Announcement follows trip by top US officials to the kingdom last week to advance possible forging of formal relations
\n Jerusalem
\nIsrael will build a 100 billion shekel ($27 billion) rail expansion that will connect its outlying areas to metropolitan Tel Aviv and, in the future, could provide overland links to Saudi Arabia, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday.
\nThe announcement followed a trip by top US officials to Saudi Arabia last week to advance a possible forging of formal relations between the Muslim powerhouse and Israel.
\nOpening the weekly Israeli cabinet meeting, Netanyahu appeared to sidestep the constitutional crisis that has roiled the country for seven months, denting its economy and shaking Western allies\u2019 confidence in its democratic health.
\nInstead, he promoted infrastructure initiatives including the \u201cOne Israel Project\u201d, which he described as designed to reduce travel time by train to the country\u2019s business and government centres to two hours or less.
\nThe plan is basically a revival of an idea promoted for years, though little progress has been made. The government in 2010 approved a similar multi-billion shekel initiative for a nationwide network that did not gain traction.
\n\u201cI would like to add that in the future we will also be able to transport cargo by rail from Eilat to our Mediterranean, and will also be able to link Israel by train to Saudi Arabia and the Arabian peninsula,\u201d he said in televised remarks.
\n\u201cOn this, too, we are working.\u201d
\nIsrael\u2019s finance minister said the idea was to have the high-speed, north-south rail link ready in the next 10 years.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Announcement follows trip by top US officials to the kingdom last week to advance possible forging of formal relations Jerusalem Israel will build a 100 billion shekel ($27 billion) rail expansion that will connect its outlying areas to metropolitan Tel Aviv and, in the future, could provide overland links to Saudi Arabia, Prime Minister Benjamin […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":346602,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-346591","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n