It began at a historic press conference in Cairo Jan. 15. Israel’s Energy Minister Yuval Steinitz and his Egyptian counterpart Tarek El-Molla announced that Israel would begin pumping natural gas to Egypt. It was the final accord of a turbulent decade for Steinitz, which began in 2009, when he was appointed finance minister. This was followed by the discovery of vast natural gas fields in Israel (Tamar and Leviathan), which resulted in years of bitter social, economic and environmental battles. At the center of all this fighting were the “gas tycoons” and social activists, with Steinitz fighting both, first in his capacity as finance minister, from 2009-2013, and later as minister of energy, 2015-today. Activists took to the streets to demonstrate against him and even threatened to destroy his political career.

As he waited in Cairo airport that evening for his flight back to Israel, Steinitz could see the TV monitors playing clips from the press conference. Watching himself standing beside his Egyptian counterpart, with the flags of Egypt and Israel behind him, he felt as if he had just closed a circle. It was the first time the Egyptian public was exposed to this important example of economic cooperation between the two countries.

On another occasion, Molla called it the biggest instance of cooperation between Egypt and Israel since the signing of the 1979 peace treaty. The natural gas discoveries and ensuing export agreements not only ensure that Israel will enjoy energy independence in the next decade. It also grants it the status of a regional geopolitical power and strengthens its common interests with Egypt and Jordan, to whom Israel will also be exporting gas.

The timing could not have been better for Steinitz. This week saw the release of his book “The Battle Over the Gas” (Yedioth Aharonoth), which describes a decade of squabbles and fighting. It all began in 2010, during his first visit to the gas platform in the middle of the Mediterranean, as guest of gas tycoon Yitzhak Tshuva. It was Tshuva, together with American gas company Noble Energy, who was responsible for discovering the vast Tamar and Leviathan natural gas reserves. What Steinitz describes as a pastoral moment was the beginning of a big adventure, which ended with Israel pumping gas to Egypt and Jordan.