The Israeli Ben Gurion Canal: details and perspectives

Introduction

Before the Gaza war started, the Israeli government announced the start of work on the Ben Gurion Canal, a competitor to the Suez Canal, raised “wide controversy and many questions, especially for Jordan, as the Israeli canal that is scheduled to be started will be close to the Jordanian maritime border.”

In this context, Jordanian economic expert Hossam Ayesh stated that the opening of this canal “will be an embarrassing matter for the Jordanian state, because for interest considerations it will be better for Jordan, but for political and Arab considerations it will have a high cost for Jordan.He expects that Jordan will not use the canal in the first stage, "at least to avoid embarrassment with Egypt.”

A map of Proposal Ben Gurion Canal

The expert said in his statement that “the project may have high risks for Arab national security and Jordan,” pointing out that the Kingdom will find itself “faced with a provocative state of Israeli activity in an area close to its maritime borders, and it may disrupt Jordanian projects such as the Bahrain Tanker Project.”

Ayesh expressed his fears "that the canal project will be similar to Ramon Airport and that it will be part of the deal of the century that will be reproduced with the return of Netanyahu, adding that Israel is imposing a fait accompli without taking any consideration of the peace agreements and the interests of the Arab parties."

In this context, he went on to say that the Ben Gurion Canal project may be “a prelude to larger projects, such as laying pipelines across Jordan or on a road adjacent to Jordan, in order to supply Europe with oil and gas.”

Israel recently announced the start of work on the Ben Gurion Canal, which is an alternative to the Suez Canal. It was announced two years ago, and its construction operations are likely to begin within two months from now.

Benjamin Netanyahu Holds a map of what he called New Silk Road Including Ben Gurion proposed canal at UN HQ

Two years ago, Hebrew reports said that the Israeli authorities were planning to establish a canal linking the Red Sea and the Mediterranean, while Israeli engineers explained that a canal linking the Red Sea and the Mediterranean would be a competitor to the Suez Canal because the distance between Eilat and the Mediterranean is not long and it is exactly the same as the Suez Canal.

It was reported from sources that if Israel builds the canal from Eilat on the Red Sea to the Mediterranean, it will reduce the distance through which ships pass through the Suez Canal to the Mediterranean.

In this context, it was made clear by these sources that the Israeli canal would not be built like the Suez Canal, the sea lane through which ships sail from one direction to another, and on the second day in the opposite direction.

Israel will dig two independent canals, one from the Red Sea to the Mediterranean and the second from the Mediterranean to the Red Sea. Therefore, no ship will be delayed, while ships in the Suez Canal take two weeks to pass.

limitations.

The same sources indicate that there is another advantage, which is the nature of the land, as it is rocky and solid and can withstand any pressure without any impact, unlike the Suez Canal, where the nature of the land is sandy and requires constant monitoring.

It was also indicated that Israel intends to build small cities, hotels, restaurants, and nightclubs on the canal it will build, which it will call the “Ben Gurion Canal.”

 
A general perspective of the project according to a secret American memorandum
 

Geographical prospective of the proposed Ben Gurion canal

The project extends from the Gulf of Aqaba to the Mediterranean Sea, providing an alternative to the Suez Canal. The first known mention of it was in a secret American memorandum dating back to 1963, which was declassified in 1996.

 
The memorandum studies the possibility of using nuclear explosions to open a canal with a length of 160 miles, or 260 kilometers, meaning that it is about 70 kilometers longer than the Suez Canal.
 

The document says that nuclear explosions solve the problem of the cost associated with drilling in diverse terrain, from lowland to desert to mountains, but it concludes that the economic feasibility is uncertain, as is the political feasibility.
 

The map of the canal in that secret document shows that it does not pass through the Gaza Strip but rather extends from Eilat on the Gulf of Aqaba to Ashdod on the Mediterranean Sea, a few kilometers north of the Gaza Strip, which was at that time under the control of the Egyptian army, before the 1967 setback.
 

During that period, Israel was proposing many projects to transform the Negev Desert into a land trade bridge linking the Red Sea and the Mediterranean to connect Europe to Asia away from the Suez Canal. One of these projects is the oil pipeline between Eilat and Ashkelon, which carried Iranian oil to Europe during the reign of the Shah.
 

In the 1970s, Israel surrendered to the idea’s difficulty and futility, and there was no talk about it completely after the Camp David peace agreement between Egypt and Israel in 1978. Then six decades passed before the idea appeared again in 2015 in an article in the Israeli newspaper “Jerusalem Post.”
 

The article estimated the cost of digging the canal at about $55 billion and claimed that its revenues would be enough to recover it in just ten years. He suggested that the project should not be a challenge to Egypt but rather a cooperation with it. He even suggested giving Cairo a seat on the board of directors of the proposed canal to ensure its integration with the Suez Canal and to distribute global commercial traffic between the two canals.
 

With the outbreak of war in Gaza, dozens of articles about the Ben Gurion Channel appeared on anti-Israel websites. One website went on to talk about linking the Israeli plan to displace Palestinians to Sinai with a project to establish Ben Gurion Port in Gaza.
 

Israeli gas flows to Egypt will return to pre-war levels next week.
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Egypt's Economy: Israeli gas flows to Egypt return to pre-war levels next week.

Even before the war, the Ethiopian press got involved in disputes with Egypt over the Renaissance Dam. For example, in March 2023, the New Business Ethiopia website published a report that there are efforts by Ethiopia to partner with Israel in the alternative canal to the Suez.
 

According to Al Arabiya Business, it does not appear that the project has actually been proposed in recent years, but what is true is that Israel has had a permanent project since the 1950s to provide a land trade line instead of the Suez Canal. This project has not stopped.
 

In 2012, talk began about negotiations with China to build a railway line from Eilat to the Mediterranean without actual progress on the project. But last July, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu officially announced a $27 billion plan to modernize the railway network and build a new line from Eilat to Ashdod, with a length of 350 kilometers.
 

This line is explicitly proposed by Israel as an alternative line to the Suez Canal in international trade, so that goods arrive at the port of Eilat and move overland to the port of Ashdod, or vice versa.
 

There is one thing that researchers do not disagree on, which is that Israel will strive with all force to take advantage of its geographical location and not give up the arena to the Suez Canal, which is only a few kilometers away.