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Egypt cancels Israeli gas contract
Egypt has cancelled a 20-year contract to supply Israel with natural gas in a move interpreted as a sign of increasingly fragile relations between the allies.
April 23, 2012
(THE GUARDIAN) Jerusalem - Both Egyptian and Israeli officials said the reason for the termination of the deal, which was signed in 2005 and provided 40% of Israel's natural gas, was a dispute over payments between private companies. But the governments were trying to prevent it escalating into a political crisis.
The deal is unpopular in Egypt because of claims that Israel buys the gas at below-market rates. A pipeline that carries the gas to Israel across the Sinai desert has been sabotaged at least 14 times since the start of the Egyptian uprising last year, seriously disrupting supplies.