Pressure valve

Will the public succeed in forcing the government to stop the export of natural gas to Israel, Mona El-Nahhas asks

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Members of the Popular Campaign for Stopping the Export of Egyptian Natural Gas to Israel on Tuesday went to court to sue President Hosni Mubarak, Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif and Petroleum Minister Sameh Fahmi for issuing a decree which allows gas exports to Israel.

In the lawsuit, lawyer and international arbiter Ibrahim Yosri, who represented the claimants, demanded that the decree be abolished, claiming it violated the constitution and the Joint Defence Arab Agreement which Egypt is a signatory to.

Following the first hearing, campaigners staged a sit-in in front of the Administrative Court pressing for abolishing the sale deal.

Dozens of political figures and writers took part in the protest held amid heavy security. From the early hours of the morning, armoured vehicles were stationed at the entrance of the court building.

Police cordoned off all the streets leading to the court.

The campaign was launched last month immediately following the start of the flow of gas to Israel under a gas exports agreement which Egypt signed with Israel in 2005. The accord lasts until 2025.

Launching a one-million signature campaign, holding mock trials of officials charged with exporting gas to Israel, addressing the public in seminars and filing the lawsuit were all in use by campaigners in their attempt to mobilise widescale public support.

"Until now, we managed to collect around 200,000 signatures and we expect the number to increase," Anwar Esmat El-Sadat, nephew of former president Anwar El-Sadat and the campaign spokesman said.

According to El-Sadat, campaign members launched a new Internet website for collecting more signatures.

"Banning the export of natural gas to Israel has become an issue which concerns all Egyptians," reformist judge Mahmoud El-Khodeiri told Al-Ahram Weekly.

"You can hardly find an Egyptian who approves selling gas to Israel or dealing with such a state in any way or form," El-Khodeiri said, noting that hatred towards Israel was a sentiment shared by all Egyptians and one which will facilitate their task.

Last week, El-Khodeiri sent a letter to President Mubarak urging him to ban gas exports to Israel.

Another letter was sent to the mufti of the republic Sheikh Ali Gomaa inquiring about an Islamic ruling on the issue. Gomaa has yet to reply.

"Obviously, the man found himself in a very sensitive situation. If he said that selling gas to Israel is forbidden in Islam he will get into trouble. And if he said the opposite, he will come under fire. That's why he preferred to remain silent," El-Khodeiri said.

Expressing support with the campaigners, several Muslim and Coptic preachers who do not hold official posts stressed that conducting deals with the Jewish state is forbidden.

Muslim preacher Abla El-Kahlawi was quoted as saying that anyone "with reason and dignity" could not approve or even think of exporting gas to Israelis "who kill our Palestinian brothers every day".

Clerk Ikram Lamei, from the Anglican Church, agreed with El-Kahlawi.

Before parliament goes into recess, a draft law was submitted by MPs belonging to the Muslim Brotherhood banning the government from signing any deals related to gas, petroleum or steel unless receiving the approval of parliament.

The draft law was rejected by the majority of the ruling National Democratic Party (NDP).

Faced with an angry public opinion, Minister of Petroleum Fahmi pledged last week, while discussing a report prepared by the People's Assembly's Industry Committee, that the price of exporting natural gas to Israel will be revised. The government was attacked for selling gas to Israel at subsidised prices.

Fahmi also stressed that no future agreements will be signed at this stage.

Fahmi's comments, however, failed to calm a public insisting that nothing less than a complete stoppage of gas exports to Israel is acceptable.

Campaigners plan to hold a mock trial within the next few days over who is responsible for the deal. They did not reveal where the trial will be held.

"The aim of the trial is to protect public interest. It is not directed against any one individual," political activist George Ishaq told the Weekly.

The citizens' tribunal comes after campaigners failed twice to hold similar trials at the Bar Association and the Press Syndicate. The Bar Association had been embroiled in a different case concerning a controversial law which was referred to parliament for endorsement without the consent of lawyers. As a consequence, council members decided the time was not right for staging the trial.

As for the Press Syndicate, campaigners, who were only allowed to hold a seminar there, said syndicate chairman Makram Mohamed Ahmed was pressured into not holding the trial.

Ishaq sharply criticised opposition parties for not getting involved in the issue. "It's something very deplorable. I think being absent from the political scene in such a shameful way marks the end of political parties in Egypt," Ishaq said.