
Israeli Energy Minister Eli Cohen has said that his refusal to sign a $35 billion gas agreement with Egypt has prompted his U.S. counterpart to cancel a planned trip to Israel.
A statement from Cohen's office on Thursday night said that U.S. officials had been “exerting a great deal of pressure on Israeli officials” to approve the deal, but it said that the minister would refuse to do so “until Israeli interests are secured and a fair price for the Israeli market is agreed upon.”