Suez Canal rival nixed by Israeli gov’t: A proposed oil transport corridor between the UAE and Israel that could have undermined the Suez Canal’s role as a major trade artery appears to have been spiked. Israeli environment minister Tamar Zandberg said last week that the agreement to use Israel as a transit country for Emirati oil heading to Europe has been blocked by the justice ministry, according to the Associated Press.

The accord could have allowed one of the region’s biggest oil producers to skirt the Suez Canal and dent its revenues: A secret agreement between Israel and the UAE last year would have seen Emirati oil delivered via tankers to Israel’s Red Sea port of Eilat before being sent to the Mediterranean via the existing Eilat-Ashkelon pipeline and onwards to Europe. The plan was positioned by Israel’s state-owned Europe Asia Pipeline Co (EAPC) and its new partner Med-Red — a consortium of Emirati and Israeli companies — as offering a quicker, less costly alternative to the Suez Canal.