Jailed Palestinian-American transferred to US: Report

By Gulsen Topcu </p> <p>JERUSALEM (AA) – A Palestinian-American man who received a life sentence for selling Arab-owned property to Jews has been released to the United States, Israel’s Kan 11 TV channel said Thursday.</p> <p>Gal Berger, a correspondent for the state-owned channel, said the U.S. and Ramallah-based Palestinian Authority (PA) reached a secret agreement three days ago to release 53-year-old Issam Akel and deliver him to the U.S. </p> <p>The PA was under tremendous Israeli and U.S. pressure to release Akel, Berger added. </p> <p>No official statement on Berger's claim has been made by the PA, Israel or the U.S.</p> <p>Akel was arrested by the PA last September and sentenced to life in prison and hard labor.</p> <p>He was accused of being a middleman between a Palestinian owner of a home in occupied East Jerusalem and Ateret Cohanim, the Jewish organization that purchased it. </p> <p>The organization is working to establish a Jewish majority in the Old City and East Jerusalem.</p> <p>Among Palestinians, selling Arab property to Israelis is considered a criminal offense.</p> <p>U.S. Ambassador to Israel David Friedman publicly demanded last November that the PA release the dual national.