Egypt Turns

From Dry Bones

 

The current drama of the Middle East is that every Arab state seems to be under attack by one bunch of Islamists or another ...and the countries are crumbling.

Peace Treaty? What Peace Treaty?

On 17 September 1978 Prime Minister Menachem Begin of Israel and President Muhammad Anwar al-Sadat of Egypt signed the Camp David Accords.  A peace treaty between the nations of Egypt and Israel.  The first one between a Muslim nation and the Jewish one.  It was a beacon of hope for the region.  It lasted for 33 years.

Not any more. As of yesterday, Egypt has reneged on a very important section of this treaty.

Egypt informed Israel Sunday afternoon that it is unilaterally cancelling the agreement of supply of gas to Israel. The announcement was made to EMG, the firm that receives the gas from Egypt, and reported on Channel 2 news.

The peace treaty with Egypt includes a financial appendix, in which Egypt agrees to supply Israel with oil. Several years ago the appendix was changed so that the oil was replaced by gas. The treaty commits Egypt to supply Israel with the amount of gas it requires for a specified period, in exchange for payment.

Egypt's unilateral abrogation of the treaty causes "tremendous financial damage" to Israel, and to the Amgas and Ampal companies, according to Channel 2. However, the primary damage is diplomatic, reporter Amnon Abramovich said.

The pipeline carrying gas from Egypt to Israel was blown up 14 times since the Mubarak regime was toppled in February 2011.

Source

When the Arab Spring of last year threw Hosni Mubarak from office, President Barack Hussein Obama assured Israel (and the World) that the treaty between Israel and Egypt is to be maintained.  As we now see, that isn't so.  Calls are ringing out from Egypt to attack Israel.  And now this.

Another ringing success for Obama's foreign policy.