Students at a number of pre-military academies sent letters to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Ehud Barak yesterday expressing reservations about a deal taking shape for the release of kidnapped soldier Gilad Shalit.

The letters from students in Yated, the Upper Galilee, Yatir, Kfar Adumim and Eli called on the leaders not to make their decision in the case as a result of public and media pressure, and to come to a clear uniform position on prisoner release deals in general.

They also expressed their willingness to serve in the Israel Defense Forces irrespective of the ultimate terms of a deal on the Shalit case.

The High Court of Justice yesterday turned down a petition by bereaved parents and Almagor, an organization representing victims of terrorism, seeking the publication of the criteria for the release of prisoners in connection with a deal for Shalit.

“As of this time,” the High Court decision read, “we cannot intervene in the exercise of discretion [on the government’s part],” adding that “we have been convinced that clear security considerations are involved in the details that have been withheld [from publication].”

As a result, the details of a possible deal for Shalit’s release will remain under a media blackout.

At the same time, the panel of justices, which was headed by Supreme Court President Dorit Beinisch, wrote that, “It is impossible to ignore the difficult and special nature of the proceedings in which such difficult and sensitive issues have not yet been decided.”

The opinion went on to say, “The question of the use of military censorship and the barring of publication of details in the course of [ongoing] negotiations disturbed us.”

The justices added that they heard out a representative of the defense establishment on the issue.

“From this hearing the special nature of the process became clear to us, which involves special sensitivities in light of the need to obtain the release of the kidnapped soldier without endangering his life – and in light of the required effort to [ensure] that the ‘price of the deal’ does not actually and substantially harm the security of the state,” they said.

Among the petitioners before the court were three parents whose children were killed in a 2003 terrorist attack on a bus in Haifa. The parents contended that the failure to release details of an impending deal makes unbiased public debate on the agreement impossible.

The High Court opinion noted that, “In a closed hearing, we were advised that there is no deal and that the projected deal is complex and not finalized.”

The justices added that there is still a gap in the position of the parties to a deal and “it was made clear to us why it was not possible to publicize the details at this time.”

A senior Hamas official told the London-based Al-Hayat newspaper that the differences with Israel on a deal center around 50 names among a list of 450 prisoners whose immediate release Hamas is seeking.

According to the report, the 50 include three women involved in terrorist attacks as well as several high-ranking prisoners, among them Marwan Barghouti.

Israel, the paper reported, has agreed to the release of 17 prisoners from East Jerusalem but demands that 10 of them be exiled abroad. According to the report, Israel is demanding that a total of 130 of the prisoners be exiled, a demand that Hamas reportedly is rejecting, in favor of a smaller amount.

Meanwhile, Gilad Shalit’s parents, Noam and Aviva, continued their round of meetings that they began last week with cabinet ministers, seeking support for a deal for their son’s release.