PALESTINIAN TEEN JAILED FOR HITTING SOLDIERS

BETUNIA, WEST BANK An Israeli military court has sentenced Palestinian teenage protest icon Ahed Tamimi to eight months in prison for slapping and kicking two soldiers after a plea bargain was reached.

Her lawyer, Gaby Lasky, said Wednesday that Tamimi is also being fined 5,000 shekels (about US$1,400).

The 17-year-old told reporters in court there is “no justice under occupation and we are in an illegal court.”

She was arrested in December after video surfaced of her accosting soldiers outside her West Bank home. Her family says she was upset because a cousin had earlier been seriously wounded in clashes with Israeli troops.

Palestinians have embraced her as a symbol of a new generation fighting Israel. In Israel she is seen either as alternatively a naive manipulated youth or a threat to the country’s military deterrence.