Israel’s Supreme Court confirms release of 550 Palestinians in Shalit swap deal

The Israeli Supreme Court on Friday turned down appeals by Israeli victims of Palestinian attacks against the liberation of 550 Palestinian detainees this weekend, military radio said.

That confirms a decision by the Israel Prisons Service to release the prisoners on Sunday, in a move completing a swap deal that brought about the release of captive soldier Gilad Shalit.

On Wednesday, the prisons service published a list of the 550 prisoners who will be freed and who, unlike a group of 477 detainees released in October at the same time as Shalit, do not include senior fighters, Palestinian sources said.

On the list is French-Palestinian national Salah Hamuri, who was convicted of trying to assassinate a Jewish religious leader and had been due to complete his seven-year sentence in March.

Attorneys acting for the Israeli victims and their relatives filed a petition with the Supreme Court on Thursday demanding that the release be delayed to allow for a full public debate.

Appeals were also lodged by two families, and an anti-terrorist organization, Shurat HaDin, lodged appeals against the release of the prisoners whom they consider as “terrorists.”

In its verdict, the Supreme Court said it could not intervene because the decision to release the prisoners was a political decision taken by the government as part of the swap that saw Shalit walk free on Oct. 18.

The latest group of 544 men and six women has been selected by Israel and does not include any members of Hamas or Islamic Jihad.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, an Israeli official told AFP none of them had “blood on their hands.”

“The names were chosen by Israel alone,” he said, adding that priority was given to members of the Fatah movement of Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas.

Under the swap deal, Israel agreed to free 1,027 Palestinian prisoners in exchange for Shalit, who had been held in Hamas captivity in Gaza for more than five years.

It was the first time in 26 years that a captured soldier has been returned to Israel alive.

The prisons service said 40 of those to be freed would be returned to their homes in Gaza, two to Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem, two to Jordan and the remainder to the occupied West Bank.