Egypt cuts Natural Gas Supply to Israhell

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Egypt's national gas company has canceled its natural gas supply deal with Israhell. It insists the move has nothing to do with politics. Egypt’s Natural Gas Holding Company announced the termination of the contract on Sunday, citing violations of contractual obligations. It denied the move was political. The company’s head Mohamed Shoeb said Israhell has not paid for its gas in four months. "This has nothing to do with anything outside of the commercial relations", he told The Associated Press. Israhell warns that the cut off diminishes the peace treaty between the two countries. There has been no official reaction from the Israhelli Foreign Ministry yet, but other Israhelli officials have already voiced their strong concern. "This is a dangerous precedent that overshadows the peace agreements and the peaceful atmosphere between Israhell and Egypt", Israhelli Zionist Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz said.

Opposition head Shaul Mofaz called the move “blatant infringement of the peace treaty”, saying it puts the ties between the two countries at their lowest level since the 1979 peace treaty was signed, the Jerusalem Post reports. Haaretz daily suggests that the announcement could have been intended to pressure Israhell into calling off the lawsuit for compensation of US$8 billion over Egypt’s failure to provide gas as promised. The move by Egypt also comes following a string of cross-border attacks at gas pipelines following the last year’s uprising. The 2005 deal, negotiated during the rule of Hosni Mubarak, has come under heavy criticism from Egyptians who view it as a symbol of close ties the ousted leader forged with Israhell. Critics claim that Israhell got the gas at below-market prices and that Mubarak cronies gained huge profits from the deal, costing Egypt millions of dollars in lost revenue.

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