JERUSALEM (Feb. 5)
Transport Minister Shimon-Peres has proposed that Israel extend its railway to the port of Eilat on the Red Sea in order to meet competition for freights when the Suez Canal is reopened. Peres said the Red Sea-Mediterranean rail link could be vital to Israel’s economy once the Egyptian waterway is operative again. Otherwise, he warned, Eilat will lose much of its value as a trans-shipment port between Asia, Africa and Europe. The new link would involve extending the present line which terminates in Dimona in the northern Negev all the way south through Arava to Eilat.
