How Ahed Tamimi became an icon to Palestinians
With her indictment in Israeli court last month, 16-year-old Palestinian Ahed Tamimi has reached hero status among Palestinians for her confrontations with Israeli soldiers.
RAMALLAH, West Bank — An Israeli military court indicted 16-year-old Ahed Tamimi on five counts of assault for attacking two soldiers on Dec. 15, thus extending her detention as well as that of her mother, Nariman Tamimi, for eight additional days. A hearing is scheduled for Jan. 9.
Ever since Ahed was arrested on Dec. 19 over a video in which she is seen slapping and kicking Israeli soldiers in front of her family home, she has received considerable attention and support. An online campaign is demanding Ahed’s release, while the hashtag #AhedTamimi has trended all over social media, in particular on Twitter with tens of thousands of tweets.
The protesters in the village of Nabi Saleh, northwest of the city of Ramallah in the central West Bank, began in 2009 against the Israeli separation wall and the confiscation of land in order to build the Helmish settlement. Ahed was only 8 years old when she became an icon of the popular resistance as she participated in the weekly march in the village, showing no fear of the occupation forces.
Ahed’s recent video was not her first to go viral. Another from Aug. 31, 2015, showed her and her mother fighting an Israeli soldier who had beaten and tried to arrest her brother, Mohammed.
