Palestinian women up in arms against Israeli soldiers
Palestinian women are trying everything in their power to protest land confiscations and other Israeli measures, and it seems they have no problem resorting to fistfights when children are at risk.
RAMALLAH, West Bank — One week after a confrontation between an Israeli soldier and a 12-year-old Palestinian boy captured international headlines, the boy's family is back protesting the occupation of their land.
On Aug. 31, 14-year-old Ahed Tamimi and her mother, Narimane, engaged in a fistfight with a heavily armed Israeli soldier in the village of Nabi Saleh, west of Ramallah. The fight occurred after the soldier shoved Ahed’s brother Mohammed, who had his hand in a cast, while trying to arrest him. The mother and daughter succeeded in saving him, in scenes that were broadcast by Arab and worldwide media.
For four years, Ahed has been participating in the weekly protest in Nabi Saleh, which started in December 2009 as a protest by the villagers and some international sympathizers against the Israeli West Bank barrier and the confiscation of Palestinian lands. The protest has been taking place every week since then.
Ahed told Al-Monitor about the incident, saying that during the protest she was heading with a number of participants to help a foreign sympathizer whom the Israeli soldiers were trying to arrest. However, at that point they were alerted that Mohammed was in the grip of one of the soldiers.
