In the petition they wrote, "Each of these released Palestinian prisoners has been convicted of a terrorism-related offense and should be treated as such," according to the report.
Israel agreed to release 1,027 Palestinian security prisoners in exchange for Gilad Schalit.
Four-hundred seventy-seven prisoners were released on October 18 at the same time as the young Israeli soldier, who had spent more than five years held captive by the Hamas terrorist organization. Many of those released were imprisoned for murdering Israelis.
US State Department spokesman Mark Toner, while refusing to go into detail over which of the 477 inmates caused the US concern, said some of the prisoners being released posed a threat and that the US had objected to their freedom.
Toner said, however, that the US was not aware of any Palestinians that were denied release because of US concerns, saying the deal was a "sovereign decision" on Israel's part, AFP reported.
Reuters contributed to this report.
Original Page: http://www.jpost.com/International/Article.aspx?id=243566