I believe there was a trade-off between the sliver of land seperating Qatar and the UAE and another piece of land as mentioned in Rochester's comment.
I understood at the time that the two sets of "soldiers" were enjoying a cup of tea together when tribal insults were made and things deteriorated rapidy into a gunfight.
Trading of the land between Qatar and the UAE was one of the worst deals that could have been reached. Subsequent difficulties including the "holding" of land transported supplies into Qatar from the UAE have confirmed that!