 3 June 1985
in the Libya/Malta case, where the Court identified the principle of non-encroachment as anequitable principle and analysed it minutely. Indeed, the Court first recalled that "equitable
126
principles are expressed in terms of general application" , then gave a few of the most
significant examples. First, the Court mentioned "the principle that there is to 127no question
of refashioning geography, or compensating for the inequalities of nature" , a principle
which, it may be remembered, holds a central place in the statement of Qatar's position 128and
is constantly infringed by Bahrain in drawing the dividing line that it puts forward for the
129
northern sector . Next, the Court added, as a second example of an equitable principle "of
general application", "the related principle of non-encroachment by one party on the natural
prolongation of the other, which is no more than the negative expression of the positive rule
that the coastal State enjoys sovereign rights over the continental shelf off its coasts to the full
130
extent authorised by international law in the relevant circumstances" .
8.40 The Court will note that the line claimed by Qatar in the northern sector does not
encroach upon the maritime areas lying off and in the neighbourhood of the coasts of Bahrain.
By way of contrast, Bahrain's line encroaches substantially upon Qatar's maritime projection,
because Bahrain's method of delimitation results in the attribution to it of maritime areas lying
directly off Qatar's northern coastal front. It is obvious that in the northern sector beyond
Qatar's territorial waters and even within its territorial waters to the west of segment OQ of
that line, Bahrain's line would prevent Qatar from exploiting the natural resources in the
maritime areas lying off its coasts, to which it is entitled under international law. And it is just
as obvious that in the same maritime areas Bahrain's line would prevent Qatar from ensuring
the legitimate protection of its defence and security interests . 131
Section 4. There is no legal basis for the single maritime boundary claimed by Bahrain
in the northern sector
8.41 The maritime boundary that Bahrain proposes to the Court in the northern sector is not
only ill-founded because it fails to take any account of the geographical facts. It is also ill-
founded because, as has just been seen with respect to the principle of non-encroachment, it is
devoid of any legal basis. Qatar has already illustrated this proposition with reference to each
of the two segments making up the line claimed by Bahrain in the northern sector 13. The
section OQR is clearly ill-founded because of the distorting effect of using Dibal as a
basepoint for the closing line used for the construction of Bahrain's equidistance line. The
section RSTUZ is also ill-founded in this case because of the unjustified corrections made by
Bahrain in its own favour to the course of its equidistance line.
A. Unacceptability of the first section, OQR, because of the disproportionate effect of
Dibal as a basepoint for the closing line used for the construction of Bahrain's
equidistance line
8.42 Qatar does not dispute that it might be possible to have re133rse to the equidistance
method for the maritime delimitation in the northern sector . However, Qatar takes issue
with the selection of basepoints by Bahrain for this purpose . As one learned commentator
has stated:
"La véritable difficulté de l'équidistance n'est pas de savoir si cette méthode possède ou non
une vertu intrinsèque ou est affligée de défauts inhérents, mais de déterminer à partir de quels
points la ligne d'équidistance sera construite. Equidistance entre quoi et quoi: voilà le
véritable problème" 13.The course of section OQR is based entirely upon a closing line from Ras Rakan to Dibal
which, 136Bahrain's view, defines the limit separating the southern sector from the northern
sector , and this closing line lacks any factual or legal137sis. As has already been shown in
the earlier discussion dealing with the southern sector , the choice of Dibal as a basepoint
for the construction of the equidistance line in the northern sector must be rejected for three
main reasons. First, Dibal is a low-tide elevation. Second, as such, and in view of its location,
it has no maritime area of its own, and cannot be used for purposes of calculating Bahrain's
territorial waters. Finally, and even assuming that Dibal could be used as a basepoint for
measuring the breadth of Bahrain's territorial sea, it can in no event be used as a basepoint for
the purposes of a maritime delimitation involving the construction of a single maritime
boundary.
1. Dibal falls within the category of low-tide elevations
8.43 The Parties' analysis of the nature of 138al is identical. According to Qatar, it is "clearly
a low-tide elevation in its natural form" , and Bahrain reaches a similar conclusion. Thus,
despite the fact that it wrongly claims sovereignty over Dibal 13, Bahrain does not characterise
this geographical feature as "an island" but as "a low-tide elevation" 140.
2. Dibal has no maritime areas of its own, and cannot be used for purposes of calculating
the outer limit of Bahrain's territorial waters
8.44 The first issue raised by Dibal, thus defined as a low-tide elevation, is whether it may be
used as a basepoint for the purpose of measuring the breadth of Bahrain's territorial sea.
According to Bahrain, there can be no doubt, since Dibal "is closer than 12 nautical miles to
Fasht al'Azm (i.e., to Sitrah) and to Qit'at Jaradah" 141. Thus, Bahrain argues that Qit'at Jaradah
is a true island142and that the low-water line of Sitrah island "is constituted by the low-water
143
line around Fasht al'Azm, which forms an integral part of Sitrah Island" . Therefore, in
Bahrain's view, Dibal may be used as a basepoint for measuring the breadth of its territorial
sea, from what it refers to as the "island" of Qit'at Jaradah and/or the "low-tide elevation" of
Fasht al-Azm. In the second hypothesis, as Article 13, paragraph 1 of the 1982 Convention on
the Law of the Sea provides:
"Where a low-tide elevation is situated wholly or partly at a distance not exceeding the
breadth of the territorial sea from the mainland or an island, the low-water line on that
elevation may be used as the baseline for measuring the breadth of the territorial sea" 144.
145
8.45 As has already been noted , Qatar disputes the line of argument advanced by Bahrain.
It is indeed contrary to customary international law to rely upon the low-water line of a
feature such as Fasht al-Azm, which Bahrain characterises as a low-tide elevation, in order to
use Dibal (which both Parties accept is a low-tide elevation) as a basepoint for the calculation
of the outer limit of Bahrain's territorial sea. Bahrain not only provides no evidence that Fasht
al-Azm is a low-tide elevation which, without the slightest interruption, forms a single block
with Sitrah island, but it seems to have serious doubts itself in this respect. Indeed, it refers,
significantly, to "Fasht al'Azam which (should the Court decline to recognise it to be an
integral part of Sitrah Island) is in a146case closer than 12 nautical miles to the main Bahrain
island, to Sitrah and to Umm Jalid" . As Qatar will demonstrate, there are two reasons which
turn this doubt into a certainty.8.46 The first reason is that a simple examination of the marine charts is sufficient to show
that there are evident contradictions with respect to the illustration of Fasht al-Azm between
the various Bahraini charts. Indeed, on the official Bahraini marine charts 147 and in particular
on chart No. 5001, at 1:50 000 scale, "Sitrah to Tighalib, published January 1987 by Ministry
of Housing, Survey Directorate, Hydrographic Department" and on chart No. 2501, at
1:25 000 scale, "Al Manama to Umm Jalid, published August 1987 by Ministry of Housing,
Survey Directorate, Hydrographic Department", how is Fasht al-Azm drawn?
(1) On both charts, Fasht al-Azm appears as a mass of scattered coral reefs, rocks and sand
banks, described as "drying reefs and sand banks" (chart No. 5001) or as "numerous drying
reefs and sand banks" (chart No. 2501), forming a homogeneous whole, with its outline drawn
as a continuous line on both the northern and southern sides, drying completely at low tide,
and being attached, apparently without the slightest interruption, to Sitrah island.
(2) However, Bahrain's official charts are not consistent. Chart No. 1502, at 1:15 000 scale,
entitled "Sitrah Anchorage to Salbah, published December 1986 by Ministry of Housing,
Survey Directorate, Hydrographic Department", describes in different terms the part of Fasht
al-Azm that it shows. Thus, it indicates: "numerous shoals, dries in patches" 148. Moreover,
unlike charts Nos. 5001 and 2501, this chart does not allow the inference that the outer
northern line of coral reefs on Fasht al-Azm is wholly uncovered at low tide, without the
slightest interruption.
(3) Finally, there is a clear contradiction, in the geographical relationship between Fasht al-
Azm and Qit'at ash Shajarah, between the maps produced in the Bahrain Memorial and chart
No. 5001. All the relevant maps in the Bahrain Memorial show Qit'at ash Shajarah and Fasht
al-Azm as a single feature 14. By way of contrast, on chart No. 5001, published in January
1987, Fasht al-Azm and Qit'at ash Shajarah are clearly separated and thus do not form a single
feature.
8.47 In addition to the uncertainties and inconsistencies in Bahrain's charts, there is a second
and even more compelling reason that demands the rejection of Bahrain's theory that "Fasht
al'Azm... forms an integral part of Sitrah Island" 150. This is that such a statement is not a true
reflection of the reality. While Fasht al-Azm appears on recent marine charts to be attached to
Sitrah island, this is a recent phenomenon, dating from 1982, which is wholly artificial and
man-made. In other words, Fasht al-Azm is not naturally attached to Sitrah, and the artificial
narrow strip which, on present-day charts, seems to link these two geographical features (and
on which a petrochemical plant has been constructed by Bahrain), did not exist until 1982.
8.48 In fact, the large 151a of land - appearing for instance on Bahraini chart No. 1502 and
British chart No. 3790 - on which have been constructed a petrochemical plant, storage
tanks, stocks, columns and, at its south-eastern extremity, a flare stack 15, is wholly artificial.
It was created by the Bahraini authorities who, in order to do so, reclaimed an area of sea. The
topography of the feature on Bahraini chart No. 1502 shows that this had previously been a
permanent and entirely natural maritime passage along the eastern side of Sitrah island.
Before the reclamation work undertaken in 1982, there existed a navigable channel which,
while it was doubtless quite shallow, was never above water and allowed fishing boats to
pass, even at extreme low water. When this natural navigable channel was filled in as part of
the reclamation works, the Bahraini authorities decided to dredge a new replacement channel
close by and slightly to the east, designated by the Bahraini technicians as an "alternative
fishermen's channel". This new navigable channel is the one shown on Bahraini chartNo. 1502 and British chart No. 3790, identified as "Dredged channel - least depth 3.0 m.
(1986)" on the Bahraini chart, and as "Marked channel 3 m. (1986)" on the British chart.
8.49 A Bahraini technical document confirms this analysis and provides evidence of the
existence of a natural navigable channel, traditionally used by Bahraini fishermen and
separating Fasht al-Azm from Sitrah and, as a corollary, of the need to dredge an alternative
fishermen's channel. This document is "Technical Circular No. 12. Dredging and land
reclamation activities along Bahrain coasts", dated March 1982 and signed by a Research
Officer, Zahra Sadiq Al-Alami 153.
8.50 That document analyses various work, notably dredging works, performed before 1982
by firms such as Cobla, Falco, Franco Arab Dredging Co., Gulf Standard Dredging Co. or
Amerad Betong Vagforbattringer. But it indicates in particular that included among the
pending and future work to be performed by Gulf Petrochemical Industries Co. was the
dredging of two channels, one for cooling water and one being "an alternative one to the
existing fishermen's channel which is filled with the reclamation material on some part of it".
Thus, it is stated at pages 15 and 18 of the Technical Circular:
"A. GULF PETROCHEMICAL INDUSTRIES CO.:
nd
The project site (Fig. 9) is scheduled to be completed by 2 February 1982.
Van Oord (International) have been appointed as the site reclamation and dredging
Contractors.
The petrochemical site reclamation was approximately 600 metres wide by 1000 metres long,
connected to Sitra by a 1250m long access causeway and to BAPCO causeway by a 500m
long service causeway.
The material required for site reclamation was taken from an area situated between BAPCO
and ALBA jetties.
Two channels will be dredged, one for cooling water, the depth of the water in it will be about
7m, and its length will be about 3.5km. The other channel is an alternative one to the existing
fishermen's channel which is filled with the reclamation material on some parts of it (Fig. 9),
it will be dredged to 3.5m as a minimum over a distance of 1,100m. The quantity of material
3
above that depth and within the channel section is approximately 110,000m , the marked
width of the channel will be 60m. The dredged material will be located east of the channel
forming one or more islands as required".
8.51 In these circumstances, Bahrain's contention that Fasht al-Azm is "an integral part of
Sitrah island" and that the two features form an uninterrupted natural entity is contrary to the
facts. Nor can Bahrain properly argue that the low-water line on Sitrah island is the
easternmost limit of the low-water line on Fasht al-Azm. Accordingly, Article 13, paragraph 1
of the 1982 Convention, which reiterated the terms of Article 11, paragraph 1 of the 1958
Convention on the territorial sea and contiguous zone, the customary value of which is
undisputed, cannot be applied in favour of Dibal.
8.52 It is also contrary to customary international law to rely on the low-water line on Qit'at
Jaradah in order to give Dibal its own maritime area and to use the low-water line on Dibal tomeasure the breadth of Bahrain's territorial sea. Indeed, as has been shown , and contrary to
what Bahrain alleges 155, Qit'at Jaradah cannot be treated as an island within the meaning of
Article 121 of the 1982 Convention on the Law of the Sea; it is simply another low-tide
elevation. It should be borne in mind that, in principle, low-tide elevations have no maritime
areas of their own. According to the customary law as expressed by Article 13, paragraph 1 of
the 1982 Convention, it is only when low-tide elevations lie within the territorial waters of
land which is permanently uncovered that they may have an influence on the course of the
outer limit of the territorial sea of the land in question.
8.53 Customary international law goes no further. In order to avoid the "leap-frogging" effect,
it refuses to recognise that a low-tide elevation lying within the territorial waters of a first
low-tide elevation can in turn have its own territorial sea. As Sir Gerald Fitzmaurice wrote
shortly after the 1958 Geneva Conference:
"... as the elevation is within what is already the territorial sea of the mainland, or of an island,
the practical effect is simply to cause a bulge in the seaward direction of that territorial sea.
On the other hand, if there is a further drying rock, situated - not within the original or basic
territorial sea of the mainland or island - but within the extension of such territorial sea
(bulge) caused by the presence of the 'inner' drying rock, then this 'outer' drying rock will not
lead to any further extensions of the territorial sea; nor does an 'outer' drying rock, so situated,
generate any territorial sea of its own. This rule is intended to prevent the practice know as
'leap-frogging', which, by making use of a series of drying rocks, banks, etc. extending
seawards, might result in artificial or unjustified extensions of natural territorial waters" 156.
8.54 In fact, in relying upon a low-tide elevation, Qit'at Jaradah, lying within the territorial
waters of what Bahrain asserts is a first low-tide elevation, Fasht al-Azm 157, in order to claim
that Dibal should be entitled to its own territorial sea and serve as a basepoint for the
delimitation, Bahrain has entered into a blatant "leap-frogging" exercise such as has been
expressly condemned by international law.
3. Dibal cannot be an appropriate basepoint for the equitable delimitation of the
maritime areas between Qatar and Bahrain in the northern sector
8.55 Even if - as is not the case - Dibal could serve as a basepoint for measuring the outer
limit of Bahrain's territorial sea, it could in no event be used as a basepoint for determining
the course of the maritime boundary in the northern sector. A learned commentator has
observed that:
"Il ne suffit pas... qu'un point saillant de la côte, une île, un îlot, un rocher, un haut-fond
découvrant, puisse être considéré comme engendrant une mer territoriale propre ou comme
susceptible juridiquement de faire partie des lignes de base de la mer territoriale d'un Etat
donné pour que, pour cette seule raison, ce saillant, île, îlot, rocher, haut-fond découvrant soit
à regarder comme un point de base approprié pour la construction d'une ligne de délimitation
entre l'Etat intéressé et un autre Etat dont les côtes font face aux siennes ou lui sont
adjacentes. Une caractéristique géographique peut servir de point de base à un calcul de la
mer territoriale sans servir de point de base à la délimitation" 158.
These observations are applicable whatever may be the method of delimitation adopted, but
they are applicable in particular when the equidistance method is used. In any event, from the
point of view of customary international law as defined by the international jurisprudence,Dibal cannot serve as a basepoint for constructing the maritime boundary and, in particular,
for constructing the equidistance line between Qatar and Bahrain in the northern sector, for
two main reasons.
a) First reason: Dibal is not an integral part of Bahrain's coastline
159
8.56 It is quite clear from the maps that Dibal can in no way be considered as an integral
part of the coastline of Bahrain. It falls partly within the territorial waters of Qatar and lies
wholly outside Bahrain's territorial waters. As Professor Bowett has rightly remarked, "the
case for using features closely integrated with the mainland coast must be more compelling
160
than the case for using more remote features" .
b) Second reason: Dibal is only a "minor geographical feature"
8.57 There is a second reason why, under customary international law, Dibal cannot serve as a
basepoint for the construction of an equidistance line in the northern sector. The reason is that
this low-tide elevation belongs, par excellence, to the category of "non-essential"
geographical features, which are most usually disregarded in the jurisprudence for the
determination of the course of maritime boundaries 161. Such geographical features, and a
fortiori low-tide elevations such as Dibal, indeed cannot fail to lead162 results that "appear on
the face of them to be extraordinary, unnatural or unreasonable" . Therefore, a delimitation
performed on the basis of the equidistance method must eliminate the effects of features of
this kind, which the Court has described as "incidental special feature[s]" 163.
8.58 Subsequently, the jurisprudence developed this theory by not giving full effect to, or
even disregarding completely, certain islands and islets 16. In this context, reference may be
made in particular to the Judgment in the Gulf of Maine case, which deals expressly with the
165
problem of "tiny islands, uninhabited rocks or low-tide elevations" . In that case, the
Chamber refused to make "a series of such minor features the very basis for the determination
of the dividing line" and to transform them "into a succession of basepoints for the
geometrical construction of the entire line" 166. This is why, for each segment of the maritime
boundary that it drew, the Chamber chose basepoints in the light of considerations of equity
and spoke out clearly in this regard against application of the equidistance method, "as
defined by geometry and by the terms of paragraph 2 of Article 6 of the 1958 Convention on
the Continental Shelf" 167. Indeed, for the Chamber, a line drawn in accordance with the letter
of that provision:
"might well epitomize the inherent defects of a certain manner of interpreting and applying
the method here considered...; inasmuch as the likely end-result would be the adoption of a
line all of whose basepoints would be located on a handful of isolated rocks, some very
distant from the coast, or on a few low-tide elevations: these are the very type of minor
geographical features which, as the Court and the Chamber have emphasized, should be
discounted" 168.
8.59 Consequently, by relying upon Dibal to construct its equidistance line in the northern
sector, Bahrain has done exactly what the Chamber in the Gulf of Maine case warned against.
This is why Qatar asks the Court not to take Dibal into account as a basepoint for the
delimitation in the northern sector. B. The unjustified corrections made by Bahrain to section RSTUZ of its equidistance
line
8.60 Bahrain is not content merely to claim, as the second section of the dividing line in the
northern sector, a so-called equidistance line, drawn in accordance with the false premises
adopted by Bahrain, from point R to a point intersecting the conventionally agreed limit in the
169
central part of the Arabian-Persian Gulf . Consistent with its maximalist strategy, Bahrain
has claimed, beyond point R, what it claims to be an equidistance line corrected entirely to its
own benefit, and to the manifest detriment of Qatar. This second portion of the Bahrain line in
the northern sector is composed of four segments which must now be analysed.
8.61 The three segments RS, ST and TU constitute the first modification in favour of Bahrain
which has been made to Bahrain's equidistance line beyond point 2. Bahrain attempts to
justify this by what it claims to be a "special circumstance" 170, i.e. "the existence of Bahrain's
171
rights in respect of the maritime areas where the Bahraini pearling banks are located" . If
Bahrain is to be believed, and based solely on the completely insufficient indications that it
provides 172, the turning points S, T and U are located "at the eastern limits of the three
easternmost pearling banks appertaining to Bahrain" 173. When one considers this claim which
is pushed so far towards the east and which is both so distant from Bahrain and so close to the
landmass of Qatar, it is extraordinary that Bahrain can dare to present these three segments,
RS, ST and TU, as being "the minimum deviation to the equidistance line necessary to ensure
that Bahrain's historic rights to the pearling banks are preserved" . 174
8.62 According to Bahrain, segment UZ is a fur175r adjustment to its equidistance line,
allegedly made in Qatar's favour this time , in order to take into account what Bahrain terms
a "second special circumstance" 176, namely the continental shelf delimitation agreement
concluded in 1969 between Qatar and Iran. For Bahrain, this segment UZ, which terminates at
point 2 (2Q) on the boundary delimited between Qatar and Iran, represents "the minimum
westward deviation in Qatar's favour necessary to take into account the provisions of the
existing agreements with Iran" 177.
8.63 Bahrain is thus suggesting, if one reads its Memorial literally, that there is a sort of
equivalence between the two "deviations" made to its equidistance line, one in favour of
Bahrain, the other in favour of Qatar, each being based on one of the special circumstances to
be taken into consideration in the area to be delimited. Such an assimilation is obviously
fallacious. On the basis of the map 17, the surface area thus supposedly abandoned by Bahrain
to Qatar - i.e. the maritime areas comprised between (i) the point of intersection of the last
segment (UZ) of Bahrain's line and of the extension of the first portion (OR) of the
equidistance line, (ii) the point of intersection of the extension of this same equidistance line
with the limit established by the 1969 Qatar/Iran Agreement, and (iii) point Z (point 2 or 2Q)
- is no greater than 10.6 km². As regards the surface area that Bahrain has granted itself - i.e.
the maritime areas comprised between (i) points R, S, T and U, (ii) the point of intersection of
segment UZ of the Bahrain line and the extension of the first portion of the equidistance line
towards the north-north-east and (iii) point R - this is 1092.4 km². This makes clear the
manifest disproportion between the two adjustments made by Bahrain: the ratio is
approximately 103 to 1 in Bahrain's favour.
8.64 In any event, the second segment of Bahrain's line linking points R, S, T, U and Z, that
Bahrain bases essentially on its "historic rights" to the pearling banks, lacks any factual or
legal basis. Qatar has already shown in its Memorial that these so-called historic rights are afactor lacking any relevance for effecting a maritime delimitation in the present dispute 179. In
this respect Qatar refers to its Memorial, and will restrict itself here to the four following
observations which relate to both law and fact.
1. Pearl fishing on the banks claimed by Bahrain came to an end long ago
8.65 Bahrain stresses several times in its Memorial the idea that the pearl banks in the
northern sector "have appertained to Bahrain since time immemorial" 180 and that they are "one
of the oldest, and richest, pearl fisheries in the world" 181. But Bahrain itself hardly seems
convinced by the present-day relevance of these pearl fisheries, and indeed it cannot in all
seriousness be so convinced. While it asserts that "the pearling fleet remained active at least
until 1954" 182, the Bahrain Memorial finally admits that "the number of vessels declined from
the mid-nineteenth Century" 183.
8.66 Qatar's Memorial thus made a reasonable assessment of the situation when it pointed out
that "in any event, it is an acknowledged fact that, by 1960, pearling in the Gulf was defunct
for practical commercial purposes" 18. This is in no way contradicted by the testimony of Dr.
185
Bhandarker, upon which Bahrain lays great emphasis , not only because that testimony was
taken on 12 October 1950, but also because the inspections carried out by Dr. Bhandarker on
"the principal pearl fishing banks used by pearling fleets from Bahrain" took place, as he
himself admits, during the period from 1925 to 1940 18. In these circumstances, it is difficult
to see how the pearl fisheries could be taken into consideration as a relevant circumstancthin
operating a maritime delimitation between Qatar and Bahrain at the turn of the 20 century.
2. Bahrain cannot claim to have exercised in the past exclusive rights over the pearling
banks that it claims in the present dispute
8.67 Bahrain asserts that it "has occupied the pearling banks" , in the sense that before the
present doctrine of the continental shelf was adopted, "the general view was that the adjacent
sovereign could, upon proof of long-established 'occupation' of th188eds or banks, assert
ownership of the seabed and exclusive rights to the 'fructus'" . Its whole demonstration in
fact relies upon the well-known article by Sir Cecil Hurst "Whose is the bed of the sea?
Sedentary fisheries outside the three-mile limit". This reference is however irrelevant to the
present dispute between Qatar and Bahrain. First, as Bahrain itself admits, Sir Cecil Hurst's
view was expressed before the present doctrine of the continental shelf had developed and is
now out-dated. Second, in any event, Sir Cecil's article referred only to banks which "have
always been kept in occupation by the Sovereign of the adjacent land" 189. It could in no event
apply, in favour of Bahrain, to the pearling banks lying within Qatar's natural northward
extension, and it is obvious that Bahrain cannot be considered as the "adjacent land" in
relation to the banks listed in paragraph 647 of its Memorial.
8.68 Furthermore, as will now be shown, Bahrain has adduced no evidence of any title or
exclusive sovereignty over the pearling banks in question. In any event, such a claim conflicts
with the traditional customary law in the region.
a) Bahrain does not prove that it exercised exclusive rights over the pearling banks that
it claims in the northern sector
8.69 As evidence of its "long-established 'occupation' of the beds or banks" 19, Bahrain relies
191
primarily on various testimonies taken at different times . The most significant evidence isthat provided by Dr. Bhandarker, both because of its date, 12 October 1950, and because of
the identity of its author, who was a Bahraini resident employed by the Government as a
physician, and who during the period between 1925 and 1940 made "regular trips on the
Bahrain Government hospital boats" to the principal pearling banks of the region, where
Bahraini fishing boats used to go 192. Yet far from supporting Bahrain's position, this
193
testimony, to which Bahrain refers at length , supports Qatar's analysis on all salient points.
8.70 What does Dr. Bhandarker say? First, like Qatar 194, he notes that throughout the inter-
war period the pearl fisheries were in a process of continuous decline. While during the first
years of 195 employment Dr. Bhandarker could reckon that there were "700 Bahrain p196ling
vessels" , whose divers worked "over the banks north of Bahrain Island" , during the later
years of his activity he noted that "the total number of pearling vessels diminished" 197.
8.71 The second and absolutely essential point of Dr. Bhandarker's testimony, which must be
stressed here, is that unlike Bahrain, Dr. Bhandarker does not state or even imply that the
various banks belonged to Bahrain 198. For him, they were merely the "principal pearl fishing
banks used by pearling fleets from Bahrain" 199.
200
8.72 Third, Dr. Bhandarker, like Qatar , asserts that Bahraini fishermen were not alone in
frequenting the pearling banks that he visited. He noted the presence on the same pearling
banks not only of Bahraini boats, but also of fishing boats from Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and
201
Qatar . As far as Qatari fishing was concerned, he specified that "most of the vessels from
Qatar operated north and east of the Qatar peninsula and we seldom saw any west of Bu
Suwar" 202. The Court will in this context note that the last segment of the line claimed by
Qatar, linking points BLV and 2 (2B), is situated to the west of Bu Suwar (Bu Sawr).
8.73 A final point to be noted in Dr. Bhandarker's testimony is that, unlike Bahrain, he never
says that "all vessels, irrespective of nationality or place of registration, were subject to the
jurisdiction of Bahrain whilst on the Banks" . On the contrary, Dr. Bhandarker says no more
than that:
"On these trips I visited all the Bahrain pearling vessels seen at the banks and treated all
patients on these vessels regardless of nationality. Although I made no point of visiting
vessels other than those 204m Bahrain, such vessels frequently asked my assistance and I gave
it whenever requested" .
8.74 Accordingly, Dr. Bhandarker's testimony provides no support for Bahrain's argument
that the banks are subject to its jurisdiction and that they should be taken into consideration
for purposes of determining the course of the dividing line in the northern sector and adjusting
the second section of that line (RSTUZ) eastwards. On the contrary, it largely confirms
Qatar's position, in particular as to the so-called historic rights of Bahrain over the pearling
banks.
8.75 In its attempt to prove its sovereignty over the pearling banks, Bahrain does not rely
solely upon Dr. Bhandarker's testimony. It also refers to a series of recent declarations which
have obviously been collected purely for purposes of the present proceedings before the
Court. These declarations were taken in September 1996 from persons who allegedly came
from the Hawar islands or Zubarah and who, it is said, participated in their youth in pearl
fishing, or knew about such fishing either directly or indirectly 205.8.76 Qatar is of the view that these statements are devoid of all evidentiary value. The
location of various pearling banks that are said to have been visited is uncertain, and it would
seem that very few of the banks that are mentioned are relevant to the present dispute. 206
Furthermore, some of these Statements are ambiguous and contain striking contradictions .
b) Bahrain's claim that it exercised exclusive rights over the pearling banks is contrary
to the traditional customary law in the region
8.77 Bahrain cannot in any event claim to have been alone in exercising rights over the
pearling banks listed in paragraph 647 of its Memorial, to the exclusion of the other Arab
sheikhdoms on the coast of the Gulf. As Qatar has already demonstrated in its Memorial, the
concept of a sheikh's or a tribe'207xclusive rights over pearling banks has never been
recognised by regional custom . It will be sufficient here simply to recall the principle and
its consequences, which all run counter to Bahrain's claims.
(i) The principle of common ownership of the pearling banks and pearl fisheries by the
tribes and sheikhs on the Arabian side of the Gulf
8.78 Throughout the period when pearl fisheries played an important part in the economy of
the region, the British authorities constantly proclaimed the principle of collective ownership
208
of the pearling banks. Contrary to Bahrain's assertion , the Law Officers of the Crown,
Finlay and Carson, clearly stated in a note of 11 February 1905, with respect not only to pearl
banks situated within the three miles of territorial waters, but to all the banks that Bahrain
considers as subject to its jurisdiction209, "... we think that, as a matter of international law,
they are capable of being the property of the tribes to the exclusion of all nations", adding,
with respect to the British Government's relations "with the tribes on the west shore of the
Persian Gulf, we think that the existence of this exclusive right may be properly maintained
on their behalf by His Majesty's Government" 210. The same view was confirmed in a letter of
4 May 1910 from the Foreign Office to the Board of Trade: "The rights of fishing for pearls in
the Persian Gulf have been held in common from time immemorial by the Arab Chiefs upon
211
its eastern shores, who are under Treaty obligations to the British Government" . The same
doctrine was upheld during the inter-war period, as may be seen from a note sent to the India
Office on 23 April 1938 by Fowle, the Political Resident in the Persian Gulf, according to
which "the pearl fisheries are the exclusive common property of all the Shaikhs, and this
means that the subjects of a212one Shaikh have the right at any time to fish at any place on
any of the pearling banks" . In a letter of 6 June 1940 to the Admiralty, a member of the
India Office, Mr. Gibson, strikingly summarised as follows the opinion from which the
British Government never departed: "the pearling banks are the exclusive property of all the
Arab Sheikhs" 21.
8.79 This principle of common property of tribes and sheikhs with respect to the pearling
banks has moreover been confirmed by the best-recognised legal authorities of Bahrain. Thus,
Dr. Al-Baharna, in his often-cited book entitled The Arabian Gulf States, Their Legal and
Political Status and Their Internal Problems, shares the view that is universally
acknowledged. In his opinion:
"... concerning rights of fishing and pearling in the Gulf, there exists no national legislation
regulating them. 'The fisheries', says Auguste, 'which long antedate the growth of national
states in the Gulf area, are governed by customs and usages of immemorial standing. Basicamong these is the concept that pearl banks are open equally to all the peoples of the Gulf on
the common understanding that methods and standards will be observed'" 214.
It is therefore not surprising to find an echo of this regional custom in the work of the
International Law Commission preceding the 1958 Geneva Convention on the Law of the
Sea. Professor J.P.A. François, in his second report on the high seas of 10 April 1951 stated
that:
"On ne connaît pas de législation nationale qui revendique le contrôle exclusif sur l'une
quelconque des pêcheries de perles du Golfe Persique. Les pêcheries, qui sont bien antérieures
au développement d'Etats dans la région du Golfe, sont régies par des coutumes et des usages
immémoriaux. Le principe fondamental de ces coutumes et usages est que les bancs de perles
sont ouverts également à tous les peuples riverains, étant entendu que les méthodes et les
normes traditionnelles seront observées" 215.
A whole series of legal consequences flows from this principle of common ownership of the
pearling banks by the tribes and sheikhs, the most significant of which, undermining each
point of Bahrain's position in the present dispute, will be recalled here.
(ii) Consequences of the principle of exclusive common ownership of the pearling banks
and pearl fisheries by the tribes and sheikhs on the Arabian side of the Gulf
8.80 The first and most obvious consequence of the principle of exclusive common property
is that no single tribe or sheikh owned or exercised exclusive rights over any of the pearling
banks lying off the western coasts of the Gulf. Thus, in a letter which has already been
mentioned above, sent on 30 June 1904 to the Under-Secretary of State at the Foreign Office
by a member of the India Office, Mr. A. Godley, it is stated that, although it is true that there
is a "legal right of the tribes to a monopoly", "no tribe has exercised a right excluding the
other tribes from any part of the fishery" 216. Similarly, Sir Rupert Hay, the Political Resident
in Bahrain, formally stated in a letter of 21 February 1948 to the Secretary of State for
Commonw217th Relations that: "Bahrain and Kuwait have no exclusive rights in any
banks" . Professor Waldock was just as direct when he stated in his opinion of 16 February
1954, on "the Sea-Bed Boundary between Bahrain and Saudi Arabia", that "the historical
evidence... establishes beyond question that the fisheries on the great pearl banks were not
from a legal point of view appropriated to particular tribes but were open to all the tribes",
concluding that "Bahrain cannot, therefore, contend that as against Saudi Arabia she218rmerly
possessed an exclusive legal right to the pearl banks of the North Jarim Area" . And in a
minute of 17 February 1954 entitled "Fasht Bu Sa'afa", commenting on Professor Waldock's
opinion, Mr. Ewart-Biggs, a member of the Foreign Office, reiterated that:
"... pearl fishing rights in the Persian Gulf are known to be communal and... no one State or
tribe can claim exclusive rights in any area. There thus seems no possibility of establishing
anything of the nature of property rights or sovereignty on the basis of this 'occupation' of the
Fasht bu Sa'afa by Bahraini pearl fishers" 219.
This is in fact what Bahrain itself admitted in its 1961 Memorandum with respect to the
"principal shoals in the area North and North East of Qatar which the Ruler is claiming to
constitute the Bahrain pearl banks" , when it explicitly declared that "it is not alleged that
Bahrain has exercised exclusive user or exclusive control over the pearl banks nowclaimed" 221. In these circumstances, Qatar finds it difficult to understand how Bahrain can
222
now claim that it "has occupied the pearling banks" .
8.81 The second consequence, which is just as inherent in the principle of exclusive common
property, is that all the sheikhs' subjects have the right to fish on all the pearling banks lying
on the Arabian side of the Gulf 223. Qatar must stress in this regard that Bahrain has admitted
that "under the tradition224 customary law of the Gulf, neighbouring tribes apparently had the
right to fish for pearls" , and that it has provided no evidence for the restrictive condition
that it attaches to this rule, according to which it applied "if their own Ruler was on terms of
amity with the Ruler whose banks they were" 225.
8.82 The third consequence of the principle of exclusive common property is that all the
sheikhs and, in their name, the British Government, had the right to protect the Arab pearling
banks against any intrusion by foreign fishermen. The letter of 10 March 1904 from several
members of the Government of India to the Secretary of State for India gives a whole series of
examples showing that between 1863 and 1903 the authorities "intervened to prevent the
intrusion of foreigners", whether such foreigners were British, Indian or French 226. More
recently, on 19 June 1929, Barrett, the Political Resident in the Persian Gulf, sent the
following communication to the Consul-General of the United States in Baghdad:
"I do not advise any firm of whatever nationality to send a pearl fishing ship to the Persian
Gulf. The fisheries have been conducted from time immemorial by the inhabitants of the Gulf
Coasts according to the ancient usages. Any interference by outsiders with their preserves
would undoubtedly be227renuously resisted by the Arabs, and must be attended by very
considerable risk" .
In a letter of 6 June 1940 to the Admiralty, concerning a draft regulation for the protection of
Arab pearling banks against foreign exploitation, Gibson, a member of the India Office,
summarised the practice in this respect in terms which must be cited: "... the pearling banks
are the exclusive property of all the Arab Sheikhs and... the joint right of the latter to exclude
outsiders is also a right enjoyed by each of them independently..." 228. In its Memorial Bahrain
gives a false picture of the customary régime of pearl fisheries on the Arabian side of the Gulf
when it states that "all vessels, irrespective of natio229ity or place of registration, were subject
to the jurisdiction of Bahrain whilst on the Banks" : while it is true that the Ruler of Bahrain
could exclude foreign fishermen from the pearling banks off the Arabian coast, it is equally
true that the other Rulers in the region, including the Ruler of Qatar, had similar powers. This
was not an exclusive right of jurisdiction reserved for the Ruler of Bahrain alone, but a joint
right of jurisdiction belonging to all the Rulers in the area, which could be exercised by each
of them. Qatar's rights to protect the Arab pearling banks against any foreign intrusion were
no less than those of Bahrain.
8.83 The fourth consequence of the principle of exclusive common property was that no
sheikh had the right to grant concessions over the pearling banks to third parties 23. Bahrain of
course cannot dispute the existence of this practice, which was an unchanging factor of British
policy in the Gulf, but it considers it as a consequence of what it claims to be Bahrain's
231
sovereignty over the pearling banks . Qatar disputes this view since, as the correspondence
just cited demonstrates, the reason why the sheikhs did not have the right to grant concessions
over the pearling banks was precisely that the banks were their exclusive common property.8.84 The fifth and final consequence that may be drawn from the principle of exclusive
common property is the absence of any delimitation of the pearling banks between the various
tribes. Thus, Colonel A. B. Kemball, then British Resident in Turkish Arabia, who had been
consulted "as regards the extent and ownership of the banks", noted on 15 June 1863 that
"strictly speaking, no boundaries, as comprising or defining territorial rights, can be assigned
to the pearl banks" 232. Similarly, in the above-mentioned letter of 10 March 1904 from several
members of the Government of India to the Secretary of State for India, it is stated that "there
are no definit233nter-tribal limits", even though "the external boundaries of the fisheries are
well known" . These statements are incompatible with Bahrain's claim to exercise exclusive
jurisdiction and control over the pearling banks . 234
8.85 In the light of the foregoing, and having regard to the custom followed in the region,
Bahrain's claim that it is entitled to exercise rights over the pearling banks that it claims in the
northern sector, to the exclusion of the other tribes and sheikhs in the Gulf and in particular of
the Sheikh of Qatar, must surely be regarded as manifestly unfounded. Indeed, this was
always the position taken by the British. It suffices to recall in this regard that, in a
confidential Memorandum dated 17 May 1962, concerning the "Bahrain/Qatar Seabed
Boundary", Mr. A.R. Walmsley, of the Foreign Office, commented as follows upon Bahrain's
position as set forth in the Ruler of Bahrain's Memorandum of 1961:
"The claim embodied in the memorandum is extremely far reaching... The claim as it stands is
quite untenable, being based on the assu235ion that ancient rights over pearl banks confer the
right to sovereignty over the seabed" .
And, as we know, a few days later, by letter of 5 June 1962, the Foreign Office dismissed
236
Bahrain's claim in final terms .
3. Bahrain's alleged historic rights to pearling banks are not special or relevant
circumstances
237
8.86 Bahrain cannot claim, as it attempts to do , that its so-called historic rights to the banks
in question allow it to draw consequences from them with respect to delimitation of the
maritime areas in question. When in 1961 Bahrain claimed sovereignty over these pearling
banks, it asserted that in order to make the delimitation with Qatar, Article 6 of the 1958
Convention on the continental shelf had to be applied, and that it should be considered that its
historic rights to such banks were a "special circumstance" within the meanin238f that article,
justifying a significant adjustment of the equidistance line in its favour . Bahrain now
appears to be assimilating the concept of "special circumstances" under Article 6 of the 1958
Convention on the continental shelf to the concept of "relevant circumstances" under
customary int239ational law, relying on the Court's judgment of 14 June 1993 in the Jan
Mayen case .
8.87 In any event, in both its 1961 Memorandum and its 1996 Memorial, Bahrain raised the
problem of the relationship between delimitation of the continental shelf and its superjacent
maritime areas, on the one hand, and, on the other hand, rights to pearl fisheries, which fall
into the category of sedentary fisheries within the meaning of Article 4, paragraph 2 of the
1958 Convention on the continental shelf and Article 77, paragraph 2, of the 1982 Convention
on the Law of the Sea. In its Memorial, Qatar has already shown that Bahrain, in its 1961
240
Memorandum, misinterpreted the system established under the 1958 Convention .a) The Ruler of Bahrain's argument, in his 1961 Memorandum, that "Bahrain's historic
rights to the pearling banks" were a "special circumstance" within the meaning of
Article 6 of the 1958 Convention on the continental shelf
8.88 This argument was always rejected by the British authorities from 1960 onwards 241.
Furthermore, the theory of "Bahrain's historic rights to the pearling banks" as a "special
circumstance" is undermined by the maritime delimitation agreements that Bahrain has itself
concluded and by State practice. The fact that in the present case Bahrain considers that its
alleged historic rights to pearling banks are a special or relevant circumstance justifying an
adjustment of the equidistance line in its favour is all the more surprising in that the practice
followed by Bahrain in maritime delimitation runs counter to this theory. Indeed, in the two
agreements that Bahrain has concluded for delimitation of its continental shelf, with Saudi
Arabia in 1958 242 and with Iran in 1971, its supposed historic rights to pearl fisheries were not
taken into account in order to adjust in any way in its favour the course of the equidistance
line.
8.89 During the negotiations with Saudi Arabia which led to the conclusion of the agreement
of 22 February 1958 243, Bahrain sought to rely heavily on its alleged historic rights to the
pearling banks lying to the west and, above all, to the north-west of its territory. Its claims
were put forward in the documents annexed to the letter of 21 March 1951 from Belgrave to
Mr. C.D. Pelly, the Political Agent in Bahrain, in particular in the very extensive list of
"diving and fishing banks claimed by Bahrain west of the median line between the low-water
limits of Bahrain and Saudi Arabia" 244. A transposition of the dividing line established by the
245
agreement of 22 February 1958 on to the map attached to Bahrain's letter of 1951 quite
clearly shows that Bahrain obtained much less than it was claiming, and that the pearling
banks were not a special circumstance requiring an adjustment of the equidistance line in its
favour. It appears that it was not the pearling banks that were at the heart of the negotiations,
but rather the Bu Saafa oilfield, situated within the "Fasht bu Saafa Hexagon", which was
placed wholly under the juri246ction of Saudi Arabia, but in which Bahrain obtained the right
to half of the oil resources .
8.90 It appears that the pearling banks had no effect in the determination of the course of the
continental she247delimitation line between Bahrain and Iran, as laid down by the agreement of
17 June 1971 . Indeed, if reference is made to the pearling banks lying off the north and
north-east of Bahrain such as Shutayah, Hayr Ath Thama and Fasht Naywah (Al Amari), the
conclusion is unavoidable that these banks were in no way taken into account for the drawing
of the dividing line, either as basepoints for the median line or as a special circumstance
allowing the adjustment, to Bahrain's advantage, of the course of the median line. Therefore,
in the Bahrain/Iran agreement of 1971, Bahrain's alleged historic rights to pearling banks were
not accepted as a special circumstance justifying an adjustment of the course of the median
line in favour of Bahrain.
8.91 Claims to historic rights to pearling banks seem never to have been considered, in
themselves, as special circumstances leading to an adjustment of the equidistance line in the
other continental shelf delimitations that have been effected in the Gulf. This is the case, in
248
particular, of the agreement between Sharjah and Umm Al Qaywayn, signed in 19249 , the
agreement between Abu Dhabi and Dubai signed on 18 February 1968 , the agreement
between Iran and Saudi Arabia signed on 24 October 1968 , the agreement between Qatar
and Iran signed on 20 September 1969 251, the agreement between Iran and the United ArabEmirates (Dubai) signed on 31 August 1974 252 and the arbitral award rendered on 19 October
253
1981 in the Dubai/Sharjah case .
b) Bahrain's argument that "Bahrain's historic rights to the pearling banks" are special
or relevant circumstances within the meaning of customary international law
8.92 Bahrain rightly argues - and thus in this respect agrees at least in principle with Qatar's
view 254 - that the determination of a single maritime boundary in the northern sector "is
255
governed by the rules of customary international law" . It also argues, rightly, that such
rules have been expressed "in State practice, in the decisions of the Court and of international
arbitral tribunals, and in provisions of international conventions which reflect the state of
customary international law" . Yet when it contends that the course of the maritime boundary
in the northern sector must take into account, as special or relevant circumstances, Bahrain's
historic rights to the pearling banks lying to the north and north-west of Qatar, "which have
appertained to Bahrain since time immemorial" , Bahrain is going against not only State
practice, as has just been seen, but also against the jurisprudence 2. This may be seen from the
Libya/Tunisia case and also from the Gulf of Maine case.
8.93 In the Libya/Tunisia case, Tunisia attributed a central role to its claim of historic rights,
in particular with respect to sedentary fisheries, referring to the explo3tation off its coastline,
to depths of up to 50 metres, of sedentary species such as sponges . According to Tunisia,
such fisheries were evidence of a natural prolongation of its territory under the sea.
Consequently, "the delimitation of the continental shelf between itself and Libya must not
4
encroach at any point upon the area within which Tunisia possesses such historic rights" .
Libya contested this theory, rejecting the possibility of excluding certain areas of the sea-bed
and considering that "in so far as the area claimed might overlap with the natural prolongation
of Libya's land territory, a fishing practice of one State cannot in principle prevail over the
5
inherent and ab initio rights of another State in respect of its natural prolongation" . Yet in its
judgment of 24 February 1982 the Court rejected Tunisia's position, in the sense that it did not
include historic rights to sedentary fisheries among the relevant circumstances that were to be
taken into account in that case in order to achieve an equitable delimitation.
8.94 The Chamber in the Gulf of Maine case adopted a similar solution, after having been
requested by the Parties to draw a single maritime boundary for the continental shelf and
exclusive fishing zones. In that case, the course of the dividing line concerning the part of the
delimitation area lying outside the Gulf of Maine traversed areas, in particular in the Georges
Bank sector, where there was a heavy concentration of sedentary species, in particular
scallops, but also lobsters 6. The United States tried to rely on its traditional fishing activities
7
in order to assert its exclusive rights in this sector . In sum, as the Chamber remarked, the
United States' reasoning was "somewhat akin to the invocation of historic rights, though that
expression has not been used" 8 and from the American point of view these traditional fishing
activities were to "be regarded as a major relevant circumstance for the purpose of reaching
9
an equitable solution to the delimitation problem" . The Chamber decided to reject the United
States' position and "not to ascribe any decisive weight, for the purposes of the delimitation it
is charged to carry out, to the antiquity or continuity of fishing activities carried on in the past
within that part of the delimitation area which lies outside the closing line of the Gulf" 10. It
also held that "the respective scale of activities connected with fishing... cannot be taken into
account as a relevant circumstance or, if the term is preferred, as an equitable criterion to be
applied in determining the delimitation line" . 11 Section 5. Qatar's line in the northern sector leads to an equitable result
8.95 Qatar has shown in its Memorial that in order to achieve an equitable delimitation of the
maritime areas in the northern sector, a single line should be drawn for the continental shelf
and fishing zones, linking points N, NSLB, BLV and 2 (2B) . More precisely, point N,
whose geographical coordinates are 50°48'31" East and 26°15'02" North is situated at the
intersection of two lines: the closing line between points RK and MQ, being the southern limit
of the delimitation area in the northern sector, and segment L-NSLB of the line defined in the
British decision of 23 December 1947 . Points NSLB (50°49'48" East and 26°21'24" North)
and BLV (50°57'30" East and 26°33'35" North) are two turning points on the 1947 line . 14
There remains the end point put forward by Qatar, i.e. point 2(2B), whose geographical
coordinates are 51°05'54" East and 27°02'47" North and which is one of the points defined in
the delimitation agreement of 17 June 1971 between Bahrain and Iran . 15
8.96 The line submitted by Qatar to the Court consists of two sections. The first, N, NSLB,
BLV is the part of the line defined in the British decision of 23 December 1947 in the area
beyond where the Parties have opposite coasts. BLV is a hinge-point on Qatar's line in the
northern sector: it is both the end point of the 1947 line and the starting point of the second
section of Qatar's line, and is thus a highly relevant circumstance for the maritime
16
delimitation between the Parties . As for the second section, BLV-2 (2B), this is a line
perpendicular to the closing line from RK to MQ, starting at BLV and slightly adjusted in
Bahrain's favour towards the east, so that the end point of the dividing line in the northern
sector meets point 2 (2B) of the 1971 agreement between Bahrain and Iran. That point 2 (2B)
is a reference point that is particularly significant in the maritime delimitations in the area,
since it is a point which is practically equidistant from the coasts of Qatar, Iran and Bahrain
and could serve as a tripoint 17. The adjusted perpendicularity method which, as Qatar has
stressed in its Memorial, is derived from the same rationale as the equidistance method , has 18
been applied in the present case as follows, as illustrated on Map No. 11, facing this page. The
first stage of its implementation, which is the starting point of the strict perpendicular through
BLV, is point R (50°52'28" East and 26°14'12" North) on the closing line from RK to MQ,
the R-BLV segment forming a 90° angle with line RK-MQ; the end point of this strict
perpendicular line is point S (51°05'12" East and 27°03'04" North) on the limit defined by the
19
1971 agreement between Bahrain and Iran . Thus, the second stage of implementation of the
perpendicularity method is to shift eastwards the end point of Qatar's line from S to point 2
(2B), both for reasons of simplicity and because the two points are so close together. The foot
of the line from 2 (2B) to BLV on the closing line from RK to MQ is therefore shifted slightly
towards the west, from point R to point T (50°51'59" East and 26°14'18" North). As may be
seen from Map No. 11 facing this page, and as noted in Qatar's Memorial, "The shifting effect
- 800 metres at the starting point of the construction (R-T) and 1300 metres at its end point (S-
2B) - is practically negligible at the scale of the construction" .0
8.97 In its Memorial Qatar concluded the discussion of the maritime delimitation in the
northern sector by stressing that the extension of the 1947 line from BLV to 2 (2B) was both a
technically simple and a legally appropriate line, insofar as it resulted in a reasonable and
equitable delimitation 2. Qatar would like briefly to recall, in closing the present discussion,
that the line of maritime delimitation based on the adjusted perpendicularity method that it has
submitted to the Court with respect to the northern sector, linking points N, NSLB, BLV and
2(2B), is in conformity with the customary international law that is applicable to operations of
maritime delimitation and that the equitable nature of that line may be verified a posteriori by
applying the test of proportionality. A. Qatar's line is in conformity with customary international law
8.98 The line presented to the Court by Qatar is in conformity with customary international
law. It results from a strict application of the "fundamental norm" of maritime delimitation
according to which the dividing line must be drawn on the basis of equitable principles, taking
into consideration all the relevant circumstances, in order to achieve an equitable result . 22
8.99 In this respect reference must be made to the Court's Judgment of 3 June 1985 in the
Libya/Malta case. After having noted "the normative character of equitable principles" insofar
as, in particular, they "govern... delimitation by adjudication", the Court mentioned several of
the most well-known and significant of such principles, which it formulated "in terms of
23
general application" . Qatar has applied these principles to the line that it has submitted to the
Court for the northern sector. It has taken into account all the relevant circumstances, i.e. the
factual elements, particularly those of a geographical nature which objectively characterise
the situation in the area to be delimited, and it complies with equitable principles, thus leading
to a reasonable delimitation. Qatar's line complies strictly with two of the most fundamental
equitable principles identified by the Court in the Libya/Malta case, namely the principle of
non-encroachment and the principle that "equity does not necessarily imply equality".
1. Compliance with the principle of non-encroachment
8.100 A first example of Qatar's complianc24with equitable principles is that the N, NSLB,
BLV, 2(2B) line, unlike Bahrain's line , is scrupulously observant of the principle of non-
encroachment. Qatar's line takes into account Bahrain's maritime projection, and does not in
any way trespass upon its natural prolongation. It allows Bahrain fully to enjoy its rights, in
accordance with international law, on its continental shelf and in its fishing zones along its
coastline, in the maritime areas stretching north and north-east up to the maritime boundary
resulting from the 1971 agreement between Bahrain and Iran.
2. Compliance with the principle that "equity does not necessarily imply equality"
25
8.101 As contended by Qatar in its Memorial , Qatar's line complies with the principle that
"equity does not necessarily imply equality" 26. Unlike Bahrain's line which, contrary to this
equitable principle, completely disregards the inequalities of nature in the maritime areas to
be delimited, Qatar's line is a reasonable reflection of the configuration of the Parties' coasts
and, a27ve all, of the disparity or disproportion in the lengths of their respective coastal
fronts . First, Bahrain's eastern coast, measured in accordance with its general direction from
Al Muharraq to Ras al Barr, and disregarding islands, islets and low-tide elevations,
corresponds to a straight coastal front which is about 55.5 kilometres (or 29.9 nautical miles)
long. Second, Qatar's relevant western coast, measured in accordance with the same
parameters from the northern extremity of the peninsula to Ras al Uwaynat, forms a straight
coastal front which is approximately 88.2 kilometres (or 47.6 nautical miles) long. As a result,
the proportionality ratio is 1.59 to 1 in favour of Qatar 28.
8.102 The disparity in the respective lengths of the Parties' relevant coasts appears to be one
of the most, if not the most, striking characteristics of the geographical relationship between
Qatar and Bahrain. To disregard it in this case, as Bahrain does, is inconsistent with
customary international law as reflected in the case law. Qatar has therefore taken it into
consideration in constructing the dividing line that it proposes to the Court in the northernsector, in order to reach an equitable result. As the Court stressed in its Judgment of 14 June
1993 in the Denmark/Norway case:
"The frequent references in the case-law to the idea of proportionality - or disproportion -
confirm the importance of the proposition that an equitable delimitation must, in such
circumstances, take into account the disparity between the respective coastal lengths of the
29
relevant area" .
In a word, Qatar's line, unlike Bahrain's, does not refashion geography or nature.
B. The a posteriori verification of the equitable nature of Qatar's line, by the test of
proportionality
8.103 In its Memorial, Qatar verified the equitable nature of the line that it was submitting to
the Court in the northern sector, by means of the proportionality test. In other words30while
stressing the disproportion between the respective lengths of the Parties' coasts and recalling
the important role played by proportionality in the international jurisprudence , Qatar has
never suggested dividing the relevant delimitation area in proportion to the lengths of the
Parties' coasts. It has used the idea of proportionality as an a posteriori test of the equitable
32
nature of the delimitation, once such delimitation has been made . For Qatar, this idea is
therefore, as the Chamber remarked in the Gulf of Maine case, "a means of checking whether
a provisional delimitation established initially on the basis of other criteria, and by the use of a
method which has nothing to do with that concept, can or cannot be considered satisfactory in
33
relation to certain geographical features of the specific case" . Consequently, in the present
case, where the delimitation area linking points RK, MQ, WB, 4, 3, 2(2B), 2(2Q), WQ and
RK forms a polygon of a total surface area of about 5215.11 square kilometres , 34
proportionality allows a verification of the equitable nature of Qatar's line in the northern
sector, i.e. the equitable nature of the line which, from point N, follows the course of the 1947
line up to point BLV and extends it along the BLV-2 (2B) segment on the basis of the
adjusted perpendicularity method. This verification may be made by means of a
proportionality test. As Qatar has already indicated in its Memorial 35 and as will be briefly
recalled here, it may be made with regard to the relationship between the lengths of the
Parties' relevant coastal fronts and the surface area of the maritime areas attributed to them.
8.104 The equitable nature of Qatar's line linking, in the northern sector, points N, NSLB,
BLV and 2(2B) has already been verified in the light of the relationship between the lengths
of the Parties' relevant coasts and the surface are36of the maritime areas attributed to each of
them in the above-mentioned delimitation area . Indeed, on the basis of that delimitation
area, the surface area of the maritime areas lying to the east of the N, NSLB, BLV, 2(2B) line
and attributed to Qatar is approximately 2,978.60 square kilometres, and the surface area of
the maritime areas lying to the west of that line and attributed to Bahrain is about 2,336.51
square kilometres. The ratio of the surface areas is thus 1.68 to 1 in favour of Qatar, which
means that it is not far removed from the ratio of coastal lengths which is 1.59 to 1 in favour
of Qatar 37.
38
8.105 While, as Qatar has acknowledged in its Memorial , the two ratios are not strictly
identical, the difference is only in the order of 6 %, which is not great in view of the scale of
the constructions and does not permit a conclusion that Qatar's line is inequitable. The test of
equitableness is indeed conclusive insofar as it may be seen that the BLV-2 (2B) segment of
the line put forward by Qatar is, so to speak, embraced between the BLV-S segmentcorresponding to a strict application of the perpendicul39ity method and the BLV-EQ segment
corresponding to a strict application of proportionality . This proportionality test is in itself
sufficient to demonstrate the equitable nature of Qatar's line in the northern sector.
Section 6. Conclusion
8.106 For the maritime delimitation in the northern sector, Bahrain has put forward a line
which, as Qatar has demonstrated in this chapter, is contrary to customary international law.
First, Bahrain ignores the geographical facts in the region. Its line takes account of neither the
configuration of the Parties' relevant coasts nor the disparity between their respective coastal
lengths, and it encroaches upon the natural maritime projection of the Qatar peninsula towards
the north. Second, Bahrain's construction of its equidistance line is devoid of any legal basis.
It relies on Dibal, which is no more than a minor feature not forming part of Bahrain's
coastline, and which is inappropriate for use as a basepoint for a maritime delimitation.
Finally, Bahrain's assertion that its alleged historic rights to the pearling banks lying off the
north and north-west of the Qatar peninsula may be special or relevant circumstances
allowing an adjustment to its own advantage of the course of the equidistance line is wrong,
and conflicts with the international jurisprudence, especially since Bahrain's claim that it
exercised exclusive rights over the banks concerned is contrary to the custom and usages of
the region. Consequently, the dividing line claimed by Bahrain in the northern sector leads to
a result that is manifestly unreasonable and leads to an inequitable result.
8.107 By way of contrast, the line which Qatar commends to the Court as the proper line to be
adopted for the delimitation in the northern sector has been prepared on the basis that it takes
full account of the geographical realities, including the configuration of the relevant coasts of
the Parties and the disparity between the respective lengths of their coastal fronts. It also
satisfies fully the principle of non-encroachment in the sense that it does not adversely affect
the natural maritime projection of the coast of either of the two Parties. By using basepoints
all of which are situated on the main coasts of the Parties, and none of which is located on off-
shore features such as low-tide elevations, the course of Qatar's line does not suffer from any
distorting effect resulting from the use of minor geographical features. Finally, Qatar's line
takes no account of the pearl banks to which Bahrain has asserted claims of sovereignty or
claims of exclusive jurisdiction and control, for the reasons discussed earlier in this Chapter.
For all these reasons, the dividing line proposed by Qatar in the northern sector, being in itself
reasonable and in accordance with equitable principles, leads to an equitable result in
conformity with the requirements of customary international law.
CHAPTER VIII THE SINGLE MARITIME BOUNDARY IN THE
NORTHERN SECTOR 243
Section 1. General remarks 243
A. The omissions in the Bahrain Memorial 243
B. The clearly inequitable nature of the maritime boundary claimed by Bahrain
in the northern sector 244
Section 2. Points of agreement between the Parties in the northern sector 246A. The Parties' agreement as to the nature of the dividing line to be determined
by the Court 246
B. The Parties' agreement to take into consideration the delimitation
agreements with Iran 247
C. The partial agreement of the Parties as to the law applicable to the present
dispute 249
Section 3. The maritime boundary claimed by Bahrain in the northern sector
fails to take "geographical realities" into account 252
A. Bahrain has wrongly characterised the delimitation to be performed in the
northern sector 253
B. The course of Bahrain's line in the northern sector takes no account of the
disparity or disproportion between the lengths of the relevant coasts of the
Parties 256
1. Bahrain's silence with respect to coastal geography 256
2. Bahrain's use of general economic considerations that have consistently
been rejected by the jurisprudence 257
a) Disparity of natural resources 257
b) Traditional fishing activities 259
c) The role of present-day or recent fishing activities 260
C. The line drawn by Bahrain takes no account of the maritime projection of
Qatar in the northern sector and ignores the principle of non-encroachment 262
Section 4. There is no legal basis for the single maritime boundary claimed by
Bahrain in the northern sector 266
A. Unacceptability of the first section, OQR, because of the disproportionate
effect of Dibal as a basepoint for the closing line used for the construction of
Bahrain's equidistance line 266
1. Dibal falls within the category of low-tide elevations 267
2. Dibal has no maritime areas of its own, and cannot be used for purposes of
calculating the outer limit of Bahrain's territorial waters 267
3. Dibal cannot be an appropriate basepoint for the equitable delimitation of
the maritime areas between Qatar and Bahrain in the northern sector 273
a) First reason: Dibal is not an integral part of Bahrain's coastline 274 b) Second reason: Dibal is only a "minor geographical feature" 274
B. The unjustified corrections made by Bahrain to section RSTUZ of its
equidistance line 275
1. Pearl fishing on the banks claimed by Bahrain came to an end long ago 277
2. Bahrain cannot claim to have exercised in the past exclusive rights over the
pearling banks that it claims in the present dispute 278
a) Bahrain does not prove that it exercised exclusive rights over the pearling
banks that it claims in the northern sector 279
b) Bahrain's claim that it exercised exclusive rights over the pearling banks is
contrary to the traditional customary law in the region 282
(i) The principle of common ownership of the pearling banks and pearl
fisheries by the tribes and sheikhs on the Arabian side of the Gulf 282
(ii) Consequences of the principle of exclusive common ownership of
the pearling banks and pearl fisheries by the tribes and sheikhs on the
Arabian side of the Gulf 284
3. Bahrain's alleged historic rights to pearling banks are not special or relevant
circumstances 288
a) The Ruler of Bahrain's argument, in his 1961 Memorandum, that "Bahrain's
historic rights to the pearling banks" were a "special circumstance" within the
meaning of Article 6 of the 1958 Convention on the continental shelf 289
b) Bahrain's argument that "Bahrain's historic rights to the pearling banks" are
special or relevant circumstances within the meaning of customary
international law 291
Section 5. Qatar's line in the northern sector leads to an equitable result 294
A. Qatar's line is in conformity with customary international law 296
1. Compliance with the principle of non-encroachment 296
2. Compliance with the principle that "equity does not necessarily imply
equality" 297
B. The a posteriori verification of the equitable nature of Qatar's line, by the
test of proportionality 298
Section 6. Conclusion 300
1 BM, paras. 559 and 633-634.2 BM, paras. 651 and 655.
3 See, also, BM, paras. 652, et seq., and BM, Map 10, Vol. 7.
4 BM, paras. 633, et seq.
5 See, paras. 7.12-7.13 and 7.49, et seq., above.
6 BM, paras. 40, 569 and 574.
7 QM, paras. 12.1-12.2, 12.5 and 12.62.
8 QM, Map 20, Vol. 17.
9 See, QM, paras. 10.34, et seq.; QM, Annex IV.254, Vol. 12, p. 17.
10 BM, paras. 570, et seq., 576 and 587; see, also, BM, Annexes 90, 104 and 105, Vol. 3, p.
529, p. 615 and p. 621; 231, Vol. 4, p. 986; 295, 298, 302 and 303/304, Vol. 5, pp. 1204,
1211, 1222 and 1225; and 308/309 and 339, Vol. 6, p. 1286 and p. 1467.
11 QM, paras. 12.62, et seq.; and QM, Map 21, Vol. 17. See, also, Map No. 8, facing
page 243.
12 The geographical coordinates of the Athari 1 well, which was drilled by Kuwait Foreign
Petroleum Exploration Co. in 1986, are 22°55'00"N, 51°05'00"E.
13 BM, para. 653.
14 BM, paras. 652, et seq.
15 See, also, BM, Maps 10 and, in particular, 11, Vol. 7.
16 QCM, Annex IV.33, Vol. 4, p. 265, at p. 267; see, also, ibid., p. 269. See, paras. 8.34, et
seq., below.
17 BM, Map 10, Vol. 7.
18 Paras. 6.76 and 6.82, et seq., above, and paras. 8.42, et seq., below.
19 QM, paras. 10.54, 10.58 and 10.73; QM, Appendix 5, Vol. 15, p. 125; BM, para. 626.
20 See, para. 8.43, below.
21 BM, paras. 653, et seq.
22 See, paras. 8.63, et seq., below.
23 See, para. 8.6, above.
24 I.C.J. Reports 1984, p. 322, para. 182.25 QM, Chap. XII, in particular paras. 12.6, et seq.; BM, paras. 636, 649, 652 and 695.
26 See, para. 8.2, above.
27 QM, para. 12.67; see, QM, Maps 17 and 22, Vol. 17.
28 QM, Chap. XI and paras. 12.4-12.5; see, QM, Map 22, Vol. 17.
29 See, para. 8.6, above.
30 BM, paras. 559 and 633; BM, Map 10, Vol. 7.
31 See, paras. 8.11, et seq., below.
32 QM, paras. 12.66, et seq. and QM, Map 22, Vol. 17; for the western limit, see, para. 8.13,
below.
33 See, Map No. 8, facing page 243.
34 QM, Annex IV.260, Vol. 12, p. 81 and QM, Map 11, Vol. 17.
35 QM, Annex IV.264, Vol. 12, p. 111 and QM, Map 11, Vol. 17.
36 QM, paras. 12.20, et seq. and 12.38-12.39.
37 BM, paras. 637 and 651.
38 As the Court will recall, by its Proclamation of 30 October 1973, Iran expressly
acknowledged that the conventional limits of the continental shelf were to be applied to its
exclusive fishing zone (QM, para. 12.8, note 11a; see, also, the corresponding Proclamation
by Qatar of 2 June 1974, ibid.). Moreover, under Article 19 of its "Act on the Marine Areas...
in the Persian Gulf and the Oman Sea" of 1993, Iran similarly applied those limits to its
exclusive economic zone (QM, para. 12.8).
39 QM, paras. 12.41-12.42 and 12.62.
40 BM, paras. 651 and 655.
41 QM, Map 24, Vol. 17.
42 Corresponding to point Z on Bahrain's line (BM, para. 655 and BM, Map 10, Vol. 7). See,
Map No. 8, facing page 243.
43 QM, para. 12.39.
44 BM, para. 651.
45 See, paras. 6.103-6.104, above.
46 QM, para. 12.40.47 QM, Annex IV.262, Vol. 12, p. 95 and QM, Map 11, Vol. 17.
48 QM, Map 22, Vol. 17. See, Map No. 8, facing page 243.
49 QM, para. 12.68.
50 See, paras. 8.103, et seq., below; see, also, QM, paras. 12.70-12.71.
51 QM, para. 12.13; see, Qatar's Application instituting proceedings, dated 5 July 1991, para.
25.
52 QM, paras. 12.14, et seq.
53 QM, para. 12.16.
54 QM, paras. 12.17, et seq.
55 BM, para. 561.
56 QM, para. 12.13.
57 BM, para. 563.
58 QM, paras. 12.13, et seq.
59 I.C.J. Reports 1993, p. 59, para. 48; p. 62, para. 54; p. 69, para. 70.
60 BM, para. 650.
61 Ibid.
62 See, para. 8.14, above.
63 BM, para. 638.
64 Weil, The Law of Maritime Delimitation - Reflections, op. cit., QCM, Annex IV.58, Vol. 4,
p. 453, at p. 458.
65 See, paras. 8.22, et seq., below; see, also, QM, paras. 12.17, et seq.
66 See, paras. 8.34, et seq., below.
67 See, para. 8.33, below.
68 See, for example, North Sea Continental Shelf, I.C.J. Reports 1969, pp. 49-50, para. 91.
69 BM, para. 638.
70 QM, para. 12.24. See, also, QM, para. 12.25.71 See, paras. 6.75, et seq., above.
72 I.C.J. Reports 1984, p. 329, para. 199; see, p. 278, para. 59. Arbitral tribunals have made
similar findings. Thus, in the case concerning delimitation of the continental shelf between
France and the United Kingdom (award of 30 June 1977), the Court of Arbitration declared
that "it is the geographical circumstances which primarily determine the appropriateness of
the equidistance or any other method of delimitation" (QCM, Annex IV.34, Vol. 4, p. 273, at
p. 284). Similarly, in the case concerning the delimitation of maritime areas between Canada
and France (award of 10 January 1992), the Court of Arbitration considered that
"[g]eographical features are at the heart of the delimitation process" (QCM, Annex IV.35,
Vol. 4, p. 299, at p. 301) and that "the criteria governing delimitation are to be found
primarily in the geographical facts" (ibid., at p. 302).
73 I.C.J. Reports 1985, p. 50, para. 69; see, also, I.C.J. Reports 1982, p. 34, para. 17. In the
same decision, the Court also noted, among the relevant circumstances that might justify a
certain adjustment of the median line towards the north in order to achieve an equitable result,
"the general geographical context in which the islands of Malta appear as a relatively small
feature in a semi-enclosed sea" (I.C.J. Reports 1985, p. 52, para. 73).
74 Weil, The Law of Maritime Delimitation - Reflections, op. cit., QCM, Annex IV.58, Vol. 4,
p. 453, at p. 457.
75 Ibid., at p. 456 (emphasis in the original); see, also, ibid., at p. 455, and para. 8.22, below.
76 BM, para. 635.
77 See, QM, paras. 12.10, et seq.
78 QM, para. 12.11.
79 Ibid. See, para. 8.21, below.
80 See, QCM, Annex IV.60, Vol. 4, p. 465 and para. 8.21, below; see, also, QCM, Annex
IV.34, Vol. 4, p. 273, at p. 283; I.C.J. Reports 1969, pp. 36-37, paras. 57-58; I.C.J. Reports
1982, p. 63, para. 78 and p. 88, para. 126; I.C.J. Reports 1984, p. 331, para. 206 and pp. 333-
334, paras. 216-217; I.C.J. Reports 1985, p. 47, para. 62.
81 I.C.J. Reports 1985, p. 51, para. 70.
82 BM, Map 10, Vol. 7.
83 I.C.J. Reports 1985, p. 51, para. 70.
84 BM, para. 653.
85 BM, Map 10, Vol. 7.
86 See, para. 8.7, above, and paras. 8.63, et seq., below. Bahrain has also failed to mention
that, whereas the jurisprudence favours use of the equidistance method in cases of
delimitation between States with opposite coasts, and acknowledges that it may be presumedto be equitable, the same is not true in cases of delimitation between States with adjacent
coasts.
As early as 1969, the Court noted that "the continental shelf area off... opposite States...
meet[s] and overlap[s], and can therefore only be delimited by means of a median line; and,
ignoring the presence of islets, rocks and minor coastal projections, the disproportionally [sic]
distorting effect of which can be eliminated by other means, such a line must effect an equal
division of the particular area involved... This type of case is therefore different from that of
laterally adjacent States on the same coast with no immediately opposite coast in front of it..."
(I.C.J. Reports 1969, pp. 36-37, para. 57). And the Court added: "whereas a median line
divides equally between the two opposite countries areas that can be regarded as being the
natural prolongation of the territory of each of them, a lateral equidistance line often leaves to
one of the States concerned areas that are a natural prolongation of the territory of the other"
(ibid., p. 37, para. 58).
Similarly, in 1977, the Anglo-French Court of Arbitration stressed that: "Whereas in the case
of 'opposite' States a median line will normally effect a broadly equitable delimitation, a
lateral equidistance line extending outwards from the coasts of adjacent States for long
distances may not infrequently result in an inequitable delimitation by reason of the distorting
effect of individual geographical features. In short, it is the combined effect of the side-by-
side relationship of the two States and the prolongation of the lateral boundary for great
distances to seawards which may be productive of inequity..." (QCM, Annex IV.34, Vol. 4, p.
273, at p. 284; see, also, ibid., p. 295).
Finally, mention may be made not only of the Court's Judgment of 3 June 1985 in the
Libya/Malta continental shelf case (I.C.J. Reports 1985, p. 51, para. 70) referred to above, but
also of the Judgment of 14 June 1993 in the case concerning Maritime Delimitation in the
Area between Greenland and Jan Mayen, where the Court declared that: "Prima facie, a
median line delimitation between opposite coasts results in general in an equitable solution,
particularly if the coasts in question are nearly parallel" (I.C.J. Reports 1993, p. 66, para. 64;
see, also, p. 62, para. 56 and p. 67, para. 65).
87 QM, paras. 12.17, et seq.
88 See, para. 8.18, above.
89 BM, paras. 6, et seq.
90 BM, para. 566.
91 BM, Map 14, Vol. 7.
92 BM, Map 10, Vol. 7.
93 See, QM, paras. 12.30, et seq.
94 QM, paras. 12.33, et seq.
95 I.C.J. Reports 1993, p. 67, para. 65.96 BM, paras. 55-56.
97 BM, paras. 69, et seq. Bahrain also mentions the disparity in landmass (BM, paras. 43 and
58) and population (BM, paras. 54 and 60) and the "dramatic" difference resulting therefrom
with respect to population density: "521 Bahrainis per km², 14 Qataris per km²" (BM, para.
61).
Yet, as is well known, the Court has refused to take into consideration the parameter of
landmass, rejecting in its Judgment of 3 June 1985 in the Libya/Malta case Libya's theory that
"the relevant geographical considerations include the landmass behind the coast [which]...
provides... the factual basis and legal justification for the State's entitlement to continental
shelf rights, a State with a greater landmass having a more intense natural prolongation"
(I.C.J. Reports 1985, p. 40, para. 49). For the Court, "[t]he capacity to engender continental
shelf rights derives not from the landmass, but from sovereignty over the landmass; and it is
by means of the maritime front of this landmass, in other words by its coastal opening, that
this territorial sovereignty brings its continental shelf rights into effect. What distinguishes a
coastal State with continental shelf rights from a landlocked State which has none, is certainly
not the landmass, which both possess, but the existence of a maritime front in one State and
its absence in the other. The juridical link between the State's territorial sovereignty and its
rights to certain adjacent maritime expanses is established by means of its coast" (ibid., p. 41,
para. 49).
Similarly, in its most recent Judgment on the subject, rendered on 14 June 1993 in the
Denmark/Norway case, the Court dismissed the point of view of Denmark, who considered as
relevant to the delimitation "the major differences between Greenland and Jan Mayen as
regards population..." (I.C.J. Reports 1993, p. 73, para. 79). It had noted that "Jan Mayen has
no settled population, as only 25 persons temporarily inhabit the island for the purposes of
their employment..." whereas "the total population of Greenland is 55,000..." (ibid., p. 73,
para. 79). But the Court concluded that, in the delimitation to be performed in that case, it
should not be considered that the low population of Jan Mayen was a circumstance to be
taken into consideration (ibid., p. 74, para. 80).
98 Weil, The Law of Maritime Delimitation - Reflections, op. cit., QCM, Annex IV.58, Vol. 4,
p. 453, at p. 459.
99 Ibid.
100 I.C.J. Reports 1982, p. 77, para. 106.
101 Ibid., para. 107. See, also, the Guinea/Guinea-Bissau case, QCM, Annex IV.33, Vol. 4,
p. 265, at p. 271.
102 I.C.J. Reports 1985, p. 41, para. 50.
103 Ibid.
104 See, I.C.J. Reports 1984, p. 278, para. 59: "It should be emphasised that these fishing
aspects, and others relating to activities in the field... of oil exploration... may require an
examination of valid considerations of a political and economic character. The Chamber ishowever bound by its Statute, and required by the Parties, not to take a decision ex aequo et
bono, but to achieve a result on the basis of law".
105 Ibid., p. 341, para. 235.
106 Ibid., pp. 341-342, para. 235.
107 Ibid., p. 342, para. 236.
108 Ibid., p. 342, para. 237.
109 QCM, Annex IV.35, Vol. 4, p. 299, at p. 302.
110 I.C.J. Reports 1993, p. 73, para. 79.
111 Ibid.
112 Ibid., p. 74, para. 80.
113 I.C.J. Reports 1985, p. 44, para. 56.
114 Ibid., p. 40, para. 46. See, also, I.C.J. Reports 1969, pp. 49-50, para. 91; Award of the
Anglo-French Court of Arbitration, QCM, Annex IV.34, Vol. 4, p. 273, at p. 292; and I.C.J.
Reports 1985, p. 39, para. 46.
115 See, para. 8.16, above.
116 I.C.J. Reports 1951, p. 133.
117 I.C.J. Reports 1969, p. 51, para. 96.
118 See, para. 8.5, above.
119 BM, Maps 10 and 11, Vol. 7, and Map No. 8, facing page 243.
120 QM, paras. 12.62, et seq., and Map 21, Vol. 17; see, also, Map No. 8, facing page 243.
121 It should not be forgotten that Bahrain's relevant basepoints for the delimitation in the
central part of the Arabian-Persian Gulf are used only to the west of point 2B and that, on the
other hand, only Qatar's relevant basepoints are taken into account to the east of point 2B, in
particular up to point 2Q or Z, which is the end point of the boundary claimed by Bahrain
(see, Map No. 8, facing page 243). This has the effect of further encroaching upon the natural
maritime projection of Qatar.
122 See, paras. 8.55, et seq., below.
123 QCM, Annex IV.32, Vol. 4, p. 261.
124 I.C.J. Reports 1969, pp. 31-32, para. 44.125 QCM, Annex IV.33, Vol. 4, p. 265, at p. 267; see, also, ibid., pp. 269, 270 and 271. The
President of the arbitral tribunal, Judge Lachs, in his speech delivered before the award was
read, even stressed that this was the "objectif premier" of the decision.
126 I.C.J. Reports 1985, p. 39, para. 46.
127 Ibid.
128 QM, para. 12.18.
129 See, paras. 8.16 and 8.33, above.
130 I.C.J. Reports 1985, p. 39, para. 46.
131 In this regard, the Court will recall the award of 14 February 1985 in the Guinea/Guinea-
Bissau case, where the arbitral tribunal stated that "Son objectif premier a été d'éviter que,
pour une raison ou pour une autre, une des Parties voie s'exercer en face de ses côtes et dans
leur voisinage immédiat des droits qui pourraient porter atteinte à son droit au développement
ou compromettre sa sécurité" (QCM, Annex IV.33, Vol. 4, p. 265, at p. 271). See, also, the
Court's judgment in the Libya/Malta case, I.C.J. Reports 1985, p. 42, para. 51.
132 See, paras. 8.5, et seq., above.
133 See, para. 8.96, footnote 274, below.
134 See, para. 8.6, above.
135 Weil, "A propos de la double fonction des lignes et des points de base dans le droit de la
mer", op. cit., QCM, Annex IV.56, Vol. 4, p. 429, at p. 432; emphasis added.
136 BM, paras. 559, 564 and 633.
137 See, paras. 6.71, 6.76 and 8.6, above.
138 QM, paras. 10.54, 10.58 and 10.73; QM, Appendix 5, Vol. 15, p. 125.
139 BM, Submissions, p. 301, para. 3.
140 BM, para. 626.
141 Ibid.
142 BM, paras. 619 and 622, et seq.
143 BM, para. 620.
144 BM, para. 625.
145 See, para. 8.42, above.146 BM, para. 626.
147 A copy of Bahraini marine charts Nos. 5001, 2501 and 1502 is being deposited with the
Registry of the Court pursuant to Article 50, paragraph 2 of the Rules of Court.
148 Emphasis added.
149 BM, Maps 6, 7, 8, 9, 11, 12, 13, 14 and 15, Vol. 7.
150 BM, para. 620.
151 New edition, 26 February 1993.
152 See, Map No. 9, facing this page.
153 QCM, Annex IV.24, Vol. 4, p. 165. For the convenience of the Court, Qatar has
reproduced, as Map No. 9, the sketch map appearing as Figure 9 in the Bahraini Technical
Circular (see, the citation in para. 8.50, below). It has inserted, as an inset on that Map,
Bahrain chart No. 1502 with a notation showing the closed fishermen's channel.
154 See, paras. 6.86, et seq., above.
155 BM, paras. 619 and 624.
156 Sir G. Fitzmaurice, "Some Results of the Geneva Conference on the Law of the Sea",
I.C.L.Q., 1959, Vol. 8, QCM, Annex IV.43, Vol. 4, p. 351.
157 See, paras. 8.46, et seq., above.
158 Weil, "A propos de la double fonction des lignes et points de base dans le droit de la
mer", op. cit., QCM, Annex IV.56, Vol. 4, p. 429, at p. 442.
159 See, for example, QM, Map 14, Vol. 17.
160 Bowett, op. cit., QCM, Annex IV.37, Vol. 4, p. 307, at p. 311. This is all the more so,
since in the regional practice there are, as the same author has rightly remarked, "cases in
which features forming an integral part of the coast have not been used: the Iran/Qatar
agreement of 1969 is a case in point, using a mainland-to-mainland equidistance line and
ignoring islands, rocks, reefs and low-tide elevations" (ibid.).
161 See, I.C.J. Reports 1969, p. 36, para. 57.
162 Ibid., p. 23, para. 24.
163 Ibid., p. 50, para. 91.
164 See, Anglo-French Arbitral Award, QCM, Annex IV.34, Vol. 4, p. 273, at p. 297;
Libya/Tunisia Continental Shelf case, I.C.J. Reports 1982, p. 63, para. 79; p. 85, para. 120 and
p. 89, paras. 128-129; and Libya/Malta Continental Shelf case, I.C.J. Reports 1985, p. 48,
para. 64.165 I.C.J. Reports 1984, p. 329, para. 201.
166 Ibid., p. 330, para. 201.
167 Ibid., p. 332, para. 210.
168 Ibid.
169 Indeed, such a line, being an extension of the first section (OQR) is shown as a red
dashed line on Map 10 of the BM. It is defined in the legend as "equidistance line projected
northeastward from R to agreed Iran/Qatar boundary".
170 BM, para. 651.
171 BM, para. 653.
172 The BM gives no geographical coordinates, and its maps are very approximate.
173 BM, para. 653; see, BM, Map 10, Vol. 7 and Map No. 8, facing page 243.
174 BM, para. 653; emphasis added.
175 BM, para. 655.
176 BM, para. 651.
177 BM, para. 655.
178 BM, Map 10, Vol. 7 and Map No. 8, facing page 243.
179 QM, paras. 9.15 and 10.37, et seq.; QM, Appendix 4, Vol. 15, p. 111.
180 BM, para. 638; see, also, para. 6.49, above.
181 BM, para. 639.
182 BM, para. 640.
183 Ibid.; see, also, para. 6.49, above, and the account given in QM, para. 10.39 and, in
particular, QM, Appendix 4, Vol. 15, p. 111.
184 QM, para. 10.39.
185 BM, para. 645.
186 BM, Annex 348, Vol. 6, p. 1499.
187 BM, para. 642.
188 BM, para. 641.189 Sir C. Hurst, "Whose is the bed of the sea? Sedentary fisheries outside the three-mile
limit", B.Y.B.I.L., 1923-1924, QCM, Annex IV.45, Vol. 4, p. 371; emphasis added.
190 BM, para. 641.
191 Other arguments are also relied upon in the BM, in particular the opinion given on
11 February 1905 by the Law Officers of the Crown, according to whom the British
Government had recognised Bahrain's rights to such banks (BM, para. 642). As will be shown
below (para. 8.78), this is an inaccurate interpretation of the opinion of 11 February 1905.
192 See, para. 8.66, above.
193 BM, para. 645; BM, Annex 348, Vol. 6, p. 1499; QM, Annex IV.254, Vol. 12, p. 17, at
pp. 41-43.
194 See, paras. 8.65-8.66, above.
195 BM, Annex 348, Vol. 6, p. 1499.
196 Ibid.
197 Ibid.
198 BM, para. 642.
199 BM, Annex 348, Vol. 6, p. 1499; emphasis added.
200 QM, para. 10.39; see, also, para. 8.81, below.
201 BM, Annex 348, Vol. 6, p. 1499.
202 Ibid.
203 BM, para. 643; emphasis in original.
204 BM, Annex 348, Vol. 6, p. 1499.
205 BM, Annexes 233 and 234, Vol. 4, p. 1014 and p. 1025; and BM, Annexes 313, 314, 315
and 316, Vol. 6, pp. 1363, 1379, 1392 and 1400.
206 See, for example, the Statement of Salman bin Isa bin Ahmad bin Saad al Dosari (BM,
Annex 315, Vol. 6, p. 1392), where it is stated on the one hand that the pearling banks
mentioned were "part of Bahrain", i.e. that they were subject to Bahrain's exclusive
jurisdiction, but on the other hand that the same banks were "open to everyone", i.e. that they
were not reserved exclusively for Bahraini fishermen.
207 QM, para. 10.39, and in particular, QM, Appendix 4, Vol. 15, p. 111.
208 BM, para. 642.209 BM, para. 647.
210 QM, Annex IV.20, Vol. 9, p. 96; see, also, BM, Annex 321, Vol. 6, p. 1431. The same
principle had previously been stated in correspondence from the India Office. Thus, in a letter
of 10 March 1904 from several members of the Foreign Department to the Secretary of State
for India, it is stated that "The pearl banks appear from time immemorial to have been open,
without distinction, to the Arabs of the entire littoral... the principal chiefs have in the past
expressed the view that the fisheries are common property..." (QM, Annex IV.19, Vol. 9,
p. 85, at p. 87). Similarly, on 30 June 1904, Mr. A. Godley, also of the India Office,
considered that whatever may have been the location of the banks, either within or outside
territorial waters, "in all these cases the tribes have exercised an exclusive right for fishing for
pearls" (QM, Annex IV.20, Vol. 9, p. 91, at p. 94). The principle is stated even more precisely
in a letter sent on 19 October 1904 by a member of the Foreign Office, Mr. Eldon Gorst, to
the Law Officers of the Crown: "In all these cases the tribes have exercised an exclusive and
concurrent right of fishing for pearls" (BM, Annex 321, Vol. 6, p. 1431). The above-
mentioned opinion by Finlay and Carson was in response to this letter.
211 QM, Annex IV.24, Vol. 9, p. 111, at p. 113.
212 QM, Annex IV.41, Vol. 9, p. 199.
213 QM, Annex IV.62, Vol. 9, p. 305. It was also Gibson who, in an earlier letter of
26 October 1938, had criticised the view of a member of the Foreign Office, Lacy Baggallay,
noting, with a significant sense of understatement, "in connexion with Baggallay's letter", that
"it would hardly be correct to speak of the fisheries long reserved to Bahreini nationals when
the banks are the common property of all the tribes" (QM, Annex IV.46, Vol. 9, p. 223, at p.
227; emphasis in original).
214 QM, Annex IV.289, Vol. 13, p. 43, at p. 49, fn. 3.
215 See, QM, Annex IV.323, Vol. 13, p. 269, at pp. 272-273.
216 QM, Annex IV.20, Vol. 9, p. 91, at p. 94; emphasis added.
217 QM, Annex IV.122, Vol. 10, p. 103.
218 QM, Annex IV.206, Vol. 11, p. 67, at p. 75.
219 QM, Annex IV.207, Vol. 11, p. 149.
220 See, para. 8.7, above; QM, Annex IV.254, Vol. 12, p. 17, at p. 36.
221 Ibid., at p. 37.
222 BM, para. 642.
223 See, citations in paras. 8.78-8.79, above.
224 BM, para. 643.225 Ibid.
226 QM, Annex IV.19, Vol. 9, p. 85, at p. 88.
227 QM, Annex IV.27, Vol. 9, p. 125.
228 QM, Annex IV.62, Vol. 9, p. 305; emphasis added.
229 BM, para. 643; emphasis in original.
230 See, QM, Annexes IV.19, IV.24 and IV.44, Vol. 9, p. 85, p. 111 and p. 213.
231 BM, para. 642.
232 QM, Annex IV.4, Vol. 9, p. 15.
233 QM, Annex IV.19, Vol. 9, p. 85; emphasis added.
234 Bahrain also claims that: "the Ruler of Bahrain levied a tax on vessels fishing for pearls
from the early 19 Century, justified by the need to maintain armed vessels on the pearling
banks to protect the vessels fishing there" (BM, para. 643). To justify this assertion, it refers
to a text from Lorimer (BM, Annex 83, Vol. 3, p. 506), which has also been cited by Qatar
(QM, Annex IV.307, Vol. 13, p. 171, at p. 174), and which runs counter to this view. Indeed,
it is stated there that "The chiefs of the Arab littoral derive revenue from the pearl fisheries,
but only by means of taxes imposed on their own subjects or on persons resident in their
respective jurisdictions" and Lorimer cites in support of this statement not only the case of the
Sheikh of Bahrain, but also "the chiefs of Trucial Oman", even specifying that "the system of
taxation was maintained both by the Shaikh of Bahrain and by the other Arab chiefs". It may
be added that in its Annex Bahrain has not provided p. 2240 of Lorimer's text, (QM, Annex
IV.307, Vol. 13, p. 173) which states that: "On the Arabian side all the banks, whether near to
or far from the coast, are free to the pearl fishers of Arabia and Persia without distinction of
race or nationality". It may be noted that a more recent author, J.B. Kelly, referring to the case
of Sharjah, has stressed that: "Pearling in the waters off Qatar and the Trucial Coast is free to
all, but the shaikhs usually collect a pearling tax from their own subjects", QM, Annex
IV.304, Vol. 13, p. 155, at p. 158.
235 QM, Annex IV.242, Vol. 11, p. 391, at p. 393.
236 QM, Annex IV.245, Vol. 11, p. 411.
237 BM, para. 651; see, also, BM, para. 653.
238 QM, Annex IV.254, Vol. 12, p. 17, at pp. 22-23; see, also, ibid., pp. 24-25 and pp. 27-40.
239 BM, para. 650.
240 See, QM, paras. 10.34, et seq.; QM, Appendix 4, Vol. 15, p. 111, at pp. 121-123.
241 See, ibid.; see, also, QM, Annexes IV.229, IV.231, IV.242 and IV.244, Vol. 11, pp. 335,
343, 391 and 405.242 See, QM, Appendix 4, Vol. 15, p. 111, at p. 123.
243 QM, Annex IV.216, Vol. 11, p. 235.
244 QM, Annex IV.190, Vol. 10, p. 457, as completed by QCM Annex IV.8, Vol. 4, p. 63, at
p. 69.
245 See, Map No. 10, facing this page.
246 QM, Annex IV.216, Vol. 11, p. 235; Charney & Alexander, op. cit., Vol. II, pp. 1489-
1497.
247 QM, Annex IV.264, Vol. 12, p. 111; Charney & Alexander, op. cit., Vol. II, pp. 1481-
1488.
248 Charney & Alexander, op. cit., Vol. II, pp. 1549-1554.
249 Ibid., pp. 1475-1480.
250 QM, Annex IV.258, Vol. 12, p. 71; Charney & Alexander, op.cit., Vol. II, pp. 1519-1532.
251 QM, Annex IV.260, Vol. 12, p. 81; Charney & Alexander, op.cit., Vol. II, pp. 1511-1517.
252 QCM, Annex IV.21, Vol. 4, p. 135; Charney & Alexander, op.cit., Vol. II, pp. 1533-
1539.
253 QM, Annex III.295, Vol. 8, p. 475, at p. 477; Charney & Alexander, op.cit., Vol. II, pp.
1499-1502. Moreover, it seems that outside the Gulf, historic rights to sedentary fisheries
have likewise not been taken into account as special or relevant circumstances in order to
adjust the course of the dividing line. Thus, the State Department Geographer remarked,
concerning the agreement of 26 and 28 June 1974 between India and Sri Lanka "on the
boundary in historic waters of Palk Bay", that "the delimitation reflects a selective, i.e.
modified, application of the principle of equidistance. As noted, the maritime boundary
divides the historic waters and the seabed of Palk Bay. Traditional fishing rights of both
parties, however, are preserved" (QCM, Annex IV.17, Vol. 4, p. 113, at p. 121; Charney &
Alexander, op.cit., Vol. II, pp. 1409-1417). Similarly, a commentator on the agreement of
23 March 1976 between India and Sri Lanka in the Gulf of Manaar and the Bay of Bengal and
the attached exchange of letters (QCM, Annex IV.23, Vol. 4, p. 153; Charney & Alexander,
op.cit., Vol. II, pp. 1419-1430) stated that: "In the case of the India-Sri Lanka boundary in the
Gulf of Manaar and Bay of Bengal, Sri Lankan claims of historic fishing rights in Wedge
Bank did not alter the location of the line, but did result in agreement on respect for Sri
Lankan fishing rights for three years and a Sri Lankan right to purchase fish thereafter"
(Oxman, op. cit., QCM, Annex IV.51, Vol. 4, p. 397). But in any event, the historic rights of
fishermen from Sri Lanka did not concern sedentary fisheries. As for the agreement of
18 December 1978 between Australia and Papua-New Guinea, in particular in the area of the
Torres Strait (H. Burmester, "The Torres Strait Treaty: Ocean Boundary Delimitation by
Agreement", American Journal of International Law, Vol. 76, 1982, pp. 321-349; Charney &
Alexander, op. cit., Vol. I, pp. 929-975), while it took account of traditional fisheries in
establishing a "Protected Zone" and making a plurilinear delimitation, like the above-mentioned agreement of 23 March 1976 between India and Sri Lanka, it did not concern
sedentary fisheries.
254 See, paras. 8.14-8.15, above.
255 BM, para. 649.
0 BM, para. 563.
1 BM, paras. 638 and 651.
2 Codification conventions are rather silent on the problem of sedentary fisheries and more
generally on the question of historic title and its role in maritime delimitation. The only
provisions really to be found in this respect are Article 12, paragraph 1 of the 1958
Convention on the territorial sea and contiguous zone and Article 15 of the 1982 Convention
on the Law of the Sea which, with respect to the delimitation of the territorial sea, rules out
application of the equidistance method in cases where, "by reason of historic title or other
special circumstances", it is necessary to delimit the territorial sea between two States in
another manner. But these provisions are inapplicable to the delimitation of maritime areas
outside territorial waters.
3 See, the commentaries by E. Decaux, QCM, Annex IV.39, Vol. 4, p. 333; E. Zoller, QCM,
Annex IV.61, Vol. 4, p. 471; M. Feldman, QCM, Annex IV.42, Vol. 4, p. 347, and Charney &
Alexander, op. cit., Vol. II, pp. 1663-1680, at pp. 1667-1668.
4 I.C.J. Reports 1982, p. 72, para. 98.
5 Ibid.
6 See, QM, paras. 12.54, et seq.
7 I.C.J. Reports 1984, p. 340, para. 233; see, also, D.M. McRae, "The Gulf of Maine Case:
The Written Proceedings", in The Canadian Yearbook of International Law, 1983, Vol. XXI,
QCM, Annex IV.50, Vol. 4, p. 393.
8 I.C.J. Reports 1984, pp. 340-341, para. 233.
9 Ibid., p. 341, para. 233.
10 Ibid., p. 341, para. 235.
11 Ibid., p. 342, para. 237.
12 QM, Map 21, Vol. 17.
13 QM, paras. 12.62-12.63.
14 QM, paras. 12.5 and 12.62.15 QM, paras. 12.64 and 12.72. The geographical coordinates of points NSLB, BLV and 2
(2B) are specified in the Submissions contained in Qatar's Memorial (QM, p. 307, and Map
24, Vol. 17) and in Part V, below and QCM, Map No. 12, facing p. 303.
16 QM, paras. 12.5 and 12.62.
17 QM, paras. 12.41, 12.64, notes 153 and 154, and 12.72.
18 QM, paras. 12.44, et seq. In fact the perpendicularity method is simply a variant of the
equidistance method. Both the doctrine and the jurisprudence (see, in particular, the Gulf of
Maine case, I.C.J. Reports 1984, p. 329, para. 200) consider that these two delimitation
methods are based on the same philosophy, any line equidistant from two points being by
definition a line perpendicular to the straight line linking those two points. Moreover, as noted
above (para. 8.42), Qatar does not dispute that it might be possible to have recourse to the
equidistance method in order to achieve a reasonable and equitable delimitation in the
northern sector, just as in the southern sector (see, paras. 7.28, et seq., above). It cannot be
forgotten that this method of delimitation has played a considerable role in the area (see, the
Boggs-Kennedy report of 16 December 1948, QM, Annex IV.127, Vol. 10, p. 123, and the
conventional practice in the region).
19 QM, para. 12.64 and QM, Map 20, Vol. 17.
20 QM, para. 12.64 and QM, Maps 20 and 21, Vol. 17.
21 QM, paras. 12.64 and 12.72.
22 See, QM, paras. 12.14-12.15, and para. 8.14, above.
23 See, I.C.J. Reports 1985, pp. 39-40, para. 46.
24 See, paras. 8.34, et seq., above.
25 See, QM, paras. 12.26, et seq.
26 I.C.J. Reports 1969, p. 49, para. 91; I.C.J. Reports 1985, p. 39, para. 46.
27 QM, paras. 12.26, et seq.
28 See, QM, Appendix 6, Vol. 15, p. 143.
29 I.C.J. Reports 1993, p. 67, para. 65.
30 QM, paras. 12.30, et seq.; see, also, para. 8.101, above.
31 QM, paras. 12.33, et seq.
32 QM, paras. 12.65, et seq.
33 I.C.J. Reports 1984, p. 323, para. 185.34 QM, paras. 12.66, et seq.; QM, Map 22, Vol. 17.
35 QM, paras. 12.70-12.71; QM, Map 23, Vol. 17.
36 Ibid.
37 QM, para. 12.32, and para. 8.101, above.
38 QM, para. 12.71.
39 See, QM, Map 21, Vol. 17. Point EQ, the end point of the dividing line established on the
basis of the ratio of 1.59 to 1 between the lengths of the respective coasts is situated about
3000 metres to the east of point 2 (2B), which is approximately 1270 metres east of point S,
corresponding to the end point of the dividing line established on the basis of a strict
application of the perpendicularity method.
__________
LIST OF DOCUMENTARY ANNEXES
(Volume 2)
Page
PART II
II.1 Excerpts from a Note by Foreign Secretary Aitchison dated 28 July 1871, Islands and
Maritime Boundaries of the Gulf, 1867-1899, Vol. 3, Archive Editions, 1990, p. 397 1
II.2 Letter from First Assistant PRPG to PRPG dated 16 August 1873 enclosing translation of
a report and précis of a conversation between First Assistant PRPG and Sheikh Esaw bin Ali
(F.O. 78/2444) 5
II.3 Letter from PRPG to First Assistant PRPG dated 28 August 1873 11
II.4 "Memorandum on the separate Claims of Turkey and Persia to Sovereignty over the
Island of Bahrein", by E. Hertslet, Foreign Office, 23 March 1874, p. 1 (F.O. 78/2444) 13
II.5 Letter No. 3 from Officiating Second Assistant PRPG to PRPG dated 8 March 1875
enclosing letter from PRPG to Secretary to Government of India dated 3 April 1875 (F.O.
78/2445) 17
II.6 Hawar Island of Qatar, location and dwellings, 17 June 1876 and location of dwellings,
18 June 1883, Archives of the Diwan Amiri of the State of Qatar (Translation and Arabic
version) 23II.7 Excerpts from letter from First Assistant PRPG to the Government of India dated 20
January 1879, Islands and Maritime Boundaries of the Gulf, 1867-1899, Vol. 3, Archive
Editions, 1990, pp. 440-444 27
II.8 Letter from IO to FO dated 17 September 1879, Islands and Maritime Boundaries of the
Gulf, 1867-1899, Vol. 3, Archive Editions, 1990, pp. 409-413 35
II.9 Report on the Administration of the Persian Gulf Political Residency and Muskat Political
Agency for the Year 1879-80, Selections from Records of the Government of India, Foreign
Department, No. CLXXI, Calcutta, 1880, pp. 4-9 (I.O.R. R/15/2/26) 43
II.10 Political Agent's Report to Resident No. 187 dated 20 December 1881 (I.O.R.
R/15/1/137) (copy of original and transcription) 55
II.11 Political Agent's Report to Resident No. 193 dated 28 December 1881 (I.O.R.
R/15/1/137) (copy of original and transcription) 59
II.12 Letter from Seyed Mahomed Roof Effendi (Mudir of Ojair and Agent of the Mudir of
Zubara) to Commander Pelly dated 26 July 1895 (F.O. 78/5110) (copy of original and
transcription) 65
II.13 Letter from Officiating PRPG to Secretary to the Government of India dated 7 March
1902, Records of Qatar, Primary Documents 1820-1960, Vol. 4, 1896-1916, Archive
Editions, 1991, p. 42 71
II.14 Letter from PAB to PRPG No. 455 dated 23 December 1905, Records of Qatar, Primary
Documents 1820-1960, Vol. 4, 1896-1916, Archive Editions, 1991, pp. 155-160 75
II.15 Administration Report of the Bahrain Political Agency for 1905-06, The Persian Gulf
Administration Reports (1873-1947), Vol. VI, 1905-1911, Archive Editions, 1986, pp. 78-85
83
II.16 "Katar News" Report dated 8 March 1906 (I.O.R. R/15/2/26) (copy of original and
transcription) 93
II.17 Administration Report of the Bahrain Political Agency for the Year 1906-1907, The
Persian Gulf Administration Reports (1873-1947), Vol. VI, 1905-1911, Archive Editions,
1986, pp. 66-73 103
II.18 Administration Report for Bahrain for the Year 1909, Persian Gulf Administration
Reports (1873-1947), Vol. VI, 1905-1911, Archive Editions, 1986, pp. 69-73 113
II.19 Letter from IO to FO dated 26 May 1909, Islands and Maritime Boundaries of the Gulf,
1903-1924, Vol. 5, Archive Editions, 1990, pp. 233-234 121
II.20 Telegrams from Secretary of State to Viceroy dated 13 October 1909, Islands and
Maritime Boundaries of the Gulf, 1903-1924, Vol. 5, Archive Editions, 1990, p. 239 125
II.21 Letter from PAB to First Assistant PRPG dated 20 November 1909, Islands and
Maritime Boundaries of the Gulf, 1903-1924, Vol. 5, Archive Editions, 1990, p. 243 129II.22 Letter from Deputy Secretary to the Government of India to First Assistant PRPG dated
25 January 1910, Islands and Maritime Boundaries of the Gulf, 1903-1924, Vol. 5, Archive
Editions, 1990, p. 245 133
II.23 Letter from PAB to PRPG dated 24 March 1910 (I.O.R. R/15/2/25) 137
II.24 Letter from Sir Edward Grey to Sir G. Lowther dated 8 August 1910 (I.O.R R/15/2/25)
145
II.25 Letter from Sir G. Lowther to Sir Edward Grey dated 22 August 1910 (F.O. 371/1004),
Gooch and Temperley, British Documents on the Origins of the War, Vol. 10, pp. 1-6 149
II.26 Letter from IO to FO dated 4 January 1938 (F.O. 371/23184) 157
II.27 Telegram from Sir R. Bullard to PRPG dated 1 November 1938 (F.O. 371/21831) 161
II.28 Despatch No. 40 of 2nd March 1939 from Sir R. Bullard to Lord Viscount Halifax
enclosing copy of Note No. 4/1/6 of 26 February 1939 from Saudi Acting Minister for
Foreign Affairs to his Majesty's Minister, Jedda (F.O. 371/23184) 165
II.29 Letter from PRPG to Secretary of State for India dated 26 May 1939, Arabian
Boundaries, Saudi Arabia-Bahrain, 1938-1957, Vol. 10, Archive Editions, 1988, pp. 55-59
171
II.30 Memorandum from Belgrave to PAB dated 4 June 1939 enclosing translation of sale
deed (I.O.R. R/15/2/548) 179
II.31 Memorandum from PAB to Belgrave dated 2 July 1939 (I.O.R. R/15/2/548) 183
II.32 Letter from J.W. Wall to H.M. Minister, Jedda dated 10 November 1939, Arabian
Boundaries, Saudi Arabia-Bahrain, 1938-1957, Vol. 10, Archive Editions, 1988, pp. 34-35
187
II.33 Letter from FO to IO dated 17 November 1939, Islands and Maritime Boundaries of the
Gulf, 1937-1940, Vol. 11, Archive Editions, 1990, pp. 431-432 191
II.34 Express letter from PAB to PRPG dated 20 December 1939, Arabian Boundaries, Saudi
Arabia-Bahrain, 1938-1957, Vol. 10, Archive Editions, 1988, pp. 39-40 195
II.35 Letter from PAB to PRPG dated 30 August 1941 and sketch map, Arabian Boundaries,
Saudi Arabia-Bahrain, 1938-1957, Vol. 10, Archive Editions, 1988, pp. 67-70 199
II.36 Telegram from PRPG to Secretary of State for India dated 15 October 1941 (I.O.R.
R/15/2/548) 205
II.37 Telegram from H.M. Minister, Jedda to Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs dated 27
November 1941 (I.O.R. R/15/2/548) 209
II.38 Letter from PAB to Chief Local Representative, BAPCO dated 22 December 1941
(I.O.R. R/15/2/548) 213II.39 Letter from PAB to Belgrave dated 7 February 1942, Arabian Boundaries, Saudi
Arabia-Bahrain, 1938-1957, Vol. 10, Archive Editions, 1988, p. 71 217
II.40 Memorandum by the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs dated 10 February 1949
(CAB/129/32) 221
II.41 Letter from BAPCO to RB dated 25 September 1949 enclosing map (F.O. 1016/16) 233
II.42 Letter from RB to BAPCO dated 27 September 1949 (F.O. 1016/16) 237
II.43 Foreign Office Minute dated 29 October 1949 (F.O. 1016/16) 241
II.44 Telegram from PAB to FO dated 2 November 1949 (F.O. 1016/16) 245
II.45 Translation of letter from King of Saudi Arabia to RB dated 3 November 1949 (F.O.
1016/16) 249
II.46 Letter from RB to PAB dated 3 November 1949 (F.O. 1016/16) 253
II.47 Memorandum from Hay to FO dated 3 December 1949 (F.O. 1016/16) 257
II.48 Letter from PRPG to FO dated 10 January 1950 (F.O. 371/82089) 261
II.49 Letter from Belgrave to PAB dated 11 April 1950 enclosing translation of sale deed
(F.O. 371/82036) 267
II.50 Note verbale from H.M. Embassy at Jedda to Saudi Arabian Ministry of Foreign Affairs
dated 15 April 1950 (F.O. 371/82036) 275
II.51 Telegram from PAB to FO dated 23 August 1950 (F.O. 371/82037) 279
II.52 Letter from Senior Naval Officer, Persian Gulf to PRPG dated 6 September 1950 (F.O.
371/82037) 283
II.53 Discussions with the Saudi Arabian Foreign Minister, Record of the Second Session
held in the Foreign Office on 9 August 1951 (POWE 33/1952) 289
II.54 Discussions with the Saudi Arabian Foreign Minister, Record of the Third Session held
in the Foreign Office on 10 August 1951 (POWE 33/1952) 297
II.55 Discussions with the Saudi Arabian Foreign Minister, Record of the 2nd Session of the
Sub-Committee held in the Foreign Office on 17 August 1951 (POWE 33/1952) 303
II.56 Discussions with the Saudi Arabian Foreign Minister, Record of the 5th Session on 17
August 1951 (POWE 33/1952) 311
II.57 Discussions with the Saudi Arabian Foreign Minister, Record of the Sixth Session held
in the Foreign Office on 18 August 1951 (POWE 33/1952) 317II.58 Discussions with the Saudi Arabian Foreign Minister, Record of the 3rd Session of the
Sub-Committee held in the Foreign Office on 20 August 1951 (POWE 33/1952) 321
II.59 Discussions with the Saudi Arabian Foreign Minister, Record of the Seventh Session
held in the Foreign Office on 20 August 1951 (POWE 33/1952) 327
II.60 Discussions with the Saudi Arabian Foreign Minister, Record of the Eighth Session held
in the Foreign Office on 21 August 1951 (POWE 33/1952) 331
II.61 Discussions with the Saudi Arabian Foreign Minister, Record of the Tenth Session held
in the Foreign Office on 23 August 1951 (POWE 33/1952) 337
II.62 Memorandum "Saudi-Arabian Delegation and H.M.G. Discussions in London, 8th and
24th August 1951" dated 8 October 1951 (POWE 33/1952) 345
II.63 Letter from PAB to Le Quesne, Residency, dated 13 October 1951, Arabian Boundaries,
Saudi Arabia-Bahrain, 1938-1957, Vol. 10, Archive Editions, 1988, p. 106 349
II.64 Minute by C.H. Fone dated 22 March 1952 (F.O. 371/98411) 353
II.65 Map to accompany letter from Sealey to Skinner dated 25 September 1952 (F.O.
371/104319) 359
II.66 Telegram from PAB to FO dated 6 August 1954 (F.O . 371/109844) 363
Cases
II.67 Island of Palmas Case (Netherlands/U.S.A.), Award of 4 April 1928, United Nations
Reports of International Arbitral Awards, Vol. II, p. 854 369
Published Works
II.68 A Collection of First World War Handbooks of Arabia 1913-1917, Vol. IV, A Handbook
of Arabia, Vol. I, General, 1916, Archive Editions, 1988, p. 327 373
II.69 Al Rashid, Z.M., Su'udi Relations with Eastern Arabia and 'Uman (1800-1871), Luzac
and Company, London, 1981, pp. 36 and 153 377
II.70 Cordesman, A.H., Bahrain, Oman, Qatar and the U.A.E. Challenges of Security,
Westview Press, Boulder, 1997, pp. 35 and 215 381
II.71 Ferdinand, K., Bedouins of Qatar, Thames and Hudson, London, 1993, pp. 35-37 385
II.72 Hakima, A.M.A., History of Eastern Arabia, 1750-1800, Khayats, Beirut, 1965, p. 159
391
II.73 Kelly, J.B., Eastern Arabian Frontiers, Faber and Faber, London, 1964, p. 62 395
II.74 Khuri, F.I., Tribe and State in Bahrain, University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 1980, pp.
22, 30-33, 56-57, 65-67 and 95 399II.75 Palgrave, W.G., Narrative of a Year's Journey through Central and Eastern Arabia
(1862-63), Vol. II, MacMillan and Co., London, 1865, pp. 232-233 413
II.76 Persian Gulf Pilot, published by The Hydrographer of the Navy, Twelfth Edition, 1982,
p. 195 417
II.77 Rush, A. de L. (ed.), Ruling Families of Arabia, Qatar: The Ruling Family of Al-Thani,
Archive Editions, 1991, pp. xvi-xvii 421
II.78 Saldanha, J.A., The Persian Gulf Précis, Vol. V, Précis of Nejd Affairs, 1804-1904,
Archive Editions, 1986, p. 79 425
II.79 Thomas, R.H. (ed.), Arabian Gulf Intelligence, Selections from the Records of the
Bombay Government, New Series, No. XXIV, 1856, The Oleander Press, Cambridge, 1985, p.
174 429
II.80 Trench, R. (ed.), Gazetteer of Arabian tribes, Vol. I, Archive Editions, 1996, pp. vii-viii;
Appendices: I, pp. 31-37 433
II.81 Wilkinson, J.C., Arabia's Frontiers: The Story of Britain's Boundary Drawing in the
Desert, I.B. Tauris and Co. Ltd., London, 1991, p. 43 445
II.82 Zahlan, R.S., The Creation of Qatar, Croom Helm, London, 1979, pp. 16-20, 25, 42-55
and 57-58 449
LIST OF DOCUMENTARY ANNEXES
(Volume 3)
Page
PART III
III.1 Letter from PRPG to Government of Bombay dated 7 December 1867 (copy of original
and transcription) 1
III.2 Letter from PRPG to Government of Bombay dated 4 April 1868 (copy of original and
transcription) 9
III.3 Letter from First Assistant PRPG to PRPG dated 23 April 1868 (copy of original and
partial transcription) 13
III.4 Letter from PRPG to Government of Bombay dated 22 June 1868 (copy of original and
partial transcription) 25
III.5 Letter from Officiating Secretary to Government of India to Government of Bombay
dated 23 July 1868 (copy of original and partial transcription) 35
III.6 Letter from PRPG to RB dated 2 September 1868 (copy of original and partial
transcription) 45III.7 Excerpt from letter from PRPG to Government of Bombay dated 25 September 1868
(copy of original and partial transcription) 53
III.8 Letter from PRPG to Government of Bombay dated 12 September 1871 (copy of original
and partial transcription) 57
III.9 Report by Political Department to Secretary to Government of India dated 28 October
1871 (copy of original and transcription) 63
III.10 Letter from First Assistant PRPG to PRPG dated 16 August 1873 enclosing translation
of a report and précis of a conversation between First Assistant PRPG and Sheikh Esaw bin
Ali (I.O.R.L/P&S/5/274) 69
III.11 Letter from First Assistant PRPG to Acting PRPG dated 11 September 1873 (I.O.R.
L/P&S/5/274) 73
III.12 Hawar Island of Qatar, location and dwellings, 17 June 1876 and location of dwellings,
18 June 1883, Archives of the Diwan Amiri of the State of Qatar (Translation and Arabic
version) 77
III.13 Letter from RB to Officiating PRPG dated 12 October 1877 (I.O.R. P/1036) 81
III.14 The Persian Gulf Pilot 1870-1932, Second Edition, 1883, Archive Editions, 1989, p.
121 85
III.15 The Persian Gulf Pilot 1870-1932, Third Edition, 1890, Archive Editions, 1989, pp.
122-124 89
III.16 Letter from PRPG to Government of India dated 4 May 1895 (I.O.R. R/15/1/314) 95
III.17 The Persian Gulf Pilot 1870-1932, Fourth Edition, 1898, Archive Editions, 1989, p.
117 99
III.18 Letter from PAB to PRPG dated 29 October 1910 (I.O.R. R/15/2/25) 103
III.19 Letter from PRPG to Government of India dated 27 June 1913 (I.O.R. L/P&S/10/384)
107
III.20 Letter from Government of India to PRPG dated 31 July 1913 (I.O.R. R/15/2/30) 111
III.21 Telegram from Viceroy to IO dated 1 August 1913 (I.O.R. L/P&S/10/384) 115
III.22 Minute by IO dated 2 August 1913 (I.O.R. L/P&S/10/384) 119
III.23 Telegram from Viceroy dated 12 August 1913 enclosing Minute by IO (I.O.R.
L/P&S/10/384) 123
III.24 Telegram from Viceroy dated 5 September 1913 (I.O.R. L/P&S/10/384) 127III.25 Letter from Officiating PRPG to Government of India dated 22 August 1914, Records
of Qatar, Primary Documents 1820-1960, Vol. 4, 1896-1916, Archive Editions, 1991, p. 392
131
III.26 Report from PAB to PRPG dated 13 July 1922 (I.O.R. R/15/2/87) 135
III.27 Letters from PRPG to RQ and Ruler of Kuwait dated 5 April 1923 (I.O.R. R/15/2/87)
(Translation, Arabic version and partial transcription) 141
III.28 Telegram from PRPG to Secretary of State for Colonies dated 4 January 1924 (I.O.R.
R/15/1/346) (Copy of original and transcription) 147
III.29 Letter from Belgrave to PAB dated April 1927 (I.O.R. R/15/2/87) 151
III.30 Letter from PAB to Secretary to PRPG dated 24 April 1927 (I.O.R. R/15/2/87) 157
III.31 Letter from PRPG to Government of India dated 1/7 May 1927 (I.O.R. R/15/1/346) 163
III.32 Letter from Political Residency to RB dated 25 May 1927 (I.O.R. R/15/2/87) 169
III.33 Letter from Belgrave to PAB dated 4 March 1928 (I.O.R. R/15/2/87) 173
III.34 Memorandum from PAB to Secretary to PRPG dated 22 April 1928 enclosing
translation of letter from Ibn Saud to PAB dated 6 April 1928 (I.O.R.R/15/2/87) 179
III.35 Geological survey sketch map of Qatar, APOC Reg. No. 36 dated April 1933 183
III.36 Letter from Sampson (APOC) to PAB dated 21 June 1933 (I.O.R. R/15/1/652) 187
III.37 Letter from PAB to PRPG dated 25 June 1933 (I.O.R. R/15/1/626) 191
III.38 Final record of meeting held at India Office on 14 December 1933 dated 22 December
1933 (I.O.R. R/15/1/627) 195
III.39 Letter from APOC to PRPG dated 3 February 1934 enclosing geological sketch map
prepared by IPC/APOC (I.O.R. R/15/1/627) 209
III.40 Memorandum from Laithwaite (IO) revised to 5 March 1934 (I.O.R . R/15/1/628) 213
III.41 Letter from FO to IO dated 16 March 1934 (I.O.R. R/15/1/628) 225
III.42 Letter from PAB to R.A.F. Officers Commanding Detachment dated 7 May 1934
(I.O.R. R/15/1/629) 233
III.43 Letter from PAB to PRPG dated 12 May 1934 (I.O.R. R/15/1/629) 237
III.44 Note of discussion at IO with APOC on 10 January 1935 (I.O.R. R/15/1/630) 247
III.45 Letter from IO to APOC dated 22 January 1935 (I.O.R. R/15/1/631) 257III.46 Memorandum from PRPG dated 28 April 1937 (I.O.R. R/15/2/202) 261
III.47 Letter from PAB to PRPG dated 12 February 1939 (I.O.R. R/15/1/691) 265
III.48 Letter from PAB to PRPG dated 5 December 1939 (I.O.R. R/15/1/142) 275
III.49 Letter from RB to PRPG dated 8 February 1961 (F.O. 371/156721) 279
III.50 Statement of K. Wallis, Hydrographer for the Ministry of Public Works and Ministry of
Municipal Affairs, State of Qatar dated 24 September 1997 with enclosures 289
Cases
III.51 Dubai/Sharjah Border Award of 19 October 1981, 91 International Law Reports, 1993,
pp. 579, 601-602, 619, 622 and 637 297
III.52 Island of Clipperton, Award of 28 January 1931, United Nations Reports of
International Arbitral Awards, Vol. II, p. 1108 305
III.53 Egypt-Israel Arbitration Tribunal: Award in Boundary Dispute concerning the Taba
Area, September 29, 1988, International Legal Materials, Vol. XXVII, 1988, p. 1469, para.
173 309
Published Works
III.54 Al-Tajir, M. A., Bahrain, 1920-1945: Britain, the Shaikh and the Administration,
Croom Helm, London/New York/Sydney, 1987, pp. 33, 39 and 49-50 313
III.55 Khuri, F.I, Tribe and State in Bahrain, University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 1980, pp.
47-48, 56, 65, 93-94, 96-97, 101 and 114 319
III.56 Oppenheim's International Law, Sir Robert Jennings and Sir Arthur Watts (eds.) 9th
ed., Vol. I, Longman, Harlow, 1992, p. 382, para. 117 331
III.57 The Persian Gulf Summaries 1907-1953, Historical Summary of Events in the
Territories of the Ottoman Empire, Persia and Arabia affecting the British Position in the
Persian Gulf, 1907-1928, Vol. I, Archive Editions, 1987, pp. 95-96 335
LIST OF DOCUMENTARY ANNEXES
(Volume 4)
Page
PART IV
IV.1 Letter from PCL to IO dated 11 September 1936 (I.O.R. R/15/1/688) 1
IV.2 Letter from PAB to RQ dated 17 February 1948 (I.O.R. R/15/2/431) 9IV.3 Letter from PAB to RB dated 17 February 1948 (I.O.R. R/15/2/431) 13
IV.4 Concession Agreement between RQ, Central Mining and Investment Corporation Ltd.
and Superior Oil Company dated 5 August 1949 (F.O. 371/75002) 17
IV.5 Letter from PRPG to FO dated 13 September 1949 (F.O. 371/75000) 43
IV.6 Hudson, M.O. and Young, R., "Off-shore Problems in the Persian Gulf", Opinion
prepared at the request of the Arabian American Oil Company for Submission to His
Majesty's Government in Saudi Arabia, Appendix No. 1, 5 January 1950, Islands and
Maritime Boundaries of the Gulf, 1950-1951, Vol. 15, Archive Editions, 1990, pp. 506-513
47
IV.7 Record of a meeting held at Foreign Office on 24 August 1950 (F.O. 371/82091) 57
IV.8 Letter from Belgrave to PAB dated 21 March 1951, Islands and Maritime Boundaries of
the Gulf, 1951-1954, Bahrain-Saudi boundary, 1951, Vol. 16, Archive Editions, 1990, pp.
125-129 63
IV.9 Discussions with the Saudi Arabian Foreign Minister, Record of the 2nd Session of the
Sub-Committee held in the Foreign Office on 17 August 1951 (POWE 33/1952) 71
IV.10 Convention on the Territorial Sea and Contiguous Zone, Geneva, 29 April 1958, 516
United Nations Treaty Series 205, Articles 10 and 11 79
IV.11 Convention on the Continental Shelf, Geneva, 29 April 1958, 449 United Nations
Treaty Series 311, Article 6 83
IV.12 Letter from RB to PRPG dated 16 August 1961 (F.O. 371/156720) 87
IV.13 Minute by Walmsley dated 28 September 1961 (F.O. 371/156720) 91
IV.14 Letter from PAB to PRPG dated 5 January 1963 enclosing Chronological Summary of
Events in Bahrain in 1962 (F.O. 371/168669) 97
IV.15 Letter from FO to PRPG dated 3 December 1965 (F.O. 371/179872) 103
IV.16 Letter from PAB to PRPG dated 20 February 1966 (F.O. 371/185335) 109
IV.17 Agreement between India and Sri Lanka, signed 26-28 June 1974, International
Boundary Study, Limits in the Seas, N° 66, U.S. Department of State, Office of the
Geographer, Bureau of Intelligence and Research, 12 December 1975 (text only) 113
IV.18 Statement of Mr. Abad Santos, 31st meeting, 8 July 1974, United Nations Conference
on the Law of the Sea, Official Records, Vol. I, pp. 124-125, paras. 47-53 123
IV.19 Statement of Mr. Adderley, 32nd meeting, 8 July 1974, United Nations Conference on
the Law of the Sea, Official Records, Vol. I, pp. 131-132, paras. 58-63 127IV.20 Statement of Mr. Al-Nimer, 40th plenary meeting, 12 July 1974, 3rd United Nations
Conference on the Law of the Sea, Official Records, Vol. I, p. 174, para. 30 131
IV.21 Agreement between Iran and the United Arab Emirates (Dubai), signed 31 August
1974, International Boundary Study, Limits in the Seas, N° 63, U.S. Department of State,
Office of the Geographer, Bureau of Intelligence and Research, 30 September 1975 (text
only) 135
IV.22 Agreement between Iran and Oman, 28 May 1975, International Boundary Study,
Limits in the Seas, N° 67, U.S. Department of State, Office of the Geographer, Bureau of
Intelligence and Research, 1 January 1976 (text only) 143
IV.23 Agreement between India and Sri Lanka in the Bay of Bengal and Gulf of Manaar, 10
May 1976, International Boundary Study, Limits in the Seas, N° 77, U.S. Department of
State, Office of the Geographer, Bureau of Intelligence and Research, 16 February 1978 (text
only) 153
IV.24 Technical Circular No. 12 by Zahra Sadiq Al-Alawi, Research Officer dated March
1982 165
IV.25 Resolution of the Gulf Cooperation Council dated 8 March 1982 (Translation and
Arabic version) 203
IV.26 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, Montego Bay, 10 December 1982,
International Legal Materials, Vol. XXI, No. 16, November 1982, Articles 13 and 15, p. 1273
209
IV.27 Agreement between Bahrain Defence Force and Ballast Nedam Groep, N.V. dated 24
October 1985 213
IV.28 Communiqué, "Gulf Reef", Reuters, 26 April 1986 217
IV.29 Letter from H.H. Khalifa bin Hamad to His Majesty Sultan Qabus bin Said of Oman
enclosing Memorandum of the Government of the State of Qatar dated 29 April 1986
(Translation and Arabic version) 221
IV.30 Letter from the Secretary General of the Gulf Cooperation Council to Shaikh Hamad
bin Khalifa Al Thani dated 21 May 1986 enclosing Outline of Programme of Work of the
Supervision and Control Committee, 24-28 May 1986 (Translation and Arabic version) 243
IV.31 Decree-Law No. (17) of 1993 Amending Certain Provisions of Law No. (4) of 1983
Concerning the Exploitation and Protection of Living Marine Resources in Qatar dated 5
August 1993 (Translation and Arabic version) 253
Cases
IV.32 Affaire des Grisbadarna, 23 October 1909, Recueil des Sentences Arbitrales, Vol.
XVIII, pp. 159-160 261IV.33 Affaire de la délimitation de la frontière maritime entre la Guinée et la Guinée Bissau,
Decision of 14 February 1985, United Nations Reports of International Arbitral Awards, Vol.
XIX, pp. 183-185, 187 and 194 265
IV.34 Case Concerning the Delimitation of the Continental Shelf between the United
Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, and the French Republic, Decision of 30
June 1977, International Legal Materials, Vol. XVIII, No. 2, March 1979, pp. 408, 410-411,
421, 424, 426, 437, 440-441, 443, 452-453 and 455 273
IV.35 Case Concerning the Delimitation of Maritime Areas between Canada and the French
Republic, International Legal Materials, Vol. XXXI, No. 5, September 1992, pp. 1160 and
1173 299
Published Works
IV.36 Anthony, T.A., "Documentation of the Modern History of Bahrain from American
Sources (1900-1938)", Bahrain through the ages, the History, Shaikh Abdullah bin Khalid
Al-Khalifa and M. Rice (eds.), Kegan Paul International, London/New York, 1993, p. 69 303
IV.37 Bowett, D., "Islands, Rocks, Reefs and Low-Tide Elevations in Maritime Boundary
Delimitations", Charney, J.I. and Alexander, L.M. (eds.), International Maritime Boundaries,
Martinus Nijhoff, Dordrecht/Boston/London, 1993, Vol. I, pp. 147-151 307
IV.38 "Continental Terraces, Shoals, Shallow Indentations and Islands off the Western Coast
of Qatar", Interim Report No. 2, Geological Investigation of Hawar Islands, Geology Group,
University of Qatar, Doha, Qatar, January 1989 315
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__________
LIST OF APPENDICES
(Volume 5)
APPENDIX 1 Exchanges of Notes Verbales 1
APPENDIX 2 The myth of Bahrain's maritime supremacy and the failure of
its expansionists policies 145
(Volume 6)
APPENDIX 3 Photograph of mosaic of slides taken of Hawar islands 1
__________
LIST OF MAPS
Map No. 1. Hawar Island of Qatar. Location and Dwellings, 17 June 1876 and Location of
Dwellings, 18 June 1883 (Arabic version and Translation)
Map No. 2. The Myth of Bahrain's Maritime Supremacy
Map No. 3. Bahrain's Location of the Principal Pearling Banks
Map No. 4. Maritime Boundary. Trinidad and Tobago-Venezuela (Western part)
Map No. 5. Provisional Equidistance Line Plotted from the High Water Line on each Coast in
the Southern Sector
Map No. 6. Adjustment of the Provisional Equidistance Line in the Southern Sector
Map No. 7. The Single Maritime Boundary Requested by Qatar in the Southern Sector
Map No. 8. Opposing Maritime Claims in the Northern Sector
Map No. 9. Closed Fishermen's Channel
Map No. 10. Map Attached to Belgrave's Letter dated 21 March 1951 together with the
Transposition of the Line of the Agreement of 22 February 1958Map No. 11. Application of Modified Perpendicularity in the Northern Sector
Map No. 12. The Single Maritime Boundary Requested by Qatar
Highlighted version of the Counter-Memorial of the Government of the State of Qatar