Press TV – July 7, 2013
A section of an Egyptian pipeline supplying gas to Israel and Jordan has been blown up in the Lehfin area south of the city of al-Arish in the Sinai Peninsula.
The attack on the gas pipeline occurred early on Sunday on two points on the pipeline and started fires, according to Egyptian officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
The fires were extinguished, but the flow of gas was disrupted, they added.
No group or individual has claimed responsibility for the attack.
The pipeline was attacked several times in 2011 and 2012, but this was the first time the energy link was attacked this year.
According to the results of an opinion poll conducted by Synovate for Press TV and published in October 2011, an overwhelming majority of Egyptians oppose the terms of the country’s gas deal with Israel.
In the poll, seventy-three percent of the respondents said they were opposed to gas exports to Israel. Only 9 percent said they approved of Egypt supplying gas to Israel, and 12 percent had no opinion.
The issue of supplying gas to Israel has always been a contentious topic for Egyptians, who view Israel as an enemy and oppose engaging in any form of business with it.
Egypt had to agree to supply gas to Israel as one of the main economic conditions of the US-sponsored 1979 peace treaty between the two sides.
According to a $2.5 billion export deal with Tel Aviv signed in 2005, Israel receives around 40 percent of its gas supply from Egypt at an extremely low price.