Egypt Swaps Arrested US-Israeli For 25 Prisoners

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By AMY TEIBEL Associated Press

JERUSALEM - A U.S.-Israeli citizen arrested in Egypt as a suspected spy was freed on Thursday after more than four months in jail, under a prisoner swap deal that has eased friction between the two countries.

Israel Hasson, an Israeli lawmaker who has been involved in the negotiations, told The Associated Press from Cairo that 27-year-old Ilan Grapel looked ``fine'' and was ``smiling.'' Hasson and another Israeli official were dispatched to Egypt to escort Grapel on the one-hour flight to Tel Aviv.

Egypt traded the U.S.-born Grapel for 25 Egyptians, most of them smugglers, held in Israeli jails. The Egyptian prisoners passed through a land crossing from Israel as Grapel prepared to take off for Israel. TV footage showed some of the Egyptian men kneeling to kiss the asphalt after crossing through a blue metal gate at the border crossing.

Israel denied the allegations against Grapel, as did his family and friends, and his release helped to ease fears that relations would sour after Egypt's longtime president, Hosni Mubarak, was ousted in February.

Hours before the release, his father, Daniel Grapel, told The Associated Press that his son had been held in isolation in an unknown location and that when they last spoke two weeks ago, he seemed to be in ``OK'' condition and ``getting fed.''

``I am happy that this thing will be done and over with and that he will be able to resume his normal life away from Egypt,'' Daniel Grapel said in a telephone interview from his home in Queens, N.Y.

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AP correspondent Tia Goldenberg contributed to this report from Jerusalem.

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