The Buraimi dispute

Askar, Rasoul Abdul-Wahhab al-. Albareiu 'iimarat arabiat saoudia [Al-Barai, a Saudi Arabian Emirate].

€ 2,500.00

Rare treatise on the Buraimi dispute, published at the height of the crisis. Defending Saudi Arabian interests, this booklet is essentially an attack on British policy in the region, accusing the United Kingdom of seeking to occupy the entire Arabian Peninsula. The illustrations show portraits of King Abdulaziz, King Saud, and Prince Faisal.

The Buraimi Dispute was an early source of tension between Saudi Arabia, Oman, and Abu Dhabi (then a Trucial Sheikhdom), as well as their respective American and British oil backers. In 1949 the Saudis, backed by the American company Aramco, first laid claim to the Buraimi area, believed to be rich in oil deposits. A small invasion force occupied the territory in 1952, claiming the oasis for Saudi Arabia, and the "Buraimi Dispute" made global headlines. A joint expedition of TOS forces from Abu Dhabi and the Sultan's forces from Sohar began to advance on Buraimi, but the Saudis withdrew after international pressure. As a result of British arbitration, a Saudi police post was permitted to be established in the oasis in 1954. The following year arbitration broke down, and Britain encouraged the forces of Abu Dhabi and Oman to expel the Saudi police, which was effected without major incident. The dispute had progressively wider ramifications for deteriorating British oil interests in Saudi Arabia, and Emir Faisal, Prime Minister of Saudi Arabia, took the conflict as an attack on the Arab League.