August 27, 1957 Tuesday morning

“We are now in Tel Aviv & going to spend the next few days here. We are staying in private homes of Maccabiah Hatzair.”
Maccabia Hatzair in Ramat Gan (today commonly known as ‘Kfar Maccabiah”), is the location of the Jewish international sports competitions (Jewish Olympics) which take place every four years, and do so until this day. In 1957, the 5th Maccabiah Games were held. Bob’s group lodged in private homes since the Kfar Maccabiah Hotel was not yet built.

“Last night we again roamed the streets of Tel Aviv in the rented jeep. “
Today Tel Aviv is a large metropolitan city with lots of vehicles and traffic jams. In 1957, major streets existed, but there was a lot of open space and a lot fewer cars. There was even a place to park your jeep!

“Today we are taking the jeep down south to the oil fields of Heletz and to the new oil field which was discovered this week. They are going to uncap in the morning & its potential can later be garnered. I think it will be a great thrill to watch. “
The Heletz Oil Field was the location of the first successful oil well found in Israel in 1955. Normally, an outside person would not be allowed to enter. However one of the guys that accompanied my father on his Negev jeep tour worked at Heletz. Hopes were high at that time that Israel would discover large deposits of oil just as the neighboring Arab countries had recently found.

“We will also visit the new port city of Ashkelon…” Ashkelon has been a port city since the days of the biblical Philistines, who once dwelt there. In 1957 plans were being made to develop a modern port in Ashkelon to accommodate large ships and the increasing volume of import/export cargo to and from central southern Israel. It was later decided to construct the new port in the city of Ashdod, which later opened in 1965.

“…this is the terminus of the Mediterranean of the oil pipeline from Eilat. It is almost complete.”
A pipeline was being built from the port in Eilat (the Gulf of Aqaba) to Ashkelon. Iranian tankers would bring oil to the port of Eilat which was then transported via the pipeline to Ashkelon on the Mediterranean Sea. From there, the crude oil would be shipped to Europe. This joint project between Israel and Iran occurred during the reign of the Shah of Iran. However, relations with Israel broke down after the Iranian revolution of 1979 and the oil agreement abruptly ended. With the signing of the 2020 Abraham Peace Accords between Israel and the United Arab Emirates, talks were opened on renewing cooperation on the use of this pipeline.