Thousands are left behind by the Shalit prisoner exchange

The release of over 1,000 Palestinian prisoners from Israeli jails should not hide the fact that many continue to live in a world of intimidation where the most basic human rights are denied.

Within one week it is likely that Gilad Shalit will be reunited with his family following five years of imprisonment in the Gaza Strip. It is reported that around the same time, 479 Palestinian political prisoners will be released from prisons across Israel.

According to the terms of an agreement reached between Hamas and Israeli authorities, a further 550 Palestinians are scheduled to be released in the coming months.

While this is a welcome development to be celebrated, let us not rejoice without a measure of caution. For this is not only about Sgt Shalit and 1,027 nameless prisoners. It also concerns another 5,000 political prisoners, their families and the continued denial of basic human rights to Palestinians in Israeli prisons and indeed across the Occupied Palestinian Territories as a whole.

There are currently about 6,000 Palestinian political prisoners incarcerated in Israel. Many of these are not facing any specific charge and have no upcoming trial scheduled. Rather, they have been subjected to arbitrary arrest and are classified as administrative detainees. Furthermore, they are used as a bargaining chip for political gain.

Two thousand Palestinian prisoners are currently engaged in an open-ended hunger strike that began 17 days ago in response to an official Israeli policy to collectively punish prisoners, and by extension their families, for the continued incarceration of Sgt Shalit.

This policy, announced by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in June, includes an increase in the number of prisoners in solitary confinement, some of whom have already been confined this way for up to 10 years.

Other humiliating measures include the shackling of prisoners' hands and legs as they are conducted to and from all visits; the denial of visits to some prisoners; medical neglect and the withdrawal of prisoners' access to education, books and newspapers. Since June 2007, Israel has also enforced an absolute ban on all family visits for prisoners from the Gaza Strip.

And what of the 1,029 prisoners to be released in the coming months? Many will once again join their families amid scenes of joy. For others, their reality will be unrecognisable after as many as 30 years behind bars. An additional cruelty is that hundreds will be denied a homecoming in the West Bank.

Instead of joyful reunions with loved ones, some 160 prisoners from the initial group will be transferred directly to the Gaza Strip upon release. Others will be prohibited from leaving their hometown. A significant number are to be deported from their homeland.

In addition to being a war crime, deportation results in the dislocation of numerous families, for an already vulnerable and disjointed Palestinian society, this can only have a negative effect.

Instead of the disregard for international law that we have become so accustomed to, Israel must abide by the rule of law, put an end to arbitrary arrest and treat prisoners in a humane manner, instead of forcing them to demand their basic rights by going on hunger strike.

However, while the world focuses on the release of Sgt Shalit, we must not forget that this situation arose out of a 44-year-long belligerent occupation characterised by a relentless stream of human rights violations.

Thousands of Palestinian prisoners sit in crowded cells and wait for freedom. Millions are confined to the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, in the Gaza Strip and in their adopted homes around the world waiting for their country to be set free.

They watch the separation wall grow while their olive trees and homes are torn down. Illegal settlements expand onto Palestinian land and villagers are subject to increasing settler violence under the watchful eye of the Israeli military.

While settlers benefit from a climate of impunity, Palestinians live in a world of intimidation where the most basic human rights are denied.

The international community must leave political rhetoric aside and take a stance instead of turning a blind eye once again to Israel's systematic violation of international law.

For Sgt Shalit the suffering is coming to an end, and rightfully so. For every Palestinian, for those in detention and those in their homes, their imprisonment continues.

Shawan Jabarin is the general director of Al Haq, an independent Palestinian human rights organisation based in Ramallah