Possible 'spy' swap signals stabilizing relations
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Xinhua, October 24, 2011
Israel may be in the final stages of completing its second prisoner swap in less than a week, according to Egyptian officials who have said that the terms for exchanging for Israeli-American tourist Ilan Grapel are in the works.
Grapel holds dual citizenship and has served in the Israeli army. Egyptian authorities arrested him in June and at first accused him of spying for Israel. The charges, however, were later reduced to taking part in insurrection and incitement activities against the government, which allegedly occurred during the demonstrations against former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak earlier this year.
Nineteen Egyptian citizens being held in Israeli prisons may be released in exchange for Grapel, according to Israeli media. Last week, Israel released the first 477 of 1,027 Palestinian security prisoners in exchange for Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, who was abducted by Hamas militants in Gaza in 2006. Egypt was the main broker of the Shalit deal.
"The exchange that now hopefully will take place is a means by both sides, and especially from the Egyptian side, to get down from a tree that they shouldn't have climbed in from the start because they made the mistake in identifying him as a spy," Prof. Uri Bar-Joseph of the University of Haifa told Xinhua on Sunday.
His words were echoed by Dr. Mark Heller of Tel Aviv University, who said that he too didn't think that Grapel was an Israeli spy.
"If he really is a spy, the Israeli intelligence services have really deteriorated very badly so much so that it makes one worry, " Heller said.
"The Egyptians are probably unwilling to acknowledge they made a mistake so they want it go through some deal to make it look like they caught somebody real," Heller added.
Bar-Joseph, for his part, said that it's possible that the Egyptians at first really did suspect Grapel of being a spy, but later realized their misjudgment. Had they really believed that Grapel was spying for Israel, they would never have considered a prisoner swap as a way to save face.
"If they would really suspect him of being a spy, then they wouldn't let him go so quickly. First, at least they would have put him on trial and then maybe exchange him -- but not before," he said.
