CAIRO — Egypt has agreed to replace Israel as the leading
electricity supplier to the Gaza Strip.
The regime of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak has decided to increase
electricity to the Hamas regime by nearly nine-fold in 2008. Officials said
the agreement reflected weeks of negotiations that included Israel and the
United States, Middle East Newsline reported.
"Egypt has decided to implement a project aiming to increase its
provision of electricity to the Gaza Strip from 17 to 150 megawatts, in
order to give relief to the Palestinians," Egypt's state-owned daily Al
Ahram said on March 21.
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Officials said Egypt would be loaned $32.5 million by the Islamic
Development Bank to increase power supplies to the Gaza Strip. They said the
Egyptian Electricity Ministry would generate electricity from El Arish, the
capital of the northern Sinai Peninsula.
Until this year, Egypt has provided up to 10 percent of Gaza's power
requirements, with Israel the remainder. Israel has provided 120 megawatts
of electricity as well as fuel to power the Gaza Strip's 140 megawatt power
facility.
The Mubarak regime has also agreed to export natural gas to the Gaza
Strip. Egyptian Oil Minister Sameh Fahmi said Cairo would help develop
natural gas reserves off the Gaza coast, a project suspended by British Gas.
