Iraq Exports Products through Israel's Haifa Port Today. Just Like It Did 75 Years Ago

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. 

Laying the Iraq-Haifa pipeline in the Jezreel Valley (1933)

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."


Iraq Petroleum Co. tractors with Mt. Tabor in the background



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.

Iraq Petroleum Company oil tanks at Haifa (1937)

The "IPC terminus" in Haifa Bay (1935)

IPC inaugural ceremony (1935)