Israeli environmentalists warn that the UAE-Israel oil pipeline treaty threatens certain Red Sea coral reefs and could lead to “the next ecological disaster”.
The agreement to take Emirati crude oil by tanker to a pipeline in the Red Sea port of Eilat was signed after the two countries made normal connections at the end of last year and should come into force on within months.
With experts warning of possible leaks and leaks at the aging port of Eilat, and Israel’s environmental protection ministry calling for “urgent” talks on the agreement, protesters last week.
In a car park overlooking the Eilat oil jetty, they protested against what they saw as a catastrophe waiting to happen, singing that profits would come “at the expense of corals”.
“The coral reefs are 200 meters (218 yards) from where the oil is loaded,” said Shmulik Taggar, a resident of Eilat and a founding member of the Red Sea Environmental Conservation Society.
“They say the tankers are modern and there will be no problem,” he said, adding “there is no way there will be no mistake”.
He estimated that with two or three tankers a week, traffic was expected to be “back”.
This, he said, would also impact on the beauty of a city encouraging ecological tourism.
“You can’t sell green tourism when you have oil tankers next to the dock,” he said.
Unique reefs
The UAE and Israel established ties in September last year as part of the US “Abraham Accords”.
In October, the state-owned Israel-Asia Pipe Company (EAPC) signed a memorandum of understanding (MoD) with a new entity called MED-RED Land Bridge Ltd – a joint venture between Abu Dhabi National Property Company and several Israeli companies .
EAPC intends to transport crude from the UAE to Eilat and then transport it by pipeline to the Mediterranean city of Israel for transmission to Europe.
Taggar said the contracts that benefit the fossil fuel industry at the expense of the environment are not “in the spirit of our times”.
“It might have been appropriate in the 1960s and 1970s, before we were a developed state,” he said.
Campaigners argue that the agreement avoided strict regulatory scrutiny because of EAPC’s status as a state-owned company operating in the sensitive energy sector.
Although coral populations around the world are at risk from swells caused by climate change, the reefs in Eilat have remained stable due to their exceptional heat.
Eilat’s coral beach reserve extends about 1.2 kilometers (nearly a mile) off the federal coastline, protecting reefs that are home to a rich mix of marine life.
But such proximity to the EAPC port puts them at serious risk, Nadav Shashar, head of marine biology and biotechnology at the Eilat Diversity Institute for Marine Science, told AFP.
The infrastructure is not set up to prevent accidents and is designed only “to handle pollution once it is already in the water,” he said.
Shashar, one of 230 experts who petitioned Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu against the deal, argued with a load increase, “production from oil pollution will continue to grow”.
‘Get In’
Following the agreement reached in October, the EAPC said it could increase oil flows through Eilat by “tens of millions of tonnes per year”.
In the case of AFP, the company declined to comment on the details of the contract but confirmed that their equipment was “modern” and up to international standards.
The environmental protection ministry said it had fulfilled its role but also called for an “urgent debate of all relevant government agencies” to review the agreement.
The talks, a statement said, “explored all areas – including the environmental ones – about increasing the amount of crude oil it carries”.
Shashar said the aim was not to close EAPC but to “limit the level of its use to something that can be handled”.
Some activists have expressed tougher views, including Michael Raphael from the International Revolutionary movement.
Raphael, who recently came to the rally armed with a bull, said he was aiming to set up an Extinction chapter in Rebellion in Eilat to oppose the UAE treaty.
“If the problem is not solved, we need to get into things,” he said. “We don’t just show… we disrupt the work of those who pollute. “