CAIRO - Egypt's gas deliveries to Israel had not yet resumed yet, after a blast in North Sinai last month damaged the main pipeline, according to the governor of North Sinai. North Sinai Governor Abdel Wahab Mabrouk told the German Press Agency (dpa) that the nearly 100-kilometre pipeline had not yet been repaired. He said that news reports stating gas supplies to Israel had resumed were false. Sources at the Egypt Natural Gas Co told dpa that there was not yet enough security for employees to resume work at its facility in Sinai. The situation in North Sinai continues to remain tense following clashes with Bedouin tribes and security forces during the uprising that led to former President Hosny Mubarak's ouster in February. Police have not yet returned to the streets of North Sinai, according to residents, and only a number of soldiers are currently stationed in the sparsely populated Sinai Peninsula, which borders both Israel and the Gaza Strip. Egypt's supply of natural gas to Israel, which was agreed upon in a deal with Mubarak's government and Tel Aviv officials in 2005, was widely condemned by a broad segment of Egyptian society. Law suits failed to reverse the deal, despite arguments that Egyptian officials agreed to sell gas at a lower cost than privately owned companies inside Israel sell gas for. The pipeline allows natural gas to flow from North Sinai's capital of el-Arish to the Israeli port city of Ashkelon, also providing gas to Jordan and Syria. Many members of Egypt's opposition have been vocal about their disapproval of the former regime's selling of Egyptian gas to Israel for what they deemed as far below its original value.
