Treaty of Jeddah (1974)

Map of the United Arab Emirates showing the approximate areas ceded by the UAE to Saudi Arabia in the treaty of Jeddah.
SignedAugust 21, 1974 (1974-08-21)
Signatories

The 1974 Treaty of Jeddah was a treaty between Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates, signed in 21 August 1974 between King Faisal of Saudi Arabia and President of the United Arab Emirates Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan.[1] The treaty intended to resolve the Saudi Arabia – United Arab Emirates border dispute (including the Buraimi Dispute).[2] Saudi Arabia ratified the treaty in 1993, but the UAE has not yet ratified it.[3] The legal validity of the treaty has been questioned, since Qatar was not included in the negotiations, and the proposed settlement affects the Qatari border. However, Qatar had already reached a separate agreement on its border with Saudi Arabia in December 1965.[4]

The United Arab Emirates government has disputed the treaty since 1975 due to discrepancies between the oral agreement before the treaty’s signing and the final text of the treaty itself. The treaty has been argued to be in favor of the Saudi government owing to the weakened Abu Dhabi position after the withdrawal of Britain, the US support to the Arabian American Oil Company, and the threat of Saudi military intervention in Abu Dhabi at that time. The UAE has attempted to bring Saudi Arabia back to the negotiating table ever since.[citation needed]

  1. ^ Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates Agreement on the delimitation of boundaries dated 21 August 1974, United Nations. Retrieved April 4, 2012.
  2. ^ Clive., Leatherdale (1983). Britain and Saudi Arabia, 1925-1939 : the Imperial Oasis. London, England: F. Cass. ISBN 9780714632209. OCLC 10877465.
  3. ^ Habeeb, William Mark (2012). The Middle East in Turmoil: Conflict, Revolution and Change. Greenwood Press. p. 33. ISBN 978-0313339141.
  4. ^ Schofield, Richard (2011). "The Crystallisation of a Complex Territorial Dispute: Britain and the Saudi-Abu Dhabi Borderland, 1966". Journal of Arabian Studies. 1 (1): 27–51. doi:10.1080/21534764.2011.576047. S2CID 153880600. Retrieved 22 February 2015.