Egypt terminates gas agreement with Israel, political events continue to polarise the country
Mohamed Shoeb, The head of the Egyptian Natural Gas Holding Company has said it has terminated its contract to ship gas to Israel because of violations of contractual obligations, a decision Israel said overshadowed the peace agreement between the two countries.The gas company's top official, said on Sunday's decision was not political.
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"This has nothing to do with anything outside of the commercial relations,'' Shoeb said that Israel had not paid for its gas in four months.Yigal Palmor, Israeli foreign ministry spokesman, denied the claim of not paying.
International Cooperation Minister Fayza Abul Naga said the Egyptian side had no objections to reaching a new contract with new conditions and a new price," MENA reported.
The sale of gas to Israel, following the signing a peace treaty with Egypt in 1979, has always been controversial in the Arab world's most populous country. It was the largest trade deal between the two former foes.
Egyptian militants have blown up the Sinai gas pipeline to Israel 14 times since the uprising.Although Israel played down the importance of the cancellation of the agreement it comes at a time of hightened political tension in Egypt and could menace the peace treaty between the two countries increasing Israel's isolation in the region.The USA strongly supports the peace agreement which it brokered and will no doubt pressure Egypt to keep the agreement in being. The Supreme Army Council (SCAF) will want to keep American military aid to secure its position.
Last week Egypt's politics continued its tumultous progress coàntinued with a large demonstration of over 100,000 in Tahrir square islamist and secular groups against SCAF following the confirmation of the exclusion of ten candidates for technical infringements of presidential election rules. Those excluded include Kahrait El Shater of the Muslim Brotherhood's FJP party because of a previous conviction and the salafist Hazem Abu Ismail because his mother alledgedly had an American passport . The former intellegence chief Omar El Suleiman because he did not have the right number of signatures backing his candidacy.A law banning former regime associates proposed by parliament has not been approved by SCAF, which has played a very skilful game in outmanoeuvrig its opponents.
The two main presidential candidates are former Arab League head Amr Moussa whose anti Israel stance was popular and the Muslim Brotherhood's alternative candidate Mohamed Mursi is head of the FJP. There is no doubt that Amr Moussa has the greater experience as a former foreign minister who was removed by Mubarak because he was too popular. He said Egypt needed a president with lobbying skills to work effectively with the Islamist-dominated parliament and other institutions after decades of autocratic government. Egypt’s presidential vote that starts on May 23-24 will mark the final stage of a transition to civilian rule from generals who took charge after Hosni Mubarak was ousted last year. The strong support for the islamists will be weighed by the increasing fears of the economic situation and the need for control and order. A strong President to
unite the country will be appealing to many.
The Muslim Brotherhood's Khairat al-Shater has accused SCAF of trying to steal the revolution and has threatened further demonstrations.
Egypt is dangerously polarised between the islamist parties and the secular groups and minorities.Further tension and demonstrations are inevitable, meanwhile foreign currency reserves have dropt to $15.2 billion.
The Egyptian government has refused to license eight US civil society groups, including the election-monitoring Carter Centre Reuters reports.
The eight NGOs include the Carter Center, Seeds of Peace, Coptic Orphans, the Latter-day Saints Association and others .
International Cooperation Minister Fayza Abul Naga said the Egyptian side had no objections to reaching a new contract with new conditions and a new price," MENA reported.
The sale of gas to Israel, following the signing a peace treaty with Egypt in 1979, has always been controversial in the Arab world's most populous country. It was the largest trade deal between the two former foes.
Egyptian militants have blown up the Sinai gas pipeline to Israel 14 times since the uprising.Although Israel played down the importance of the cancellation of the agreement it comes at a time of hightened political tension in Egypt and could menace the peace treaty between the two countries increasing Israel's isolation in the region.The USA strongly supports the peace agreement which it brokered and will no doubt pressure Egypt to keep the agreement in being. The Supreme Army Council (SCAF) will want to keep American military aid to secure its position.
Last week Egypt's politics continued its tumultous progress coàntinued with a large demonstration of over 100,000 in Tahrir square islamist and secular groups against SCAF following the confirmation of the exclusion of ten candidates for technical infringements of presidential election rules. Those excluded include Kahrait El Shater of the Muslim Brotherhood's FJP party because of a previous conviction and the salafist Hazem Abu Ismail because his mother alledgedly had an American passport . The former intellegence chief Omar El Suleiman because he did not have the right number of signatures backing his candidacy.A law banning former regime associates proposed by parliament has not been approved by SCAF, which has played a very skilful game in outmanoeuvrig its opponents.
The two main presidential candidates are former Arab League head Amr Moussa whose anti Israel stance was popular and the Muslim Brotherhood's alternative candidate Mohamed Mursi is head of the FJP. There is no doubt that Amr Moussa has the greater experience as a former foreign minister who was removed by Mubarak because he was too popular. He said Egypt needed a president with lobbying skills to work effectively with the Islamist-dominated parliament and other institutions after decades of autocratic government. Egypt’s presidential vote that starts on May 23-24 will mark the final stage of a transition to civilian rule from generals who took charge after Hosni Mubarak was ousted last year. The strong support for the islamists will be weighed by the increasing fears of the economic situation and the need for control and order. A strong President to
unite the country will be appealing to many.
The Muslim Brotherhood's Khairat al-Shater has accused SCAF of trying to steal the revolution and has threatened further demonstrations.
Egypt is dangerously polarised between the islamist parties and the secular groups and minorities.Further tension and demonstrations are inevitable, meanwhile foreign currency reserves have dropt to $15.2 billion.
The Egyptian government has refused to license eight US civil society groups, including the election-monitoring Carter Centre Reuters reports.
The eight NGOs include the Carter Center, Seeds of Peace, Coptic Orphans, the Latter-day Saints Association and others .
Source : https://www.marocafrik.com/english/Egypt-terminate...