A University of Akron geography professor suspected of spying on Israel will be either released or charged criminally by Sunday, according to Israeli news reports.
Ghazi Falah, who lives with his family in Wadsworth, has been held in Israel since July 8, when Israeli security saw him photographing a military antenna near the Israel-Lebanon border.
Israel suspects Falah, 53, may have been spying for Iranian intelligence or Hezbollah, the Lebanon-based terrorist group that kidnapped two Israeli soldiers just days later. Israel and Hezbollah have been warring since then.
Falah -- a Palestinian with dual Israeli-Canadian citizenship -- hasn't denied photographing the antenna. But his attorney told reporters that Falah didn't know the tower, about 300 feet tall, had any connection to the military.
The professor snapped the photos for an academic paper he planned to present in October at an international geographers conference in Beirut, his attorney said.
Falah's family did not return messages Friday seeking comment, but they have denied Falah is a spy. According to his wife and son, Falah flew to northern Israel July 4 to visit his mother after learning she had a brain tumor. Falah, they said, was taking a break on a beach when he was arrested.
Geography, a seemingly benign field of study in the United States, is an explosive science in the Middle East, where boundaries for power have been drawn and redrawn for thousands of years.
Falah's version of geography around Israel landed him on the Anti-Defamation League's radar in 2002, said Bettysue Feuer, the Jewish group's regional director in Cleveland.
She said Falah presented "a very biased, anti-Israel paper" at the American Association of Geographers meeting in California that year. The paper was called "Blame the Victim: Representation of the Palestinian intifada in selected daily newspapers in North America."
Yet Falah, a one-time Fulbright scholar, appears to be deeply respected by many academics in his field.
The Irish Times printed a letter Thursday signed by more than 39 college instructors and professors demanding that Falah have access to a lawyer and be granted family visits.
Until then, a judge had imposed a gag order on the case. The same day the letter ran, an Israeli judge lifted the order, and Falah met with his attorney.
Meanwhile, the University of Akron has been trying to help Falah through diplomatic channels in both the United States and Canada, said Paul Herold, a university spokesman.
Falah began teaching at the university in 2001 and is scheduled to receive full tenure Aug. 1. Fall classes begin Aug. 28.
"At this point, we're just hoping he's back," Herold said.
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