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Haifa port today |
Iraq and Israel do not have diplomatic relations, and indeed, some 20 years ago Saddam Hussein was firing Scud missiles at Tel Aviv and Haifa during the Gulf War from the H2 base in western Iraq.
Today, however,
The Times of Israel reports, Iraq is importing and exporting products through Haifa's port via Jordan. According to the report, "trade expert Matanis Shahadeh told
Al-Jazeera that from Iraq’s point of view, the Iraq-Haifa route is much more direct and cost-efficient than the alternative maritime route through the Persian Gulf."
Today's Iraq-Haifa connection is history repeating itself.
In the 1930s two Iraq Petroleum Co. (IPC) pipelines were built from Kirkuk in Iraq to the Mediterranean Sea. At French insistence, one was built through Syria and Lebanon ending in Tripoli.
Great Britain insisted on a pipeline through Palestine ending in Haifa. One of the pumping stations for the Haifa pipeline was designated Haifa 2 or "H2" -- the same infamous location used as a Scud missile base.
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