I wasn’t thinking so much the canal as anything that would go from East Africa to the Middle East by ground probably goes across the Sinai. But I would image that most goods are shipped via water or air at this point.
Probably by water, rather than a route going through Israel. The Ottoman Turks built a rail line across the desert, from north to south (more or less), east of the Dead Sea I believe, all the way to Mecca (and maybe beyond). During the Saud uprising, the rail line basically ceased to exist. ROP...