Ahed Tamimi, Palestinian Teenager Who Slapped Israeli Soldier, Is Released From Jail

Image

Ahed Tamimi, second left, with her father, Bassem, and mother, Nariman, who also left prison on Sunday, in the village of Nabi Saleh in the West Bank.CreditMohamad Torokman/Reuters

By Reuters and The Associated Press

July 29, 2018

A Palestinian teenager jailed in Israel for kicking and slapping an Israeli soldier was released on Sunday to a hero’s welcome in her home village, and called for Palestinians to continue their struggle against occupation of the West Bank.

The teenager, Ahed Tamimi, and her mother, Nariman Tamimi, were greeted with banners, cheers and Palestinian flags as they entered their village, Nabi Saleh, in the West Bank.

Ms. Tamimi, 17, rose to prominence after the encounter in December outside Nabi Saleh, where campaigners have protested for years against land seizures by Israel and have often been involved in confrontations with the Israeli military and with Jewish settlers.

Some Israelis viewed the slap, which Ms. Tamimi’s mother relayed live on Facebook, as a staged provocation. But supporters see a girl who struck two armed soldiers in frustration after having just learned that Israeli troops had seriously wounded a 15-year-old cousin by shooting him in the head from close range with a rubber bullet during stone-throwing clashes.

Ms. Tamimi, who was 16 at the time of her detention, faced 12 charges, including aggravated assault. In March, she pleaded guilty to reduced charges that included assault, and she was sentenced to eight months in jail.

On Sunday, wearing her trademark black-and-white checkered Arab scarf, she greeted dozens of well-wishers and made some brief remarks outside the home of a Nabi Saleh villager killed by Israeli forces.

“From this martyr’s house, I say resistance is continuing until the occupation is removed,” she said. “All the female prisoners in jail are strong, and I thank everyone who stood by me while I was in prison.”

She scheduled a news conference for 4 p.m. local time.

From her home, Ms. Tamimi headed to the grave of the Palestinian leader Yasir Arafat. She laid a wreath and recited a prayer from the Quran, and was then taken with her family to a meeting with the Palestinian Authority’s president, Mahmoud Abbas, at his headquarters in Ramallah, in the West Bank.

Ms. Tamimi’s case drew global attention. Amnesty International said after her conviction that her sentence was at odds with international law and that the imprisonment of a minor should be used only as a last resort and for the shortest appropriate period.

Ms. Tamimi was welcomed by dozens of relatives and supporters in Nabi Saleh on Sunday.CreditMohamad Torokman/Reuters

Ms. Tamimis father, Bassem Tamimi, said that while he still expected her to take a lead in the struggle against Israeli occupation, she was also weighing college options. He said that she had completed her high school exams in prison with the help of other prisoners who taught the required material.

He said that she initially hoped to attend a West Bank university but that she had also received scholarship offers from abroad.

Palestinians want the West Bank for a future state, along with East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip. Most countries consider Israeli settlements in the West Bank to be illegal, a contention that Israel disputes. Israel captured the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem in the Arab-Israeli War of 1967.

Since 2009, residents of Nabi Saleh have staged regular protests about the occupation that have often ended with stone-throwing clashes. Ms. Tamimi participated in such marches from a young age, and she has had several highly publicized altercations with the Israeli military. One photograph shows her, at age 12, raising a clenched fist toward a soldier towering over her.

In a sign of her renown, two Italian artists underwent to paint a large mural of her on Israel’s West Bank separation barrier before her release. The Israeli police said the two Italians, along with a Palestinian, had been caught in the act and had been arrested on vandalism charges.

Ms. Tamimi’s latest scuffle with the two soldiers took place on Dec. 15 in Nabi Saleh. At the time, protests had erupted in several parts of the West Bank over President Trump’s recognition 10 days earlier of the contested city of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. She was arrested at her home four days later, in the middle of the night.

Ms. Tamimi turned 17 while in custody. Her case has trained a spotlight on the detention of Palestinian minors by Israel, a practice that has been criticized by international rights groups. Some 300 minors are being held, according to Palestinian figures.

Uri Ariel, an Israeli cabinet minister, said the Tamimi case highlighted what could happen if Israel let its guard down.

“I think Israel acts too mercifully with these types of terrorists,” he told The Associated Press. “Israel should treat harshly those who hit its soldiers.”

“We can’t have a situation where there is no deterrence,” he added.