Israel’s political relations, always tense, with Egypt, the Palestinian Authority and Lebanon have deteriorated since the Egyptian government of Hosni Mubarak was overthrown in February by a popular uprising.
One of Israel’s greatest benefits from the Camp David Accords was its ability to import Egyptian natural gas through Egypt’s $500 million East Mediterranean Gas Company Ltd. (EMG) pipeline.
On 30 July Egyptian officials said that militants destroyed the EMG pipeline terminal in al-Shulaq, roughly 10 miles from Egypt’s border with the Gaza Strip, the last terminal before the pipeline submerges under the Mediterranean on its way to Israel.
The assault on al-Shulaq is the third attack on the EMG pipeline since the beginning of July and the fifth since the 18-day uprising that toppled Mubarak in February. The 12 July attack halted all further shipments, leaving al-Shulaq empty at the time of the attack. Egyptian authorities have accused an extremist Islamic Bedouin group for the al-Shulaq blast in northern Sinai.
The ongoing assaults against the pipeline and the subsequent disruption of natural gas supplies have had an impact in Israel, where Israel Electric Corp. announced recently that as a result of natural gas supply disruptions and the consequent need to transition to using alternative fuels, primarily diesel, to produce electricity, the company needs $876 million – $1 billion in immediate government financial assistance…. >>>
