Palestinian protest icon Ahed Tamimi released from Israeli prison in jubilant scenes

The teen was arrested after being filmed slapping and kicking Israeli soldiers in front of her home in the occupied West Bank.</s>Israeli prison service says Palestinian protest icon Ahed Tamimi has been released from prison

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israeli prison service says Palestinian protest icon Ahed Tamimi has been released from prison.</s>Palestinian teenager Ahed Tamimi has been released from prison after serving an eight month sentence for kicking and slapping an Israeli soldier.

While in jail, 17-year-old became the new face of Palestinian resistance, the BBC's Nida Ibrahim reports.</s>CNN reported Sunday that Palestinian teenager Ahed Tamimi has been released from prison after being arrested and charged for slapping an Israeli soldier. According to the Israeli Prison Authority, Tamimi was imprisoned for eight months and was finally released on Sunday morning along with her mother, Nariman Tamimi.

The Palestinian mother and daughter were transferred from HaSharon Prison in Israel and taken to a border crossing in the West Bank, from which they were able to return to their village, Nabi Saleh.

Upon returning to her village, 17-year-old Ahed Tamimi was greeted by supporters and fans waving Palestinian flags and cheering her on. Standing outside of her house, Tamimi made a brief statement, saying, “From our home, the resistance is continuing until the end of the occupation. I thank everyone who supported me during my arrest.”

Afterwards, Tamimi attended a meeting with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah, who applauded her bravery and perseverance.

The Palestinian news agency, Wafa, reported that Abbas called Tamimi “a model of the Palestinian struggle for freedom, independence and statehood,” encouraging the use of nonviolent protest as an “ideal and vital weapon in facing the repression of the Israeli occupation.”

The President of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, also reached out to Tamimi, lauding her for her strength and courage.

After returning home once again, Tamimi vowed to continue the resistance, adding, “especially our resistance for equality and human rights.”

Having completed her high school education in jail, Tamimi plans to go to law school in order to help detainees with their cases and potentially bring international attention to their struggles. Tamimi, however, was unable to say whether or not she would slap an Israeli soldier again, commenting, “I can’t predict the future.”

“Maybe tomorrow Palestine might be free,” she continued, “and I can’t define what’ll happen in the future. I hope that the occupation goes away so that I don’t think about doing this again.”

“I’ve never lived under peace. This is why I see peace as something important,” she added.

Tamimi’s attorney, Gabi Lasky, told CNN that her arrest was mainly a political move for Israel, urging that arresting minors will not put an end to the longstanding conflict between Israel and Palestine. “I hope our leaders will be courageous enough to reach an agreement and free us all from the chains of occupation,” Lasky said.

After initially being arrested in December on 12 different charges, Tamimi pleaded guilty to four charges in March in exchange for a reduced sentence. The four charges included incitement and disrupting a soldier.</s>Palestinian teenager Ahed Tamimi was released from prison Sunday after serving eight months for slapping two Israeli soldiers, an episode captured on video that made her a symbol of resistance for Palestinians.

Tamimi, 17, and her mother Nariman arrived in their village of Nabi Saleh in the occupied West Bank, where they were met by crowds of supporters and journalists

"The resistance continues until the fall of the occupation, and of course the (female) prisoners in jail are all strong," Ahed Tamimi said, her voice barely audible above the crowd.

"I thank everyone who supported me in this sentence and supports all the prisoners."

Her father Bassem put his arms around Ahed and her mother as they walked together along the road, the crowd chanting "we want to live in freedom".

Tamimi later visited the tomb of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat in Ramallah and laid flowers there, before meeting Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas.</s>NABI SALEH, WEST BANK—Palestinian youth activist Ahed al-Tamimi was released from an Israeli prison on Sunday after serving an eight-month sentence on assault and incitement charges and arrived home to a hero’s welcome. Tamimi, whose December arrest drew international attention, tearfully embraced relatives as a crowd of supporters jostled for selfies with the teen. Israeli authorities also released her mother, Nariman, who served a similar sentence for incitement.

The mother and daughter were indicted by an Israeli military court after a video of the curly-haired teen kicking and slapping two armed Israeli soldiers in protective gear went viral on Facebook. Her mother was arrested shortly after she posted the footage on social media. Tamimi, 17, soon became a potent symbol of the Palestinian protest movement, her image gracing murals and posters around the globe. In her village in the West Bank, Nabi Saleh, activists and residents have staged weekly demonstrations since 2009, when Jewish settlers confiscated some of Nabi Saleh’s land, including a spring that served as its water source.

Israeli troops and border police have confronted the demonstrators, firing tear gas, arresting stone-throwers and imposing curfews. Israel says the security measures around Nabi Saleh, which has a population of about 500, and other areas are necessary to prevent the kind of attacks that Palestinians have recently carried out in Jewish settlements across the West Bank. Read more: Israelis call her ‘Shirley Temper.’ Palestinians call her a hero In the hours after Tamimi’s arrest in December, Israeli Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman said that the teen and her parents would not “escape what they deserve” and that anyone who was “wild during the day would be arrested at night.” But in the hours after her release from prison, Tamimi said Sunday — sitting in the courtyard of her home — that she “knew a long time ago” that she would be arrested for “choosing this path” of opposition to the Israeli occupation. Her eight-month sentence was the result of a plea deal struck to avoid a lengthy trial, her attorney said. Israel has occupied the West Bank since it captured the land in a 1967 war. Over the decades, it has built numerous settlements that crisscross land the Palestinians claim for a future state, including in places such as Nabi Saleh, which borders the Israeli outpost Halamish.

As she spoke to reporters, Tamimi’s unruly blond curls fell over her black-and-white checkered scarf, long an emblem of Palestinian nationalism. Her face was pale and her eyes bloodshot. Nationalists songs blared from loud speakers, including one written especially for her. “Despite the softness of your hands, your hands have shaken the world,” the lyrics said. “Your hands returned the slap to the occupier and returned esteem to the nation.”

But a sombre Tamimi acknowledged that “life in prison was very difficult.” “Anyone who also chooses this path should prepare themselves to spend time in prison,” she said. Israelis had nicknamed Tamimi “Shirley Temper” for her curls and repeated confrontations with Israeli soldiers. Officials, however, have deemed her a dangerous provocateur. A Sunday headline in the English-language Times of Israel declared that “soldier-slapper Ahed Tamimi” was released from prison. But rights groups said Sunday that her arrest highlighted Israel’s practice of detaining Palestinian minors, who are also subject to the military court system in the West Bank. According to statistics released by the Israeli rights group B’Tselem this month, 291 Palestinian minors were held in Israeli prisons as security detainees and prisoners. “Ahed Tamimi has been released, but only after serving an unjust sentence based on the ridiculous premise that she posed a threat to armed and heavily protected soldiers,” Saleh Higazi, Amnesty International’s head of office in Jerusalem, said in a statement. “Ahed Tamimi’s release must not obscure the familiar and continuing story of the Israeli military using discriminatory policies to lock up Palestinian children,” said Higazi, who described her arrest as “a blatant attempt by the Israeli authorities to intimidate those who dare to challenge the ongoing brutal repression by occupying forces.” Tamimi’s father, Bassem, said he could not describe how happy he was to see his wife and daughter back home. “We are still under occupation,” he said. But his daughter’s “confidence is very high.”</s>(NABI SALEH, West Bank) — Palestinian protest icon Ahed Tamimi returned home to a hero’s welcome in her West Bank village on Sunday after Israel released the 17-year-old from prison at the end of her eight-month sentence for slapping and kicking Israeli soldiers.Ahed and her mother, Nariman Tamimi, were greeted with banners, cheers and Palestinian flags as they entered their home village of Nabi Saleh.Ahed was arrested in December after she slapped two Israeli soldiers outside her family home. Her mother filmed the incident and posted it on Facebook, where it went viral and, for many, instantly turned Ahed into a symbol of resistance to Israel’s half-century-old military rule over the Palestinians.With her unruly mop of curly light-colored hair, the Palestinian teen quickly became a local hero and an internationally recognizable figure.

Her supporters see a brave girl who struck two armed soldiers in frustration after having just learned that Israeli troops seriously wounded a 15-year-old cousin, shooting him in the head from close range with a rubber bullet during nearby stone-throwing clashes.

In Israel, however, she is seen by many either as a provocateur, an irritation or a threat to the military’s deterrence policy — even as a “terrorist.” Israel has treated her actions as a criminal offense, indicting her on charges of assault and incitement. Her eight-month sentence was the result of a plea deal.

In Nabi Saleh, supporters welcomed Tamimi home Sunday with Palestinian flags planted on the roof of her home. Hundreds of chairs were set up for well-wishers in the courtyard.

“The resistance continues until the occupation is removed,” Ahed said upon her return. “All the female prisoners are steadfast. I salute everyone who supported me and my case.”

From her home, Ahed headed to a visit to the grave of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat. She laid a wreath and recited a prayer from the Quran, the Muslim holy book, and was then taken with her family to a meeting with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas at his headquarters in Ramallah.

“I will continue this path and I hope everyone will,” she said. “The prisoners are fine and we hope the struggle for their release continues.”

Her father, Bassem Tamimi, said he expects her to take a lead in the struggle against Israeli occupation but she is also weighing college options. He said she completed her high school exams in prison with the help of other prisoners who taught the required material. He said she initially hoped to attend a West Bank university but has also received scholarship offers from abroad.

Since 2009, residents of Nabi Salah have staged regular anti-occupation protests that often ended with stone-throwing clashes. Ahed has participated in such marches from a young age, and has had several highly publicized run-ins with soldiers. One photo shows the then 12-year-old raising a clenched fist toward a soldier towering over her.

In a sign of her popularity, a pair of Italian artists painted a large mural of her on Israel’s West Bank separation barrier ahead of her release. Israeli police say they were caught in the act along with another Palestinian and arrested for vandalism.

Abbas, after meeting Ahed on Sunday, called her “a symbol for the Palestinian struggle for freedom and independence.”

“The popular and peaceful style of struggle that Ahed Tamimi and her village and nearby villages have been practicing, proves to the world that our people will remain steadfast in this land, defending it no matter how much needs to be sacrificed,” he said.

Tamimi’s scuffle with the two soldiers took place Dec. 15 in Nabi Saleh, which is home to about 600 members of her extended clan.

At the time, protests had erupted in several parts of the West Bank over President Donald 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.

Ahed was 16 when she was arrested and 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 currently being held, according to Palestinian figures.

Israel captured the West Bank, Gaza and east Jerusalem in the 1967 Mideast war. Palestinians are increasingly disillusioned about efforts to establish a state in those territories, after more than two decades of failed negotiations with Israel.

Israeli Cabinet minister Uri Ariel said the Tamimi case highlighted what could happen if Israel lets its guard down.

“I think Israel acts too mercifully with these types of terrorists. Israel should treat harshly those who hit its soldiers,” he told The Associated Press. “We can’t have a situation where there is no deterrence. Lack of deterrence leads to the reality we see now … we must change that.”</s>Palestinian teenager Ahed Tamimi, dubbed by some as the Wonder Woman of Palestine, became a symbol of resistance against Israeli military occupation after she was arrested for slapping Israeli soldiers who had raided her home in the West Bank village of Nabi Saleh and allegedly shot her cousin in the face with a rubber bullet.

The 17-year-old has finally been freed after spending eight months in a military prison inside Israel. She had taken a plea deal offered by the military prosecution earlier this year, under which she pleaded guilty to charges including assault, incitement and two counts of obstructing soldiers.

It is important to note Israel's military court system boasts a more than 99 percent conviction rate for Palestinians, a factor that likely led the teenager to accept the deal.

As reported by several news outlets, both Tamimi and her mother Narmain, who was also arrested after she filmed her daughter’s viral arrest, were released by the Israeli authorities and transferred to their village, the residents of which have been preparing for the young activist’s return by decorating her home with Palestinian flags and setting up hundreds of chairs in the courtyard to welcome relatives and friends who come to greet her.

Earlier this week, IDF soldiers arrested two Italian artists who painted a giant mural depicting the iconic teenager on West Bank security barrier.

Meanwhile, Bassem Tamimi, the teen’s father, said “we expect her to lead and we will support her to lead” after her release from the prison, according to the Times of Israel. He also added Tamimi was able to take her high school examination in prison and has received scholarship offers from abroad. However, he mentioned she initially wanted to attend a university in the West Bank.

Both Tamimi and her mother are expected to hold a press conference in their village of Nabi Saleh after paying a visit to the tomb of late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat in Ramallah.

Tamimi was arrested in December 2017 – just a month before she turned 17. At least 30 heavily armed soldiers forcibly entered her house a few days after a video surfaced showing the teen kicking and slapping an Israeli soldier after the troops fired tear-gas canisters directly at her home and also fired a rubber bullet at her 14-year-old cousin, who had to be put into a medically induced coma.

Her arrest sparked global outrage with people all across the world protesting her detainment and demanding to know since when has protecting one’s home against occupying forces become a crime?

Initially, Israeli authorities sought 12 charges against Tamimi – who has been compared to Anne Frank, Nelson Mandela and has been protesting Israeli occupation of her home since she was a little girl. The charges included threatening and assaulting an Israeli soldier, interfering with his duties, throwing objects at individuals and property, and incitement. However, under the plea deal, the prosecution dropped the other eight charges.</s>Ahed Tamimi, a Palestinian teenager who kicked and slapped an Israeli soldier, is released from prison to euphoric scenes in the West Bank. David Doyle reports.

PALESTINIAN teenager Ahed Tamimi has finally been released from prison.

The controversial activist was greeted by crowds of supporters after serving eight months for slapping Israeli soldiers, an episode that made her a symbol of resistance for Palestinians.

Ms Tamimi, 17, and her mother Nariman, who was also jailed over the incident, arrived in their village of Nabi Saleh in the occupied West Bank, where they were mobbed by journalists.

Easily recognisable by her shock of reddish hair, Ms Tamimi wore a Palestinian-style keffiyeh around her neck, at times appearing relaxed but at other moments overwhelmed as television cameras followed her.

“The resistance continues until the fall of the occupation, and of course the (female) prisoners in jail are all strong,” Ms Tamimi said, her voice barely audible above the crowd.

“I thank everyone who supported me in this sentence and supports all the prisoners.”

Her father Bassem put his arms around the girl and her mother as they walked together along a road, while a crowd of around 100 chanted, “We want to live in freedom.”

At a press conference later at a square in the village, Ms Tamimi sat at a table behind a forest of microphones, a translator providing an English version of her remarks.

She declined to take questions from Israeli journalists because of what she said was unfair coverage of her and her family’s cause.

She said she planned to study law to hold Israel’s occupation accountable.

“Of course I am very happy that I came back to my family, but that happiness is partial, because of the prisoners who are still in prison,” she said.

Ms Tamimi also visited the tomb of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat in Ramallah and laid flowers there, before meeting Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

Israeli authorities appeared keen to avoid media coverage of the release as much as possible, and conflicting information had meant supporters and journalists scrambled to arrive on time at the correct location.

Ms Tamimi and her mother had been driven early on Sunday from Israel’s Sharon Prison into the West Bank, authorities said.

But the location of the checkpoint where they were to cross into the territory was changed three times before it was finally announced they were being taken to a crossing at Rantis, about an hour’s drive from the initial location.

In a sign of the sensitivity of the case, Israeli authorities on Saturday arrested two Italians and a Palestinian for painting Ms Tamimi’s image on the Israeli separation wall cutting off the West Bank.

Both Ms Tamimi and her mother were sentenced to eight months’ jail by an Israeli military court following a plea deal over the December incident, which the family said took place in their garden in Nabi Saleh.

They were released some three weeks early, a common practice by Israeli authorities due to overcrowded prisons, the family’s lawyer Gaby Lasky said.

Video filmed by Ms Tamimi’s mother of the December incident went viral, leading Palestinians to view the teenager as a hero standing up to Israel’s occupation.

But many Israelis believe the teen is being used by her activist family as a pawn in staged provocations.

They point to a series of previous incidents, with older pictures of her confronting soldiers shared widely online.

Many Israelis also praised the restraint of the soldiers, who remained calm throughout, though others said her actions merited a tougher response.

Omar Shakir of Human Rights Watch tweeted on Sunday that “Israel’s jailing of a child for eight months — for calling for protests and slapping a soldier — reflects endemic discrimination, absence of due process and ill-treatment of kids”.

“Ahed Tamimi is free, but 100s of Palestinian children remain locked up with little attention on their cases,” he wrote.

Ms Tamimi was arrested in the early hours of December 19, four days after the incident in the video. She was 16 at the time.

Her mother Nariman was also arrested, as was her cousin Nour, who was freed in March.

Israel’s military said the two soldiers had been in the area on the day of the incident to prevent Palestinians from throwing stones at Israeli motorists.

The video shows the cousins approaching them and telling them to leave, before shoving, kicking and slapping them.

Ahed Tamimi is the most aggressive of the two in the video.

The heavily armed soldiers do not respond in the face of what appears to be an attempt to provoke rather than seriously harm them.

They then move backwards after Nariman Tamimi becomes involved. The scuffle took place amid clashes and protests against US President Donald Trump’s controversial recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.

Relatives say that a member of the Tamimi family was wounded in the head by a rubber bullet fired during those protests.</s>NABI SALEH, West Bank – Palestinian protest icon Ahed Tamimi returned home to a hero's welcome in her West Bank village on Sunday after Israel released the 17-year-old from prison at the end of her eight-month sentence for slapping and kicking Israeli soldiers.

Ahed and her mother, Nariman Tamimi, were greeted with banners, cheers and Palestinian flags as they entered their home village of Nabi Saleh.

Ahed was arrested in December after she slapped two Israeli soldiers outside her family home. Her mother filmed the incident and posted it on Facebook, where it went viral and, for many, instantly turned Ahed into a symbol of resistance to Israel's half-century-old military rule over the Palestinians.

With her unruly mop of curly light-colored hair, the Palestinian teen quickly became a local hero and an internationally recognizable figure.

Her supporters see a brave girl who struck two armed soldiers in frustration after having just learned that Israeli troops seriously wounded a 15-year-old cousin, shooting him in the head from close range with a rubber bullet during nearby stone-throwing clashes.

In Israel, however, she is seen by many either as a provocateur, an irritation or a threat to the military's deterrence policy. Israel has treated her actions as a criminal offense, indicting her on charges of assault and incitement. Her eight-month sentence was the result of a plea deal.

More: Israel arrests Palestinian girl Ahed Tamimi over viral video of soldier slapping

In Nabi Saleh, supporters welcomed Tamimi home Sunday with Palestinian flags planted on the roof of her home. Hundreds of chairs were set up for well-wishers in the courtyard.

"The resistance continues until the occupation is removed," Ahed said upon her return. "All the female prisoners are steadfast. I salute everyone who supported me and my case."

Palestinians hang a poster showing Nariman Tamimi, right and her daughter Ahed, during preparations for their upcoming release from an Israeli prison after serving an eight month sentence.

From her home, Ahed headed to a visit to the grave of the late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat.

Her father, Bassem Tamimi, said he expects her to take a lead in the struggle against Israeli occupation but she is also weighing college options.

Since 2009, residents of Nabi Salah have staged regular anti-occupation protests that often ended with stone-throwing clashes. Ahed has participated in such marches from a young age, and has had several highly publicized run-ins with soldiers. One photo shows the then 12-year-old raising a clenched fist toward a soldier towering over her.

In a sign of her popularity, a pair of Italian artists painted a large mural of her on Israel's West Bank separation barrier ahead of her release. Israeli police say they were caught in the act along with another Palestinian and arrested for vandalism.

Ahed was 16 when she was arrested and turned 17 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 currently being held, according to Palestinian figures.

Israel captured the West Bank, Gaza and east Jerusalem in the 1967 Mideast war. Palestinians are increasingly disillusioned about efforts to establish a state in those territories, after more than two decades of failed negotiations with Israel.
Palestinian teenager Ahed Tamimi is released from an Israeli prison.