CAIRO: Egyptian media reported today that an Israeli man, Ouda Tarabin, will be freed from Egyptian prison after the Muslim feast of Sacrifice, Eid Al-Adhar, celebrated in mid-November. Tarabin, a Bedouin from the Negev, was arrested 11 years ago in the Egyptian Sinai desert, accused of spying in Egypt when he crossed into Egyptian territory to visit his sister without a passport. He was sentenced to 15 years in prison by an Egyptian military court. According to Tarabin's lawyer, Yitzhak Meltzer, the man will be swapped for 60 Egyptians. In an interview with Israeli Radio Wednesday morning, Meltzer suggested that Tarabin's prolonged detainment had to do with the fact that he is a Bedouin. Many believe that Tarabin was target by Egyptian authorities because his father was recruited by Israel after the 1967 War to spy on Egyptian resistance cells during the War of Attrition. In January 1990, the father and his family fled to Israel and received Israeli citizenship. Extensive efforts to retrieve the trial transcripts by his lawyer had no outcome. This has raised the suspicion that there was no trial for the man, and that the 15 year sentence was simply given by the Egyptian intelligence officer who captured him. The Israeli authorities hinted to Tarabin's family that there were “hidden matters that they were quietly working on,” lawyer Meltzer told Israel Radio. As a sort of explanation, one senior Foreign Ministry officials said privately, “Efforts in his case are in slow motion because we are afraid of embarrassing Egypt.” In press releases relating to the earlier swaps from this month, Israli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered Tarabin's release. His family has been eagerly awaiting his return in Israel, but denied having received any confirmations about his return from Israeli authorities. Rumors spread last week that Tarabin might have been included in the Ilan Grapel swap, which gave Egypt an F-16 fighter jet fro the United States and 25 apolitical prisoners. An unnamed Egyptian official stated this Sunday that the exchange will resemble the Grapel exchange. However, this time Egyptian negotiators will secure this latest deal to liberate political prisoners to Egypt, the same source said. He stressed that Cairo is engaging in negotiations in order to “gain the greatest profits.” He hinted that “additional spies” may be discovered in Egyptian jails, paving the way for further negotiations. Analysts now believe that the Grapel deal was brokered in order to ease American-Egyptian relations, which have become blurred since the January 25 revolution and its aftermath. The US was a major supporter of the Mubarak regime, and continues to support the Egyptian military financially. “I consider it a cover for returning this spy with pressure from the United States,” Egyptian analyst Hassan Nafaa said, commenting on the deal. “The release of those 25 represents a cover that has no meaning in fact. It does not harm Israel and it does not significantly benefit Egyptians,” he added. This deal was reached shortly after a more high-profile, Egyptian-brokered swap between Israel and Hamas that freed captive Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit in exchange for more than 1,000 Palestinian prisoners. BM
