Akka - Acre ( Palestine ) عكا - فلسطين

Akka -Acre between the past and present
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Akka- Acre
Akka has for long been considered to be the port entrance to Palestine because
of its location by the Mediterranean sea that made Akka an excellent seaport,perfect for trading and culture-exchange.

At the Akka sea borders the Muslims built their first own marina and a ship great yard.Palestine has always been a passage for trade of caravans before and after the coming of Islam. The Arab caravans used to head to Palestine from the Arab peninsula in the summer as part of the summer and winter journeys mentioned in the Holy Qur'an.

Akka was also a passage for the Arabian tribes that traveled from the Arab peninsula on their way to Belad El-Sham or northern Africa. Some of these tribes settled in Palestine, while others settled in the neighbouring Arab regions.

Palestine still enjoys the importance of its commercial location because it represents a connection between the seasonal and circular environments in southern Asia and the Near East on the one hand and the environments of the Mediterranean Sea and middle and western Europe on the other. There is no doubt, however, that the different environments with their varied products share a great deal of commercial transactions. Thus the location of Palestine connects the agricultural civilization of the East with the industrial civilization of the West. Therefore Palestine became an important passage for the international trade and travelers alike on land, sea and air.

On the other hand, the Palestinian ports provided its neighbours to the east in Syria and Jordan with its services till the year 1948. The Jordanian international trade depended highly upon these ports, but it changed its geographical direction after the Zionist occupation of Palestine took place. Thereafter, the Jordanian traders headed to the Lebanese and the Syrian ports, in addition to the Gulf of Aqaba. The Iraqi oil that was flowing from the field of Karkouk to the north of Iraq to Haifa's refinery also stopped in 1948.