Why Israel should support the establishment of the Middle Corridor

Ayoob Kara, politician and the former Israel’s minister of communications and a member of the Likud Party answers:

The governments of Azerbaijan, Georgia, Turkey, and Kazakhstan earlier in the year signed a declaration on improving the transportation potential throughout the region. Following that, the Azerbaijani, Kazakh, Georgian and Turkish foreign and transport ministries decided that there should be accelerated transport routes throughout the region, which will include the development of the Middle Corridor, a rail freight and ferry system that will link China with Europe.

It starts in Southeast Asia and China, and runs through Kazakhstan, the Caspian Sea, Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey before reaching southern and central Europe. This will permit trains to travel from China to Europe within 20-25 days, thus helping to reconnect the former Silk Road. As a former Israeli minister, I believe that Israel should be supportive of the establishment of the Middle Corridor, as it will help to strengthen the Abraham Accords if it is expanded to include Israel, the United Arab Emirates and other countries in the region.

The entire Middle East region used to be connected by train under the rule of the Ottoman Turks. There are a number of remnants of this wonderful train system in Israel, including the Ottoman train stations in Beersheba, Jaffa, and Jerusalem. These Ottoman train stations are historic landmarks from a bygone era when train travel across the Middle East was possible. Ottoman-era trains used to travel from Jaffa to Jerusalem, Haifa and other areas of the former Ottoman Turkish Empire, such as Medina and Damascus.

However, since Israel was declared to be independent, there has been no train travel between Israel and the Arab world. This was one of many causalities of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Yet in the wake of the Abraham Accords, this all has the potential to change, as the Arab countries no longer view Israel to be the pariah that they once viewed it to be. If anything, the Persian Gulf countries now view Israel to be a partner in the struggle against Iran, as do the Turkic republics like Azerbaijan, who greatly disdain how the mullahs are treating the Azerbaijani population in the Islamic Republic.

Thus, if this Middle Corridor is built, we Israelis can try to connect onto it as well, as it will help to counter the mullahs in Tehran by creating a stronger connection between the Turkic republics, Israel and the Arab world. We can connect to it via Turkey by ferry, and then from there, have another set of trains going from Israel to Jordan and Saudi Arabia and from there, to the United Arab Emirates. In our times, this is within the realm of the possible.

This will thus help to greatly expand trade between China, the Turkic republics, Israel and the Arab countries. Already, Israel, Saudi Arabia, and Jordan know that it is necessary to have a train that crosses from Israel to the Gulf states.They are talking about it and thinking about it. They are starting with trucks with containers that I arranged, where they bring containers from Abu Dhabi to Israel crossing from Saudi Arabia to Jordan to Haifa.They could continue from there to Turkey via ship and from there to Europe and anywhere else.

That means that we can have a train traveling from Europe to Turkey and from there, ships can go to Haifa, and from Haifa to Jordan, Saudi Arabia and from there, to the Gulf states, and they can go back in the opposite direction. I am in Bulgaria now to check how I can make it more relevant. After that, a Saudi Arabian agreement with Israel can start with a new train, like what existed in the Ottoman times with the Hijaz Railway. The people of Hijaz want to make it happen again. This is in the plan of the Abraham Accords Agreement and it will happen in the future.

Source: Ayoob Kara’s article on the Middle Corridor

Postscript:

For many years, Israel has been seeking to establish deep relations with the Central Asian countries through different ways and models. For example, Israel’s relations with Kazakhstan in the fields of military, security and energy have been very strong and there have been high-level visits between the Zionist regime and Kazakhstan in the past.

In a country like Uzbekistan, the existence of a “large community of Tajik Jews from Bukhara” is very important for Israel and the regime has always sought to influence the community as well as the Central Asian society.

Needless to say, Israel has had more secret relations in Tajikistan. One of the reasons for these relations was to help the Government of the Republic of Tajikistan to suppress and destroy the Islamist groups close to Iran, so that they can compete with the position of the Islamic Republic of Iran in Tajikistan and overcome its influence.

Now, due to the sensitivity created on the countries of Central Asia, we are witnessing the presence and strong role of different countries in the developments of this geographical area. The activity and influence of America, European countries and Persian Gulf countries, especially Saudi Arabia, has been very impressive in the last few years and now Turkey is also displaying its influence and power in this region via various means.

One of Turkey’s initiatives in this region is the creation and implementation of the “Middle Corridor”, which has attracted the attention of other countries and has been seriously welcomed by the United States and the Europeans.

Israel’s attempt to get connected with the “Middle Corridor” plan is completely noticeable. There are two reasons for this fact: 1. Israel’s need for the Central Asian region regarding the required resources and the definition of a new playing field to confront the Islamic Republic of Iran
2. The influence of the Israel in the region, especially in Azerbaijan, which is one of the most important claimants in the “Middle Corridor” plan

According to Ayoob Kara, the former Israel’s minister of communications, we can surely say that this plan is basically aimed at isolating Russia and Iran in the region.

On the other hand, It is quite conceivable that China will go along with the Middle Corridor plan because it is important for China to maintain its economic power, export and the market for its products in the foreign relations.

Although the capacity of this corridor is debatable and the implementation of this plan is somewhat impossible, only these attemts can be considered as serious alarms for the position of Iran and Russia in the region, which requires more attention from the Iranian authorities to review the country’s regional policies.