Ilan Grapel, Israeli-American Student, Questioned By Egypt Over Spy Allegations

[High_Gravity]

Why in gods name are Americans still going to Middle Eastern countries for anything?

Ilan Grapel, Israeli-American Student, Questioned By Egypt Over Spy Allegations

JERUSALEM -- Friends and relatives of a U.S.-born Israeli arrested in Egypt on spy charges said Monday he is a law student in Atlanta with an avid interest in the Mideast – and not a Mossad agent out to sabotage Egypt's revolution, as Egyptian authorities claim.

His mother and a fellow student said he arrived in Cairo only in May. Late Monday, the official Egyptian News Agency said the investigation showed he arrived in Egypt just before the protests began on Jan. 25 and was in the square where the protests were centered every day, "inciting sedition, spreading rumors, and urging (protesters toward friction with the armed forces and to commit acts of violence."

The arrest of 27-year-old Ilan Grapel has set off new fears in Israel that relations with Egypt will sour now that its longtime president, Hosni Mubarak, has been deposed.

Since Mubarak's ouster, Egypt's military rulers have often warned against unspecified "foreign" attempts to destabilize the country. Egypt, like other Arab states, has a long history of blaming internal problems on Israeli saboteurs.

"I hope this doesn't mark a new direction of putting peace in deep freeze and beginning harassment," said Israeli lawmaker Binyamin Ben-Eliezer, who counts Mubarak as a personal friend. Israel and Egypt signed a peace treaty in 1979, but relations have been cordial at best.

Grapel, 27, was arrested Sunday at a hotel in Cairo. His mother, Irene Grapel, said he was spending the summer as an intern at a legal aid group. A statement from the Egyptian prosecution said Grapel had recently attended protests and "incited the protesters to acts of riot."

Pictures of Grapel were published in Egyptian newspapers, and the semiofficial Egyptian daily Al-Ahram identified him in a headline as a "Mossad officer who tried to sabotage the Egyptian revolution."

Grapel's mother, Irene Grapel, told Israel Army Radio in an interview from Queens, N.Y., that the family had spoken to him on Monday and that "he is not being mistreated." She said her son arrived in Cairo in May to do a legal internship with a group that helps resettle refugees.

In an interview with AP Television News, she called the changes "so bogus. He is not a Mossad spy."

Ilan Grapel, Israeli-American Student, Questioned By Egypt Over Spy Allegations