Secret gas talks between Israel, Egypt and Turkey

Reuters has revealed Israeli efforts to rebuild strained ties with old allies Egypt and Turkey through natural gas deals. Israel, which has been looking for regional customers for its gas, believes that Egypt and Turkey are in need of this natural resource.

“Ultimately Egypt and Turkey need energy and the fact that we have it is creating a regional convergence of interests,” an Israeli diplomatic source told Reuters.

Egypt and Israel have had limited economic cooperation since signing the Camp David Peace Accords in 1979. Egypt used to supply Israel with gas for prices below the international market value.

The 2011 revolution negatively affected economic relations between the two countries, especially Egyptian gas exports to Israel.

Land based pipelines used to export Egyptian gas to Israel and Jordan have been repeatedly bombed by groups opposed to Arab-Israeli normalisation.

Reuters says Egypt is now struggling to meet the rising domestic demand for energy and a fall in domestic output and power blackouts have stirred dissent in the Arab world’s most populous state.

It continues by saying that Israeli gas could help ease domestic shortages and end the ongoing unrest that contributed to the overthrow of former President Mohammed Morsi

To achieve this negotiations about a subsea pipeline are ongoing as this would be much harder to target.