EGYPT: Lawsuits over Egypt-Israeli gas deal

Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak has been sued by a citizens group over his government’s deal to sell natural gas to Israel at bargain prices. The suit is the latest in a national protest by the succinctly, if long-windedly, named Popular Campaign for Stopping the Export of Egyptian Natural Gas to Israel.

The group’s campaign includes a petition drive, mock trials of government officials and attempts to persuade clerics to issue fatwas against the deal. Since its 1979 peace treaty with Israel, Egypt has had strained relations with its Jewish neighbor, especially over the Palestinian question. Many Egyptians would prefer to tear up the accord rather than carry on with what they regard as a peace that exists on paper, but not in their hearts.

The gas deal, an attempt to further normalize relations with Israel, has become an embarrassment to the Mubarak regime at a time of widening public anger over corruption, low wages and inflation. One of those leading the opposition to the sale is Anwar Esmat Sadat, the nephew of former President Anwar Sadat, who was assassinated by Islamic radicals two years after making peace with Israel during the 1979 Camp David talks. 

The energy agreement reportedly calls for Egypt to annually sell 1.7 billion cubic meters of gas to the Jewish state at a much cheaper rate than it could charge on the world market.

“Banning the export of natural gas to Israel has become an issue which concerns all Egyptians,” reformist judge Mahmoud El-Khodeiri told Al-Ahram Weekly. “You can hardly find an Egyptian who approves selling gas to Israel or dealing with such a state in any way or form.”

— Jeffrey Fleishman in Cairo

Photo: Egyptian Oil Minister Sameh Fahmi, left, and the Israeli Minister of Infrastructure Binyamin Ben Eliezer as posted on citizens group's blog.