Sunday, February 05, 2012

Section of Egypt-Israel Pipeline Blown Up

Section of Egypt-Israel pipeline blown up

Sun Feb 5, 2012 2:37AM GMT
presstv.ir

A section of an Egyptian pipeline supplying gas to Israel has been blown up in a bomb attack in the twelfth assault on the energy route over the past 12 months.

Egyptian security officials said several masked saboteurs planted explosives under a section of the pipeline located around 60 kilometers (about 40 miles) west of the town of al-Arish in the north of the Sinai Peninsula in the early hours of Sunday morning.

Witnesses said they heard a very loud explosion before a large fire broke out.

Emergency services workers rushed to the scene to contain the blaze. There were no immediate reports of casualties.

According to the results of an opinion poll conducted by Synovate for Press TV and published on October 3, 2011, an overwhelming majority of Egyptians oppose the terms of the country's gas deal with the Israeli regime.

In the poll, seventy-three percent of the respondents said they were opposed to gas exports to Israel. Only 9 percent said they approved of Egypt supplying gas to Israel, and 12 percent had no opinion.

For Egyptians, the issue of supplying gas to Israel has always been a contentious one. Egyptians view Israel as an enemy and oppose engaging in any form of business with the regime.

Egypt had to agree to supply gas to Israel as one of the main economic conditions of the US-sponsored 1979 peace treaty between the two sides.

According to a $2.5 billion export deal with Tel Aviv, signed in 2005, Israel receives around 40 percent of its gas supply from Egypt at an extremely low price.

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