Quietly, it would appear that Israel and Middle East Arab countries have extablished and increased trade….
This ‘land bridge’ is about cooperation between Arab countries and Israel, something Iran does NOT want….
Houthi drone and missile attacks on Red Sea shipping have spurred the development of an alternative “land bridge” to carry cargo by truck from the Persian Gulf across Saudi Arabia and Jordan to Israel and Egypt.
The project, which is already seeing dozens of trucks per day reach the Israeli port of Haifa, is seen as an early benefit of the 2020 Abraham Accords normalizing ties between the United Arab Emirates and Israel.
It bodes well for future cooperation between Israel and Saudi Arabia. The United States is seeking to broker a deal that would see the normalization of relations between those two countries in exchange for the establishment of a Palestinian state.
Saudi Arabia, however, has not commented publicly on the arrangement, under which cargo transported through the desert kingdom is not identified as bound for Israel.
The land bridge is already controversial in the region, sparking protests last week in Jordan among protesters angered over Israel’s conduct of its war against Hamas in Gaza.
Hundreds of individuals marched in Amman and other cities, demanding – among other things – that the government block any trucks originating from the Gulf states destined for Israel.
Efforts to establish the land route have been underway since at least the middle of 2023 but have picked up momentum since the Iran-backed Houthis began a wave of missile and drone attacks on Red Sea shipping. Several shipping firms are now rerouting their vessels around the African continent, adding substantially to time and costs, making the land route financially attractive.
Tim Seifert, a spokesperson at Hapag-Lloyd AG, one of the world’s leading liner shipping companies, said rerouting the firm’s vessels has left it with “an additional cost in a USD two-digit million range every month.”
The route was pioneered in part by Israeli company Trucknet Enterprises, which has secured agreements with DP World from the United Arab Emirates, Cox Logistics in Bahrain and WWCS in Egypt. Israel-based freight forwarder Mentfield Logistics is operating a similar route.
Under the arrangement, ships carrying goods from the Far East can unload their cargo onto Jordanian trucks in Dubai or Bahrain. The cargo is driven across Saudi Arabia and Jordan and then transferred onto Israeli trucks for the final leg from the Jordanian border to Israel’s Mediterranean port of Haifa. Cargo bound for Egypt can travel onward by road or ship to that country.
Apr 3, 2024 – ISW Press
Several Iranian-backed Iraqi militias have signaled their desire to disrupt the “land bridge” connecting Israel to the Persian Gulf. Harakat Hezbollah al Nujaba Secretary General Akram al Kaabi criticized the “land bridge,” which passes through the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, and Jordan, in a speech on April 3. Kataib Hezbollah military spokesperson Hussein Moanes similarly declared on April 1 that the group is prepared to arm Iranian-backed militants in Jordan and “cut off” land routes that reach Israel.