Israel and Egypt swap prisoners

CAIRO - Israel released six Egyptian students from prison on Sunday as part of a deal which includes freedom for Israeli businessman and convicted spy Azzam Azzam, Egyptian security sources said.

The six students, arrested in August and charged with conspiring to kill Israeli soldiers, were handed over at the Egyptian consulate in Tel Aviv and arrived in Cairo later, Egyptian security sources said.

The Arab television Al Arabiya said Azzam, who has been in jail in Egypt since 1997, would reach Israel "within one hour from now" but gave no details. The Israeli authorities have given no information on the exchange.

Egyptian presidential spokesman Maged Abdel Fattah told reporters there was no connection between the release of the students and the release of Azzam, whose freedom Israeli governments have been seeking for the past seven years.

"There were no deals... There are legal steps dealing with each issue separately," he said.

But Egyptian sources confirmed the exchange agreement and said that the two handovers were meant to be simultaneous.

The Israeli government agreed to release the students when Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit and intelligence chief Omar Suleiman visited Israel last week, the Egyptian state newspaper al-Ahram said.

In Jerusalem, Israeli cabinet minister Meir Sheetrit told reporters he did not know about a possible release of Azzam but hoped it would happen.

"I hope that the warming situation between Israel and Egypt will create gestures from both sides. I hope that one of the gestures will be the release of ... Azzam Azzam. It will be a very good and warm gesture from Egypt," he said.

An exchange of prisoners would represent the clearest sign of improved relations since Egypt withdrew its ambassador in 2000 after the outbreak of the second Palestinian intifada. Israel and Egypt signed a peace treaty in 1979.

During the visit by Aboul Gheit, his first to Israel since he took office in July, Egypt and Israel came close to agreement on border arrangements to prevent people smuggling weapons from Egypt into Gaza after an Israeli withdrawal.

Israeli authorities arrested the Egyptian students near the desert border between the two countries for crossing into Israel illegally, armed with an airgun and 14 knives. They were aged between 21 and 25.

Prosecutors told a magistrate's court in the Israeli town of Beersheba the students had plotted to kidnap Israeli soldiers to use as bargaining chips for Palestinian prisoners.

The students also intended to hijack an army tank, kill its crew and then rob a bank to get money that could be used to fund further attacks on Israel, the prosecutors said.

Parents of the students have said in interviews that their sons had no political views and had gone to Israel merely to find work.

Al-Ahram named the students as Emad Sayed, Mohamed Yusri, Mustafa Mahmoud Youssef, Mustafa Abu Deif, Mahmoud Gamal Ezzat and Mohamed Maher.

The Egyptian security sources said that on arrival in Cairo the students went for debriefing by intelligence, a process that could take several days.

- REUTERS