Historically, the countries of Qatar and Bahrain have been locked in a struggle of ownership over the Hawar Islands. The al-Khalifa rulers of Bahrain and the al-Thani rulers of Qatar have disputed ownership of the Hawar Islands since the late eighteenth century, (Dangerous, 1999). The Bahraini al-Khalifa settled in Zubara in 1782, (Dangerous, 1999). This area is now the west of what is present-day Qatar. In the 1930s, British authorities in the Gulf exchanged the area known as the Hawar Islands to Bahrain, under the condition that the al-Khalifa would drop all claims to the Qatari peninsula. Bahraini's maintain that Qatar has no rights to the Hawar Islands and argue that they also have the rights to Zubara, in West Qatar.
The al-Thani of Qatar have never officially recognized Bahrain's authority over the Hawar Islands, a group of 16 reefs and islands located just off the western coast of Qatar, (Dangerous, p. 4). This region is approxi
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