Three terrorists blew up the Egyptian-Israeli neutral gas pipeline for at least the sixth time this year in the pre-dawn hours Tuesday in the northern Sinai. The line also supplies gas to Jordan.
The terrorists destroyed a pumping station, leaving behind one man who was hospitalized as the flames from the blast shot up nearly 50 feet in the air.
Egyptian soldiers have prevented several other attacks on the pipeline and at pumping station, but Tuesday’s attack provides more evidence that Bedouin and Arab terrorists have carved out areas of de facto control in the Sinai.
It also reflects sentiment among the increasingly influential Muslim Brotherhood and other anti-Israel elements opposed to the deal by Hosni Mubarak in 2008 to sell gas to Israel at a price they say was artificially low. The ousted president allegedly pocketed more than a billion dollars in the agreement.
The cut in the gas supply affects Israel, which buys approximately 40 percent of its natural gas from Egypt, but it hits Jordan even harder because the Hashemite kingdom uses Egyptian gas to generate 80 percent of its electricity.
Israel hopes to be self-reliant for natural gas in three years, after its off shore gas fields come on line.