Swap deal: Israeli released by Egypt arrives in Tel Aviv as Egyptians cross to go home

Egypt released American-Israeli Ilan Grapel on Thursday in exchange for 25 Egyptians jailed in Israel, said an Israeli official.

“We have received him,” Israeli legislator Yisrael Hasson, who was sent to Egypt with another official to bring Grapel to Israel, said on Israel Radio from Cairo.

Grapel, who has been held in Egypt on espionage charges, first arrived at the Taba border with Israel on Thursday as a convoy of Israeli vehicles transported Egyptian prisoners that would be swapped in exchange for him.

Israeli media had said that Grapel was expected to land at Ben Gurion airport around 6:00 pm (1600 GMT) and would then be taken to Jerusalem to meet Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu before flying to New York.

Israel and Egypt had prepared on Thursday for the prisoner swap under which Cairo will free Grapel in exchange for the release of 25 Egyptians jailed in the Jewish state.

Meanwhile, Egyptian prisoners being exchanged for an American-Israeli man held in Egypt on spying charges crossed the border on Thursday, some of them bowing down in prayer as they arrived on Egyptian soil, state television showed.

Several were interviewed by Egyptian television as they crossed. “Thanks to God,” one of them told a television reporter on arrival.

Earlier, a convoy of vehicles, including armored cars, crossed the Egyptian border at Taba to Israel, according to AFP correspondents.

The Egyptian prisoners, all convicted of smuggling drugs or weapons, or infiltrating Israel illegally, were moved to a staging prison in Beersheva before the swap, Israeli prison services spokeswoman Sivan Weizman told AFP.

Grapel was arrested in Egypt in June and accused by Egypt’s military rulers of being an agent of Israel’s Mossad spy agency and of sowing sectarian strife during the uprising which ousted president Hosni Mubarak in February.

Israel has strongly denied the charges, insisting the whole thing was a mistake and accusing Egyptian authorities of “bizarre behavior.”

Grapel was expected to meet briefly in Jerusalem with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu before flying to New York to meet his family.

The exchange was expected to occur late Thursday afternoon, with Israel transferring 25 Egyptians to Sinai via the Taba border crossing, as U.S.-Israeli citizen Ilan Grapel is flown to Tel Aviv.

Egypt kept the Taba border crossing closed from 0900 GMT until 1600 GMT, An Al Arabiya correspondent said.

The returning Egyptian prisoners, all of them Bedouin, were to be received at an official reception at a Taba hotel attended by the governors of North and South Sinai, as well as representatives of the Bedouin community in the area.

Israel published the names of the 25 prisoners on Oct. 25, giving Israeli citizens 48 hours to file legal challenges against their release.

But there has been little domestic opposition to the release of the prisoners, who reportedly include three minors who illegally crossed into Israel to sell cigarettes, and Israel's high court rejected a lone legal challenge.

Grapel was arrested on June 12 and accused by Egypt’s military rulers of being an agent of Israel’s Mossad spy agency and of sowing sectarian strife during the uprising which forced president Hosni Mubarak to step down in February.

Israel has strongly denied the charges, insisting the whole thing was a mistake and accusing Egyptian authorities of “bizarre behavior.”

The U.S.-brokered exchange deal was reached shortly after a successful Egyptian-brokered swap between Israel and Hamas Islamists that freed captive Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit in exchange for more than 1,000 Palestinian prisoners.

“We just want to see our brother. It is a good thing from Egypt to work on freeing them,” said Mohamed al-Swarky, whose brother, Ashraf Abdallah, 18, is one of those to be released.

His family said he had been sentenced to three years in prison by Israel on charges of illegally crossing the border. They say he had lost his way. He has spent one year in jail.

Others in the area said many of the Egyptian prisoners to be released had been involved in smuggling, which is rife along Egypt’s border with Israel and the Palestinian enclave of Gaza.

Israel’s Prisons Service said Abdallah had been jailed for drugs trafficking as well as “infiltration.” The others on the release roster were held for similar offences, including gun-running, but not for espionage or attacks on Israelis.

“Our happiness isn't complete. We want our third brother. They went (across) because of the hard conditions,” said Youssef al-Atrash, who said two of his brothers were among those to be freed, while a third would stay in behind bars.

Many Bedouin in Sinai complain of neglect by the state. Sinai resorts such as Taba and Sharm al-Sheikh, with their five-star hotels, are popular with tourists. But Bedouin say they are excluded from jobs there and have to scratch a frugal living, or turn to smuggling.

The Sinai Peninsula was captured by Israel in the 1967 Arab-Israeli war and was handed back in the 1980s after Israel and Egypt signed a peace treaty in 1979, the first such deal between an Arab state and the Jewish nation.

Grapel’s mother said at the time of his arrest that her son, a law student in the United States, had been working for Saint Andrew's Refugee Services, a non-governmental organization, in Cairo.

Grapel emigrated to Israel in 2005 from New York and served in its military in the 2006 Lebanon war, according to reuters.

Over the years, Egypt has arrested a number of people accused of spying for Israel.

Israel’s relations with Egypt have been strained since the uprising.

Israel flew its ambassador out of Egypt in September when the Israeli embassy was attacked by protesters angry at the killings of Egyptian border guards when Israeli troops pursued what is said were cross-border raiders in August.