Ilan Grapel, the 27-year-old Israeli American student currently being held by Egypt as an alleged Israeli spy, is expected to be set free in the coming days following a prisoner swap agreement between Jerusalem and Cairo. The deal to secure Grapel's release was confirmed by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday, but it is still subject to the approval of the Israeli Security Cabinet. Netanyahu said that 25 Egyptian prisoners, including three minors, would be released early from Israeli jails in return.
Grapel was arrested in Cairo in June and has been imprisoned since then on charges of spying for the Mossad. He has not been charged with anything and his family said that he had been working for an NGO when he was detained. The law student has dual US and Israeli citizenship. He grew up in New York but moved to Israel in 2003 and served in the IDF. He was wounded during fighting in the Second Lebanon war. Since 2005, he has been studying in the US.
The prisoner swap, if it goes ahead, will be Israel's second this month. Last week, IDF soldier Gilad Shalit returned home after more than five years in Hamas captivity , with the first half of 1,027 Palestinian prisoners being freed in return. However, while the Shalit deal involved the release of prisoners serving life sentences, the Egyptian prisoners who will be freed in return for Ilan Grapel are not security prisoners.
During the 'Arab Spring' which led to the ouster of President Hosni Mubarak, Ilan Grapel visited Cairo’s Tahrir Square, the epicenter of the revolt. Law school classmates said it was unlikely that an Israeli spy would have posted on 'Facebook' photos of himself in the square and wearing a uniform during his military service.
An Egyptian Foreign Ministry spokesman said that 81 Egyptians were in Israeli custody and that Egypt had negotiated the swap after families of the detainees had pressed for their release after last week’s prisoner exchange. US Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta brought up Grapel’s case during a recent visit to the Egyptian capital.
