Egyptian Cancellation of Gas Supply Threatens Treaty with Israel

Egypt’s sudden cancellation of its natural gas treaty with Israel is a flagrant violation of the Israeli-Egyptian peace treaty, according to Israeli officials.

Egypt claims that Israel is in “violation of contractual agreements” of the 2005 Egypt-Israel gas deal, a pact decried by leaders of the Arab Spring uprising in Egypt.

Since the beginning of the uprising on January 25, 2011, the pipelines supplying gas to Israel have been sabotaged 14 times.

Israel called the Egyptian decision “unlawful and in bad faith”, and a failure to meet obligations. Egypt, said Israel is four months in arrears on payment, a charge Israel denies.