Jerusalem–An Israeli man held in Libya since March on suspicion of spying has been freed and was due to arrive in Israel accompanied by Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman later on Monday, the ministry announced.
Rafael Hadad, who holds Israeli and Tunisian nationality, had been taking photographs of formerly Jewish-owned properties for an Israel-based Jewish historical society when he was arrested, according to Israeli media.
Hadad arrived in Vienna on Sunday evening, where he was met by Lieberman. The two are expected to give a news conference at 3:00 pm (1200 GMT) after reaching Tel Aviv's Ben Gurion airport, a foreign ministry spokeswoman said.
The YNet news website said negotiations for Hadad's release had been going on for months, led by Lieberman and negotiated by an Austrian businessman, Martin Schlaff, said to be a friend Seif al-Islam Kadhafi, son of Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi.
Israel's Haaretz daily said reports of his detention had until now been blocked by censorship, without specifying whether they were Israeli or Libyan.
It said Israel asked the United States, France and Italy to intervene to convince Libya that Hadad was not a spy but "a civilian who had shown a lapse in judgement."
An Israeli official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told AFP the Israeli authorities had agreed to transfer 20 prefabricated houses supplied by Libya to the Gaza Strip, which were currently stored at the Egyptian port of Arish.
On 15 July, a Libyan aid ship that failed to break Israel's Gaza blockade docked in Arish where it unloaded its cargo, which was later due to be shipped overland to Gaza.
Israel and Libya have no diplomatic ties.
