PALESTINE PROTEST ICON FREED
Teenager released after a 8-month jail term for slapping Israeli soldiers
PALESTINIAN teenager Ahed Tamimi was released from prison yesterday after an eightmonth sentence 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, were driven early yesterday from the Sharon prison inside Israel to a checkpoint leading to the occupied West Bank, where they live, prison spokesman Assaf Librati said.
They were then handed over to Israeli soldiers, he said, who brought them to their village here.
After being released by the soldiers, Tamimi made brief comments to crowds and journalists gathered, saying she hoped everyone would come to a news conference later in the day.
Her father Bassem put his arms around the two of them as they walked together along the road, the crowd chanting “we want to live in freedom”.
Family members and supporters had gathered at the checkpoint to greet them, but the military vehicles driving them did not stop there and continued into the West Bank.
Israeli authorities appeared keen to avoid media coverage, and conflicting information had meant supporters and journalists scrambled to arrive on time at the correct location.
Tamimi and her mother were first expected to arrive at a checkpoint near the Palestinian city of Tulkarm in the West Bank, but the location was changed three times before it was finally announced they were being taken to a crossing at Rantis, about an hour’s drive away.
There had been slight tension at the checkpoint before Tamimi’s arrival as a few men with Israeli flags approached supporters holding Palestinian flags. Words were exchanged but there was no violence.
In a sign of the sensitivity of the case, Israeli authorities on Saturday arrested two Italians and a Palestinian for painting Tamimi’s now-familiar image on the Israeli separation wall cutting off the West Bank.