June 5, 2012 is the day Palestinians mark the anniversary of the Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza following the Six-Day War in 1967. Tuesday’s protest in Hebron marked 45 years of military occupation and 18 years since the closure of Shuhada Street, the main thoroughfare of Hebron’s Old City.
Of all places I have been in the West Bank, Hebron is by far the most vivid, explicit and depressing manifestation of Israel’s total control of Palestinian space, resources and life. Not only has the once bustling market area been reduced to a ghost town, but the streets themselves are segregated, cut not only horizontally, but vertically as well, with Palestinian shopkeepers forced to put up a fence in order to avoid garbage, eggs and other materials being thrown on them by the settlers who live above, with the full protection of the army.
All photos courtesy of Activestills.
![PHOTOS: Naksa Day Hebron protest marks 45 years of Occupation](https://static.972mag.com/dev/uploads/2012/06/down-with-occupation.jpg ""Down with Occupation"")
![PHOTOS: Naksa Day Hebron protest marks 45 years of Occupation](https://static.972mag.com/dev/uploads/2012/06/jews-and-arabs.jpg "Sign in Hebrew: "Jews and Arabs refuse to be enemies"")