Israel will not cancel Egyptian debts

Official Israeli sources denied the cancellation of the debt owed by Egypt to Israel, worth 1.8 billion dollars, in spite of Egypt’s suspension of natural gas exports since the revolution of January 25, 2011.

Israeli newspaper Globes reported sources from the Israel Electric Corporation denying Egyptian media reports that suggested Tel Aviv had cancelled Egyptian debts.

The newspaper added: “There is no connection between the recent gas export agreement and the decision to fine Cairo for damages caused to the electricity corporation as a result of suspending the pumping of Egyptian gas.”

“The electricity corporation will not waive these debts, there will be no concessions. The corporation is still working on collecting these debts from Cairo,” said Oren Helman, Senior Vice President of Regulation, Government Relations, and Communication at Israel Electric Corporation.

Globes reported that the deal with Cairo, amounting to 15 billion dollars, which was signed last Monday between the Egyptian private company Dolphinuz, and the group of Israeli companies working in the gas fields of Leviathan and Tamar, has sparked a media storm, in both Egypt and Israel. Israeli official authorities have rushed to celebrate the deal and announced that it will generate billions of shekels for the benefit of the Israeli citizens. On the Egyptian side, President el-Sisi described the matter as “the soccer goal” and said that he has dreamt of achieving this.

Read: The Egyptian regime is complicit in Israel’s gas racket

Globes added that: “However, it is not easy to achieve the deal. In contrast to claims of officials in Tel Aviv, there are reports which state that there is a strong connection between the compensations of the electricity corporation which it seeks to get from Cairo and the arbitration decision on the one hand, and the new gas deal on the other hand, at a time when Israeli energy officials claim that there is no such connection and that this is all about an agreement between private companies and not an agreement between two states or two governments.”

Globes continued: “Despite these allegations, the implementation of the deal is linked to the Egyptian government’s approval. According to Egyptian Oil Minister Tarek al-Mala, Egypt has to settle all matters related to arbitration before its country becomes a regional superpower.”

The newspaper also pointed out that “Adding to that, Egyptian media reports revealed that the Egyptians have opposed to import gas from Tel Aviv in light of their government’s commitment to transform the country into an autonomous superpower in terms of energy sector, and at a time when the state announces the launching of Zohr gas field’s productivity.”

Read: The Egypt-Israel gas deal is scandalous and shameless

Globes mentioned that “The second problem that may arise during the implementation of the Egyptian-Israeli gas deal stems from the low foreign exchange reserves in Cairo.”

Globes also explained that “The compensation that East Mediterranean Gas (EMG) demands has been recently settled before the deal was signed. The Egyptian judiciary has ordered that the Egyptian gas companies be required to pay compensation of about USD 1.03 billion to EMG. This decree was important for the implementation of the deal between Cairo and Tel Aviv, because one of the means to implement the agreement of exporting Israeli gas to the Egyptian side is transferring it through the infrastructure and pipeline of EMG.”