Major General (Res.) Eli Zeira, who headed the Military Intelligence during the Yom Kippur War in 1973, leaked the identity of a senior Mossad agent who operated in Egypt before the war, the court will announce in the following days.

The ruling - which is expected to be handed down by the end of the week - will end a protracted legal dispute between Zeira and Zvi Zamir, who served as head of the Mossad.

In 2004, Zeira filed a libel suit against Zamir, after Zamir had publicly accused him of betraying the identity of Dr. Ashraf Marwan, a top Mossad agent who operated in Egypt in the years leading up the war. Retired Supreme Court Justice Theodore Or is expected to confirm in an arbitral award that Zeira had indeed exposed the agent's identity.

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The affair began 14 years ago, with the publication of Zeira's book, titled "Myth Versus Reality: The Yom Kippur War - Failures and Lessons." In his book, Zeira countered the findings of the Agranat Commission, which the government had appointed to investigate its performance and that of the defense establishment before and during the war. The committee found that Zeira was responsible for the MI's failure to give an advance warning of the war.

In his book, Zeira maintained that the omission was a result of a sting operation by an Egyptian agent, who had allegedly acted as a double agent. Zeira claimed that agent, whose name he did not reveal, withheld information of the Egyptians' preparation for war, taking advantage of his status as a reliable and trustworthy source.

Nevertheless, Ashraf Marwan's name was leaked to the foreign press, and then quoted n Israel by Haaretz in 2003. In a television interview to Channel 1, Zeira reiterated his version that the Egyptian was a double agent.

Following the interview, Zamir accused Zeira of leaking the agent's name to many journalists, and compared Zeira's statements in the interview to the actions of Mordechai Vanunu, who was convicted of treason after he had betrayed the secrets of what the foreign media term "Israel's nuclear weapons program."

Zamir's accusations resulted in a million-shekel libel suit which Zeira filed against him in 2004. As stated in Justice Or's ruling, Zamir has since retracted the accusation that Zeira was guilty of treason.

Both Zeira and Zamir refused to comment, adding they will react only after the court gives its official verdict.