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Natural gas negotiations with Israel confirm Al-Sisi is quite the opposite of Nasser

February 5, 2014 at 2:10 am

Middle East Monitor’s report published today on Egypt negotiating Israeli gas via Cyprus highlights how the role of Egypt and Israel, and their supply of gas, has been reversed.


General Sisi

Middle East Monitor’s report published today on Egypt negotiating Israeli gas via Cyprus highlights how the role of Egypt and Israel, and their supply of gas, has been reversed.

Though President Hosni Mubarak made a deal with Israel that it would import 45 per cent of its gas consumption from Egypt via a pipeline between El Arish and Ashkelon, this arrangement came to an end in early 2012 following the former President’s overthrow. Mohammed Morsi was unlikely to have co-operated with Israel.

Now, even though Al-Sisi is repeatedly portrayed as the heir to Gamal Abdel Nasser, who famously nationalised the Suez Canal, the military general who led the coup against Morsi is actually doing the opposite of what Nasser did. By going ahead and purchasing gas from Israel, he is not putting Egypt’s interests first. Nasser was seen as an enemy of Israel, not Palestine.