Israel turns to the sea

Since the mid-1990s, both the Israeli state and Israeli society have been developing and implementing several separate new policies regarding the country’s seas. These include the extraction of offshore hydrocarbons; expansion of the navy; massive desalination projects; and several legislative, planning, and zoning initiatives. Put together, these changes amount to a “turn to the sea” that profoundly affects Israel’s economy, foreign policy, and military. This article compares this shift to historical precedents, offering Israel as a template for a new, cumulative model that does not conform to the existing narratives of how polities have turned to the maritime domain.