Transport Minister Miri Regev wrote a letter to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu two weeks ago in which she warned against regional commercial initiatives to bypass Israel via new supply routes, Channel 12 reported on Friday.
Israel’s “hands are tied” in the wake of the Washington-Tehran interim agreement signed on June 17, and at the same time, “we are witnessing the rapid formation of regional partnerships in the fields of trade and energy that are deliberately bypassing Israel and pose a tangible strategic threat to our national security,” Regev wrote in the letter obtained by the broadcaster.
The minister mentions the railway planned to connect Saudi Arabia to Turkey via Jordan and Syria, as well as “additional bypass corridors that threaten to permanently render the Israeli route obsolete.”
These include the “Moses Bridge” corridor linking Saudi directly to Egypt to Israel’s south and the “Development Road” corridor linking Iraq, Syria and Turkey to Israel’s north, the letter continues.
Regev further notes the “troubling trend” of U.S. development of infrastructure in Syria, while the United Arab Emirates is investing some $1 billion in the Syrian port of Tartus. (The deal is valued at $800 million, but it is often rounded to “about $1 billion” because it is part of a broader package of Emirati investment in Syria’s port infrastructure and logistics sector.)
“While the security focus is unquestionably of paramount importance, the long-term consequences of trade strategy can determine the outcome of the struggle without the use of weapons,” Regev wrote in her letter to the prime minister.
“The realization of these bypass scenarios would severely damage Israel’s geopolitical and economic standing, as well as its national security, and leave us outside the map of global trade,” she added.
The transport minister called on the premier to lead a counter-campaign in the face of these challenges.
The trade routes initiatives were given a new focus in the wake of Iran’s closure of the Strait of Hormuz during the recent war. In general, maritime transportation is less costly than land transportation.
