Terror victims and their representatives submitted a petition to the High Court of Justice on Friday against the release of more than 1,000 Palestinian prisoners in exchange for Staff Sgt. Gilad Shalit, who will return to Israel on Tuesday after more than five years in Hamas captivity. The Almagor Terror Victims Association and relatives of terror victims together asked the court to postpone the prisoner swap in order to give them more time to examine the names of those set to be released. The Israel Prison Service publicized the official list of prisoners to be released on Sunday, allowing families 48 hours to review the names and issue any objections. In their appeal, the petitioners claimed that two days was not nearly enough time and have asked for at least four or five days. Shalit was abducted in 2006 in a cross-border raid and has been held in Hamas captivity ever since. He has not been allowed a single visit from his family or the Red Cross. Last week, after years of stalled negotiations, Hamas and Israel announced that they had reached an agreement on a prisoner swap. In exchange for the return of Shalit, 1,027 Palestinians 1,000 men and 27 women will be freed. The first 477 will be released on Tuesday and a second group of 550 prisoners will be released within two months. Among the petitioners against the deal were Yitzhak Maoz, whose daughter Tehila was killed in the 2001 suicide bombing of a Sbarro restaurant in Jerusalem; Ron Kadmon, whose daughter Tal was killed in the 2003 attack on a 37 bus in Haifa; Hovav Nuriel, whose father Sasson was abducted and murdered in Bitunya in 2005; and Rabbi Aryeh Weiss, whose son Shmuel was killed in Jenin during Operation Defensive Shield in 2002. The petitioners wrote that they "oppose the wholesale release of murderers" in principle. The swap, they claim, is "an unreasonable act because of the dramatic number of terrorists with blood on their hands." The petitioners claimed that previous prisoner exchanges were political, which prevented the High Court from intervening. This one, they wrote, is not political. Due to its urgency, the High Court will address the petition Sunday or Monday. Meanwhile, around 30 right-wing protesters gathered outside the President's Residence in Jerusalem on Saturday to demand the release of Jewish prisoners convicted of attacking Palestinians. Shmuel Meidad, chairman of the Honenu organization (whose self-proclaimed aim is to provide legal aid for Israelis who defend themselves against terrorists), provided Interior Minister Eli Yishai with a list of Jewish prisoners the group demands to be released. The list included border policeman Shahar Butvika, sentenced to eight years in prison for the 2002 killing of a Palestinian in Hebron; Ami Popper, sentenced to seven life terms (later commuted to 40 years) for the murder of seven Palestinians in 1990; and three members of the Bat Ayin underground group who in 2002 were convicted of planning to blow up a Palestinian school in east Jerusalem. "We demand balance and the release of Jewish prisoners as well," Meidad said. Ora Butvika, whose son Shahar Butvika is imprisoned, said, "My son served the country. He fell into a difficult state of mental health after an attack in Hebron, and went to avenge that attack. If life-term prisoners who murdered babies and families are being released now, why shouldn't they release my son as well-" Shlomo Edri, whose brother Sharon, a soldier in the Sayeret Nahal (Nahal Reconnaissance unit) was abducted and murdered by terrorists in 1996, said, "During the trial, the murderers laughed in our faces. They knew they would eventually be released." The Edri family was told on Saturday that the two men responsible for Sharon's murder are included in the list of prisoners who will be released and sent to Gaza. Upon hearing of the impending release of the murderers, Edri demanded that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu cancel the decision. "When my brother was murdered, Netanyahu visited us and promised us that the terrorists would be apprehended and put in prison for the rest of their lives. Now the same prime minister is going to release them," Edri said. Yoram Cohen, head of the Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet), said last Wednesday evening, the first night of the Sukkot holiday, that "in Gaza there are 20,000 fighters. If 200 more join them, the world will not collapse."
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