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One
after another, eight containers filled with electronics,
cleaning supplies, iron and firefighting equipment were unloaded
off the MSC Paris, one of the first cargo ships to make the
journey between the United Arab Emirates and Israel.
Just a few months ago, such a journey from Dubai's Jebel Ali
port to the northern Israeli port city of Haifa would have been
unthinkable.
The countries announced a normalisation deal in August which
laid the ground for a potentially profitable new trade route.
The diplomatic breakthrough stemmed from a strategic realignment
of Middle East nations, in particular Israel and Gulf Arab
nations led by Sunni rulers, who face what they perceive as a
shared threat from Iran.
But it is also grounded in economics and potential
collaborations in the fields of business, investment and
technology.
Israeli officials have estimated bilateral trade could reach as
much as $4 billion a year - and nearly all goods will have to
travel by sea.
"This is very exciting," said Eshel Armony, chairman of the
board at Haifa Port. "This is a new era in the Middle East, and
I'm sure this will bring more and more trade," he said.
"We're going to see this line once a week by MSC and, who knows,
later on maybe we'll have even more ... I hope that will happen
quickly."
An MSC spokesman said the MSC Paris was part of its Indus
Express service, which originates in the United Arab Emirates
and calls at Indian ports, the Mediterranean and the United
States.
An MSC vessel on the Indus Express service made a low-profile
stop in Haifa in mid-September, before the UAE-Israel
normalisation deal was signed in a high-profile ceremony hosted
by U.S. President Donald Trump at the White House on Sept. 15.
(Reporting by Ari Rabinovitch in Jerusalem and Jonathan Saul in
London; Additional reporting by Rami Amichay in Haifa; Editing
by Janet Lawrence)
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