Cairo: An Egyptian administrative court annulled the government's decision to export natural gas to Israel, causing nine million dollars in losses to this country every day, according to the plaintiffs.
Judicial sources quoted by the official news agency MENA said the court ruled in favor of a lawsuit filed by a group of lawyers headed by Ibrahim Yousri. The pipeline used to export gas to Israel was inaugurated in May 2008 by virtue of an agreement signed in 2005 with East Mediterranean Gas Co (EMG) to supply 1.7 billion cubic meters of gas a year for a 20-year period.
However, Yousri and the activists who backed his lawsuit claim that Egypt loses nine million dollars a day, as the original set price has not changed despite the increase in hydrocarbon prices. Many Egyptians, particularly in the nationalist and leftwing sectors, have described gas exports to "the former Zionist enemy" as "treason".
Since Israel was founded in 1948,the armed forces of that state have fought against Egypt on four occasions until 1973,when the Camp David peace agreements were signed, a war veteran told Prensa Latina.
Several political activists who supported Yousri s lawsuit told the Qatari TV station Al Jazeera that gas exports help the Jewish army to continue its occupation of the Palestinian territories. Egypt collaborates with Israel in blockading the Gaza Strip by keeping the border checkpoint in Rafah closed since January 2008.
Recently, Egyptian Prime Minister Ahmed Mohamed Nazif expressed his country's wish to increase hydrocarbon revenues, considering the hiking price of gas, although he did not mention the agreement with Israel.
