Egypt Formally Informs Israel Detainees Suspected of Spying

After more than two weeks of rumor and vague reports, Egypt officially informed Israel on Monday that it had arrested three Israeli Arabs for espionage.

The Egyptians also accused the detainees of “violating the security of the state and possession of forged documents,” the Foreign Ministry in Jerusalem was told.

But they remained vague about why they detained a fourth person, an Israeli Jew who has business contacts with the Arabs arrested.

The Arab detainees are members of one family. An Israeli diplomat in Cairo said Farres Mussarti, his son Majed and daughter Faya are suspected of having spied for “an alien body.”

But the Egyptians did not mention Israel or its intelligence agency, Mossad, in connection with the arrests.

The Egyptians seem to be treading cautiously in this matter, which is reportedly being closely followed by President Hosni Mubarak and other ranking government figures.

They were vague about why they had arrested David Ovitz of Givatayim, a Jewish businessman who imports furniture from Egypt. He appears not to be suspected of any serious offense but was questioned about his contacts with the Mussartis and remained in jail.

Ovitz reportedly employed Farres Mussarti as an interpreter on his furniture-buying expeditions to Egypt.

Israeli observers expect the Egyptians to press charges shortly against the Mussartis, who are from Ramla. If convicted, they would probably face long prison sentences, it is believed here.

The Israeli consul in Cairo, Ronni Porat, was allowed to visit Farres and Majed Mussarti and Ovitz, separately, for the first time Monday in their prison south of Cairo. He was due to talk to Faya Mussarti on Tuesday at a women’s prison.

All that the media could learn was that Ovitz complained of the poor quality of the food and lack of blankets.