Israeli inner cabinet approves prisoner swap with Egypt

Israel's security cabinet Tuesday unanimously approved a deal with Cairo to swap 25 Egyptian prisoners for Israeli-American citizen Ilan Grapel, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office announced, dpa reported.

Grapel, a student at Emory University School of Law in Atlanta, Georgia, was arrested on June 12 and has been held since, accused of spying on behalf of Israel.

The exchange is to take place on Thursday, a statement from Netanyahu's office said.

Egyptian newspapers reported Grapel is to be transported to the Taba border crossing, near the Israeli Red Sea resort of Eilat, where his family will be waiting for him.

The 25 Egyptians include no security prisoners, rather criminal offenders, including people who illegally crossed the border and drug and human traffickers, Netanyahu's spokesman, Mark Regev, told dpa.

Three minors are among that number.

Ninety-two Egyptian nationals are currently jailed in Israel, Israel Prison Service (IPS) spokeswoman Sivan Weizman told dpa.

The swap deal was announced late Monday and comes less than a week after Israel freed 477 Palestinian prisoners, in return for Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, who had been held by Hamas in the Gaza Strip for more than five years.

It was also agreed with the help of the United States.

In Tuesday's statement, Netanyahu said he had instructed his aides to "make all efforts" to secure the release of another Israeli citizen, a Bedouin, held for 11 years on what Israel says are also false espionage charges.

Grapel's parents, Daniel and Irene, have called the allegations against their son, 27 at the time of his arrest, delusional.

They said he arrived in Egypt on May 10 for voluntary work with refugees, for which his law school gives academic credit.

Two Israeli officials visited him in his Cairo cell Monday and said he was in good condition. They telephoned his parents, who live in New York, to inform them of the deal.

Netanyahu's security cabinet, a forum of 14 senior ministers, thanked Washington for its help in brokering the deal.

Grapel was born and raised in the US, but enlisted in the Israel Defence Forces and was wounded in the second Lebanon war of 2006.

Critics have accused Egypt's new rulers of using an innocent Israeli-American national to divert attention from internal problems.