Israel’s Fears mounts Over Egyptian gas Termination

Israel has expressed “deep concern” over Egypt’s termination of its gas export deal with the Tel Aviv regime.
On Sunday, state-owned Egyptian Natural Gas Holding Company repealed the 2005 accord with Israel, which used to rely heavily on Egyptian natural gas to generate electricity. 

“This is a dangerous precedent that diminishes the peace treaty,” Israeli Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz said on Sunday evening, referring to a US-sponsored 1979 treaty between the two sides. 

Meanwhile, Israeli opposition leader Shaul Mofaz told local media, “It is a new low in the relations between the countries and a clear violation of the peace treaty.” 

The provision of gas to Israel has constantly formed a contentious topic among the Egyptian public, which views Tel Aviv as an enemy and opposes engaging in any form of business with it. 

The deal would oblige Egypt to supply gas to Israel as one of the main economic conditions of the US-sponsored treaty. 

In line with the USD-2.5-billion export deal, Israel would receive around 40 percent of its gas supply from Egypt at an extremely low price. 

According to the results of an opinion poll, conducted for Press TV and published on October 3, 2011, 73 percent of the Egyptian respondents opposed the terms of the agreement. 

The country used to be Tel Aviv’s strongest Arab ally during the roughly-30-year-long rule of former dictator Hosni Mubarak, who was deposed in a popular revolution in February 2011, according to Xinhua.