TEL AVIV (Israel) The Israeli Environment Minister announced Thursday that a clandestine oil agreement that would have transformed a scuba diver’s paradise into a route for Emirati oil headed to Western markets was effectively blocked.
Tamar Zandberg stated to Israeli Army Radio that the agreement could not be realized after a Justice Ministry opinion that her Office had the authority limit the activities of the Israeli government owned corporation that signed onto the deal.
She said that although the deal is on paper, there is no way to make it real. They won’t allow more tankers to enter than the current permit allows. This means that the agreement cannot be implemented.
The secret deal would have greatly increased the number oil tankers arriving in Eilat, Israel’s resort city. It was reached last year between the Europe–Asia Pipeline Company (Israeli government-owned corporation) and MED–RED Land Bridge (a joint Israeli-Emirati venture), following the historic agreement establishing formal diplomatic ties with Israel and the United Arab Emirates.
Senior officials of the former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahus government, including his former energy and foreign ministers, claimed they didn’t know anything about the deal until it became public last year after the accords had been signed at the White House.
Initially hailed by Israel as a move that would cement diplomatic ties and further Israels oil ambitions, the new Israeli government has ordered a review. Following outrage from environmental groups who warned that the increased oil tanker traffic would lead to the destruction of the Gulf of Eilats reefs, the new Israeli government ordered a review. Investors were upset and it could have a diplomatic spat between Israel’s Gulf allies.
The Environmental Protection Ministry had to stop the company from expanding its operations during the review. This limited the number of tankers that could enter the Gulf of Eilat and effectively blocked the deal.
Israeli environmental groups had requested that the Supreme Court cancel the agreement and halt oil shipment. They cited the corporation’s questionable safety record, and the risk of supertankers being parked alongside fragile coral ecosystems in Eilats. Following the Justice Ministry’s decision in favor of the Environmental Protection Ministry, the groups retracted their lawsuit earlier in the month.
The EAPC pipeline company was established in 1960 to transport Iranian oil to Israel. This was during friendly relations between the two countries. Its operations are kept secret ostensibly to protect security.