Priya Singh
(Priya Singh is a Research
Scholar at the University of Calcutta and a commentator on West Asian Politics.
She can be reached at priyasingh70@gmail.com)
"Israel is returning to its historic
role, as a transit country, as a bridge between continents, where historic
trade routes passed through." *
The Mediterranean has been in the headlines
since last year. It has witnessed an assertive Russian policy, instability in
the Arab world, which resulted in a massive exodus of refugees via the
Mediterranean from the Arab countries to Greece and Italy. Yet, the
continuous political instability, together with the economic recession in
China, is likely to result in a slower pace in investment in critical
infrastructure such as port facilities, in most Eastern Mediterranean
countries. Nevertheless, the significance of the region in this age of
heightened awareness in the strategic and security aspects of the global
maritime field cannot be ignored. Non-state actors now pose a security threat
to the region and even though most of the combating occurs on the ground or
through aerial bombings, they have proven their capacity to attack naval
platforms. Parts of the East Mediterranean sea have been subject to divergent
sovereignty claims, over zones of exclusive economic interests (EEZ), e.g., the
dispute between Israel and Lebanon and between Turkey and Cyprus. The recent gas discoveries in the
Mediterranean are likely to aggravate existing conflicts over demarcation of
maritime borders in the region. Two of the leading fleets in the region, of
Israel and Egypt have affirmed major naval acquisitions in 2015. The Israeli
public has displayed unparalleled interest in diverse aspects of the sea in
recent years, including plans to deepen and enlarge the volume of its existing
merchant ports. It is in this context that Haifa, as a port city within Israel
assumes significance in terms of offering an access to the Mediterranean.
Haifa
(Arabic, Hayfa and Hebrew, Hefa), situated in the North of Israel,
a thriving Mediterranean port city, is the third largest city and the main harbour
of Israel. In the historical sense, the origins of Haifa date back to around
3,000 years and in terms of literary historiography, the most noteworthy
allusion to Haifa is to be found in Theodor Herzl’s Altneuland, a utopian novel written in 1902 wherein Haifa is of immense consequence to the envisaged ‘New Society’ in Eretz Israel (Land of Israel). As a port
city, it is the gateway by way of which the principal characters, and with them
the readers, are familiarised with the idealistic society in Eretz Israel of the future. In this work
of fiction, Haifa is imagined as a perfect urban space, personifying, both in
terms of space and in a social context, the intrinsic worth of the idyllic new
Jewish society: a fair, progressive, democratic, and multi-ethnic society deeply
entrenched in the territory of the ancient land, symbolising both modernity and
enlightenment.
Haifa’s status as a modern industrialized city reaping benefits out of the
globalisation of the twentieth century has shaped its current position and
opportunities and in contemporary literature it is perceived as an embodiment of
spatial and cultural heterogeneity, diversity and coexistence.
It was in the 1920s that the British
Mandate began the construction of a deep water port in Haifa, and in 1933 the
port was officially opened. Haifa’s strategic setting prompted the British to opt
for it as the site for a number of enterprises that connected Palestine to the
rest of the British Empire. The most significant being the Haifa port and the
Palestine railways. The Haifa port with its deep-water harbour secured the entrance
of the empire to the east, and the passage to the Suez Canal from the north. It
also served to connect Europe with Palestine and the Middle East, and was the primary
waterway for the transit of both people and cargo. The port personified the spirit
of the city and enabled Haifa to flourish. In 1936, the city
had a population of over 100,000. The port was a gateway for thousands of
immigrants who fled to Israel in
the wake of the Second World War. With the Mediterranean as its Western border and
the eastern borders quarantined by its Arab neighbours, Haifa provided
for a critical gateway to the rest of the world, and facilitated Israel’s emergence as
an economic power.
The modern port of Haifa
is situated in a natural, safe and sheltered bay as such there is unhindered and unrestricted entry and
exit for vessels all through the year. It is in close
proximity to the busiest shipping route in the world, from and to
the Suez Canal. Its construction and foundation enables the
shipping and transportation of all categories of ship and cargo, including
docking services for large passenger liners. From
the creation of the state of Israel until 2005, the Haifa Port was directly
under the control of the Israeli government. In 2005, the government-owned
Haifa Port Company became the official port operator. The
Port of Haifa has multiple cargo terminals, and is competent to service several
ships concurrently. There is a railroad
freight terminal within the port that is used for transporting goods across the
country. The Haifa port is regarded as one
of the favourite ports of call for the US Navy’s Sixth Fleet; accounting for
approximately 50 percent of all its visits in the Eastern Mediterranean region.
An average of 20 US warships, as well as aircraft carriers, stopover at the
port every year, primarily to exploit the harbour’s highly rated repair and servicing amenities. One of the unexpected
and remarkable consequences of Syrian civil war has been the increasing use of
Israel as a passage for trade between Europe and the Arab world. It makes sense to use Haifa as a hub between
Europe and the Arab world as the routes from Haifa in Israel to Jordan, Iraq
and even Saudi Arabia are much faster and economical. In the past, this route was used by the
Ottoman and British empires till the creation of the state of Israel.
In 2012, according to a report published by the OECD, (Organisation for
Economic Co-operation and Development) Haifa’s container port was ranked as the
fourth most efficient port in the world. In the same year, the Israel Port
Authority proposed and designed an ambitious plan for the expansion of the
Haifa port at an estimated cost of approximately 4 billion US dollars. The
envisaged plan aims to dramatically alter the appearance of the city and the
Haifa bay albeit coming under severe criticisms over concerns regarding its
environmental consequences. In May 2015, the Shanghai International Port Group (SIPG) signed an agreement with Israel
to develop and run the new Haifa port for the next 25 years. According to the contract,
SIPG will invest around 2 billion US dollars in constructing port facilities
and installing equipment at the port.
Haifa in present times, like any other
urban space within contemporary Israel is dealing with the complexities,
ruptures and fault-lines both within the Jewish society and the sizeable Arab
minority. The reality is far removed from the envisaged utopia of Herzl’s Altneuland. Yet, Haifa, the port city of Israel is perceived as an enclave that due
to its inherent strategic setting epitomizes extraordinary potential, which may
not be found in the rest of the Israeli space.
*Yael
Ravia-Zadok, head of the Middle Eastern Economic Affairs Bureau in Israel’s
Foreign Ministry.
The piece
on Haifa (The Haifa Port: A
Mediterranean Gateway) has benefited from the research
on Kolkata
as a Logistical Hub with Special Reference to the Kolkata Port,
by Iman Mitra. This research was part of the Calcutta Research Group- Rosa
Luxemburg Stiftung research project on A Social Mapping of Infrastructure,
Logistics and India’s Look East Policy that was presented at a Research
Workshop on 1 September 2016 at Kolkata. The Haifa port has been dealt with in
terms of its geo-political setting, history and infrastructure, which is along
the lines in which the essay on Kolkata port has been structured.