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.
"Down with Occupation"
Sign in Hebrew: "Jews and Arabs refuse to be enemies"
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Noa
I was there. This demonstration was different than many other WB demos, at least in my experience. The organizers, which, it’s important to note, are the Hebron Defense Committee, very much dominated by the Palestinian left (Hizb al-Sh’b & PFLP), stressed that not only this is a nonviolent protest but that there will be no confrontation with the soldiers or settlers. And indeed, the IOF created a confrontation within less than 5 minutes since we began marching. We chanted, sang and sat on the road but there were no street battles. Another thing to note is that all of us, Palestinians included, chanted in all three languages, Arabic, Hebrew and English. One or two of the Palestinians present even took turns with the megaphone to address the soldiers in Hebrew. The IOF, needless to say, used excessive violence against us and even arrested two people at random. And this is considered very “mild.” Hebron demos usually end with much more IOF brutality.
Mairav Zonszein
Noa, thank you very much for the input.
Rehmat
Avigdor Lieberman got the answer to Nakba: “Sometimes, even to best friends, you must say NO. Otherwise, no one will respect you”.
Who you think he had in mind – Abbas, Erdogan or Obama?
http://rehmat1.com/2012/06/07/lieberman-israel-cannot-apology-for-its-crimes/
annie
very much appreciated Mairav. and thank you Noa.