Investigation: the UAE plots with Israel to launch alternatives to compete with the Suez Canal
The UAE conspires with Israel to launch alternatives to compete with the Egyptian Suez Canal under the agreement of normalization between Abu Dhabi and Tel Aviv.
The UAE is cooperating with Israel through systematic steps to reduce the Suez Canal role and undermine its position as a vital waterway for Egypt.
In 2015, the Jerusalem Post newspaper revealed an Israeli project called Israeli Suez Canal to transform Eilat into a transport centre from the Red Sea to the Mediterranean.
The project includes the transportation of solid materials via a railway linking Eilat to the port of Ashdod and liquid materials via the “Eilat Ashkelon” pipeline.
The agreement of normalization with the UAE allowed Israel in August 2020 to start implementing the Israeli Suez Canal project.
The UAE and Israel signed an agreement to transport Emirati oil through the port of Eilat to the Mediterranean via the Eilat Ashkelon pipeline.
In order for the port of Eilat to be able to receive large ships, it had to be converted into a deep port.
According to Avi Simhon, an advisor to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the UAE will finance the project to convert Eilat into a deep water port. This port will threaten Egypt’s ports on the canal, the port of Aqaba.
The Dubai Ports company bought a third of Haifa Port’s shares, as Emirati money will be invested in developing the port to improve its capacity.
Sultan bin Suwailem, director of Dubai Ports, told the Kilkalast newspaper that the Emirati investment would improve Israel’s ability to harm the Suez Canal.
Game’s rule changes
Israel is relying a lot on this new Eilat-Ashkelon oil pipeline, as it could be a game-changer in the Middle East.
The project brings to mind the Iranian-Israeli oil relations between the mid-1950s and the 1970s, when Iran, the Shah, formed the inexhaustible oil well for Israel.
This pipeline was practically opened following the energy crisis in 1956 after the tripartite aggression against Egypt. The Soviet Union’s decision to stop supplying Israel with oil prompted it to search for new oil sources.
At that time, a pipeline of 254 km long was extended between the ports of Eilat and Ashkelon, and a land connection was established between the Red Sea and the Mediterranean, benefiting from Israel’s strategic location at the intersection of three continents, connecting the international maritime trade routes to Africa, the Far East and Europe.
The new oil pipeline project bears many significant Gulf-Israeli normalization indicators and opens up to Israel a strategic partnership and unprecedented opportunities.
Including shortening the period of transporting oil from Saudi Arabia and the Gulf states on its way to Europe and the West, and opening up to Israel and the Gulf states as a source for importing and storing oil.
It will make Israel a haven for the countries normalizing with it because it will be less vulnerable to Iran because of its heavy reliance on the Strait of Hormuz, which is affected by the Gulf-Iranian tension.
Nasr Abdul Karim, an economics professor at the Arab American University, said that this Israeli approach surpasses the economic aspects to have strategic dimensions. Israel seeks to reposition itself in the region to achieve advantages and gains in the long term.
He explained that restarting the Eilat-Ashkelon oil pipeline gives Tel Aviv political influence and control over gas and water resources in the eastern Mediterranean, transportation and communications lines, which qualifies it to place itself in a special place on the map of the region.
He stated that Israel is the most benefited from the geopolitical aspect because it gives it a military and security foothold in the region and deepens its interests with the rest of the parties.
And because it requires the provision of security needs to provide transportation safety and the security and protection measures it includes, it achieves more security interests for Israel in the region and the world.
Israeli gains in the billions
Awad Abu Awad, a researcher at the Jerusalem Center for Israeli Studies, says that the Eilat-Ashkelon oil pipeline would bring Israel 3 billion in profits in the first year and another 10 billion after seven years of operation.
This line is linked to what was previously announced by the former Minister of Transportation, Yisrael Katz, regarding the railway line’s operation linking Haifa and the Emirates to transport Gulf goods by land to be faster and shorter and provide it with a speed of access. This will raise the volume of Israeli-Gulf trade exchange after ten years to 30 billion dollars, which means a third of Israeli foreign trade value.
He added that Egyptian losses would reach billions in return for these Israeli gains, and Iran will be severely affected. This may create a kind of war friction to prevent getting a stage in which Iran loses its ability to enter money through its strategic straits.
Despite Israeli fears, this project will not succeed due to its association with Turkey, which takes a negative stance on it.
The Israeli talk about this pipeline prompted the Iranian Fars news agency to title its article “The Eilat-Ashkelon oil pipeline is not safe from Palestinian resistance attacks.”
The Suez Canal loses its lustre
Abdul Karim explained that this line means that the Suez Canal will lose its lustre and harm Egypt and its strategic centre, beside the Strait of Hormuz, through which 40% of Arab oil passes.
The new Eilat-Ashkelon oil pipeline is considered a major challenge to the Egyptian Suez Canal, through which 10% of the global trade volume passes.
Egypt plans to increase this capacity to 12% by 2023, which will negatively affect this economic partnership between the UAE and Israel because this Israeli shipping line is meant to transport oil from the Gulf to Europe without going through the Suez Canal, which 17% of its revenues come from oil tankers, which is one of the main sources of foreign currency for Egypt, and the shortest and fastest waterway.
The Suez Canal’s real challenge from the Israeli oil pipeline is the expected decline in its commercial maritime traffic, which has increased by 4.7% to reach 9,545 ships in the first half of 2020.
This is compared to 9,114 ships in the same period of 2019. The volume of cargo increased by 0.6% in the first half of 2020, bringing 587.6 million tons, compared to 584.1 million tons in the same period of 2019.
Mohamed Abujaab, editor-in-chief of Al-Eqtisadiah newspaper, says that the Eilat-Ashkelon oil pipeline means that Israel is reshaping its strategic relations based on long-term interest-based ties with normalized Arab countries.
“This pipeline is capable of transporting 55 million tons of oil and igniting competition with the Suez Canal, which accounts for 51% of the quantities of oil crossing the canal, estimated at 107 million tons.”
He added that “the repercussions of operating the Israeli transmission line will not only harm the Egyptian economy and security.”
Rather, it will transform the Gulf’s economic destiny of oil into one of the tools of Israeli blackmail at the strategic level by enabling it to control the transportation and sale of oil according to its political, security and economic terms and directions.
It will also destroy Egypt’s hopes of developing and preserving its revenues through the canal’s revenues, which is the primary carrier of oil from the Gulf through the Red Sea, passing through the channel to the Mediterranean and reaching Europe.
