Hawar Island and Al Zubarah fort have been at the centre of a historical territorial dispute between Bahrain and Qatar.
A decades long territorial dispute between Qatar andBahrain has resurfaced online once more with social media users engaging in a heated debate on Twitter.
In Qatar, Twitter hashtags claiming rights over the Hawar Islands prompted a swift response from neighbouring Bahrainis who quickly moved to claim ownership of the land with the hashtag #HawarIsBahraini.
The Twitter dispute represents, on a miniature scale, a historical territory clash between the two Gulf states. Bahraini authorities have long-claimed the Hawar archipelago, despite its location being only 1.9 km away from Qatari mainland.
Bahrain has also claimed Al Zubarah Fort, which lies near the northwest coast of Qatar and is internationally recognised as Qatari land.
Commenting on the matter, former Brigadier General of Qatari intelligence Shaheen Al-Sulaiti said “It shall return, sooner or later #Hawar_Is_Qatari.”
#حوار_قطريه وسوف تعود عاجلاً أو آجلا
— شاهين السليطي (@shaheensulaiti) July 28, 2021
Al-Sulaiti added “not only is Hawar part of Qatar, but the entire island of Dilmun is Qatari, as the people of Qatar were the ones who expelled Nassour the Persian (Nasir al-Madhkur), the Iranian ruler of Bahrain and ended his control over it. Sooner or later, we will take back Bahrain under Qatari rule.”
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Social media users in Qatar demanded the return of Hawar Island from Bahrain as well as the re-demarcation of borders between the two Gulf states.
Similarly, Bahraini Twitter users called for the return of Al Zubarah to the kingdom. Khalid Al Khalifa, diplomatic advisor to the king of Bahrain, commented on the matter.
لدينا 83 وثيقة مزورة تدعي ما تريد ان تدعي ، و لكن حكمت المحكمة الدولية بأن #حوار_بحرينيه . بقيت الزبارة ، ان اهلها بحرينيون شاء المدعون او ابوا و إن حقوقهم لن تضيع مهما طال الزمن. #راشد_الجبر_النعيمي
— خالد بن أحمد (@khalidalkhalifa) July 30, 2021
“We have 83 forged documents that claim what you want to claim, but the international court ruled that #Hawar_is_Bahraini. Al-Zubarah fort remains, because its people are Bahrainis, whether the claimants like it or not, and their rights (Bahrainis) will not be lost no matter how long it takes,” said Al Khalifa on Twitter.