The Ben Gurion Canal is at the heart of American projects in the Middle East – 2024-04-12 09:22:14

/View.info/ The transit corridor between the Red and Mediterranean seas is of interest to some circles in the Middle East

The ongoing (despite a tentative truce, after which the Israelis promised to resume hostilities) the IDF’s military operation in Gaza, with its methodical destruction of the enclave’s civilian infrastructure under the guise of military censorship, does not in the least prevent Israel from promoting a long-standing ship canal project in proximity to this sector as an alternative to the Suez Canal.

According to regional sources, a comprehensive transit corridor between the Red and Mediterranean seas is of interest to the oil and gas monarchies of Arabia. In a broader context, this project is clearly an integral part of the recent initiative of J. Biden, mostly endorsed by Israel and India, to create a comprehensive South Asia-Saudi Arabia-Israel-Mediterranean economic corridor, unlike China’s famous “One Belt One Road” project.

It is about the construction of a shipping channel between the port of Eilat (Red Sea) and the port of Ashdod (Mediterranean Sea) with a length of about 300 km. Tel Aviv proposed this project as early as 1968, during the blockade of the Suez Canal, which lasted until 1975 inclusive.

Running parallel to the proposed canal is the Eilat-Ashkelon transit oil pipeline, operating since the early 1970s, with a length of 250 km, which was used by Iran (1) and in the late 1970s – mid-1980s years – partly also from the USSR and Romania. Today, this artery is used to transit oil from the Emirates to Europe.

Around the same time, the British brokered the establishment of contacts between Israel and Oman, which bore fruit in the form of oil exports from the Sultanate to Eilat and on through an oil pipeline to Ashkelon on the Mediterranean coast and on to Europe. After the signing of the Oslo Accords, it is no coincidence that Morocco and Oman are among the first Arab countries to normalize their relations with the “zionist regime”. (2)

It should be noted that Israeli sources indirectly allude to the periodic use of the Eilat-Ashkelon pipeline by Saudi Arabia, hinting at Riyadh’s support for the idea of ​​an integrated transit corridor through Israel, as seen, for example, in the Israeli map of this corridor starting in the rich of oil and gas eastern province of the kingdom.

One of the active promoters of the Israeli substitute for Suez is the engineer-economist from Ashkelon Yury Dedov-Goldman. According to him, the construction of such a facility in Israel would be easier and cheaper than the Suez Canal, since its construction would be carried out mainly through dry soil.

It is noted that Ashkelon (2) is geographically closer to the European shore of the Mediterranean Sea than Port Said, located at the exit of the Suez Canal into the Mediterranean Sea. Ships will be able to cross the territory of Israel without delay for 10-14 hours, and the annual cargo flow may even exceed 20% of world trade.

If construction is carried out simultaneously at several points, then the project can be completed in only five years. The only thing that should be done, according to Dedov-Goldman, is to create favorable conditions for attracting investments.

The “cleansing” of Gaza also pursues a transit goal to free the proposed energy corridor from the troubled area, if only with a token Palestinian autonomy in Gaza.

Israeli experts claim that the Suez Canal has only one lane, which can accommodate no more than 50 ships per day. The Israel Canal will become a valuable addition to Suez, especially if it can accommodate medium and large tonnage tankers, which is increasingly problematic in the Great Bitter Lake (that is, in the central part of the Suez route).

Back in February 2017, The Jerusalem Post noted that “the dimensions of our canal must ensure the unhindered and expedited passage of ships and fleets of great capacity. In this case, most of the oil from the Persian Gulf basin for Europe and America will be able to regularly pass through the canal.

Characteristically, a number of experts consider it the most effective and cheaper option for the canal to end at the Gaza coast, as this would shorten the trans-Israeli waterway by 15%. Of course, Gaza will need an oil transit port and storage facilities, for which it is necessary to provide the appropriate military-political and ethno-demographic conditions. Let us note that the plans for the total resettlement of Palestinians wherever they are are not particularly secret.

According to some reports, in the late 1970s. Egypt and Israel informally discussed the possibility of a branch to Ashdod or to Gaza from the Suez Canal – through the Egyptian Sinai Peninsula, but after the assassination of A. Sadat in 1981, this option seemed to be forgotten.

Thus, the complete “cleansing” of the Gaza Strip is perhaps the key condition for the creation of a trans-Israeli counterpart to the Suez Canal. It is possible that the creation of such an artery would certainly worsen Egyptian-Israeli relations, but the international financial and credit organizations could offer Cairo a relaxation of the conditions for the repayment of the debts or even a partial write-off.

It is hardly a coincidence that the renaissance in discourse surrounding the Trans-Israel Canal has coincided with the aforementioned White House initiative designed to “put spokes in the wheels” of China’s Belt and Road initiative.

Let us recall that on September 9 in New Delhi, within the framework of the Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment (PGII), sponsored by Washington, representatives of the European Commission, the United States, India, Saudi Arabia and the UAE signed a memorandum to establish the economic corridor India- Middle East-Europe (4).

Israel’s participation in this seductive project does not meet particular objections from the Arab countries that signed the document, and the “furious Bibi” Netanyahu evaluates it as follows: “… Israel is at the center of an unprecedented international project that will connect the infrastructure of Asia and Europe,” “it will change the face of the Middle East, Israel and affect the entire world.

Our country will become a central hub in this corridor: our railways and seaports will open new doors from India through the Middle East to Europe and also back from Europe to India. “Several months ago, the United States approached us about realizing this historic opportunity and began vigorous contacts to achieve today’s breakthrough,” Nenanyahu also said.

„…The project will include the construction of new railway lines, the laying of a hydrogen pipeline, optical communications, power lines and other systems.” Probably among the “other systems” is meant the Eilat / Ashkelon / Ashdod canal project and the restoration of regular operation of the trans-Arab oil pipeline Saudi Arabia – Jordan – Syria – Saida port (southern Lebanon).

As Sleepy Joe announced on the eve of the signing of the memorandum, the US, the EU, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Israel, India and Jordan “completed work on a historic agreement for a new India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor”.

Joint working groups have already been formed to identify the most popular projects within this initiative and to create a common credit-investment fund. The first proposals on these issues are planned to be presented no later than December 2023.

It is conceivable that the Ben-Gurion Canal could prove to be the “flagship” communications project of an ambitious macro-regional program accelerated by Washington in partnership with Israel, the European Union and feverishly recruiting situational partners in India and a number of Arab monarchies in The Persian Gulf.

Notes

(1) On the eve of the fall of the Shah’s regime in 1979, Israeli exports to Iran exceeded $100 million. Iran exports gas and oil, various minerals, food and consumer goods to Israel. In addition to the Eilat-Ashkelon oil pipeline, to ensure the logistics of oil operations between the two countries, an oil refinery complex was built in Ashdod and the port of Eilat was reconstructed.

(2) Alfer J. The Lonely Country. Israel is secretly looking for allies in the region. Tel Aviv: Matar, 2015, in Hebrew) Cited. by: Kostenko Yu. Israel’s regional strategy: search for allies // East. Afro-Asian Societies: History and Modernity. 2017. No. 2.

(3) Like some other territories in southern Israel, according to UN resolutions, it was to become part of the Arab state of Palestine.

(4) Characteristically, this route basically coincides with the route of communication proposed by Portugal in the second half of the 1950s with the Goa-Daman-Diu area (near Mumbai), which was then under its control .

Translation: ES

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