Israel will not concede $1.76bn compensation from Egypt

Israeli Energy Minister Yuval Steinitz said yesterday that Israeli is unlikely to concede $1.76bn compensation from Egypt over broken gas agreement, Palestinian Al-Resalah newspaper reported.

Egypt signed a 20-year contract to export natural gas to Israel, but it broke the contract in 2012, after the exportation pipes in Sinai were detonated several times by unknown militias.

On Sunday, Cairo said that it would appeal against an international arbitration which ruled that it has to pay the $1.76bn to Israel. It also said it would freeze discussions over importing Israeli gas until after sorting out the issue of the arbitration.

However, Egypt said that it is still interested in Israeli gas despite announcing plans for large excavations off its coast in August.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told the Knesset yesterday that he dispatched a special envoy to Cairo to sort out the issue. “I think that we will reach a solution due to the common interests [between the two countries]; these interests dictate the reality in the end.”

Steinitz, who refused to comment on the discussions, said that Egypt had just announced it would no longer participate in talks.