Waikato nun recalls Palestinian prisoner
Ahed Tamimi is famous for slapping and kicking a couple of armed Israeli soldiers outside her home in Palestine.
For some, the 16-year-old’s outburst was heroic, while others dubbed it attention-seeking.
For a Waikato-based nun, Sister Barbara Cameron, the news was simply heartbreaking.
The Palestinian teenager now faces up to 14 years in a military prison.
Cameron met Ahed as an earnest 10-year-old raised by a warm yet troubled family.
Cameron volunteered with the International Women’s Peace Service group in 2011 supporting Palestinian nonviolent resistance to the occupation of land by Israel.
She stayed with the Tamimi family in the village of Nabi Saleh before a protest there the next day.
‘‘We had slept the night at the house, sat at their table, shared their meal and took part in the peaceful demonstration on Friday afternoon in their village.’’
Many refer to the Tamimi family – well-known Palestinian activists – as troublemakers.
‘‘My experience was so contrary to that.’’
The Palestine-Israel conflict has endured for over 50 years around the Israeli occupation of land, which many Palestinians unsuccessfully resist through weekly protests on the West Bank.
Ahed’s father, Bassem Tamimi – who has been jailed nine times and told a courtroom in 2011 that he had been tortured, as reported by Mondoweiss –is one of the village’s leaders.
‘‘He came across to me as gentle, committed to nonviolence. He could listen. It was quite a special moment, actually, meeting him.
‘‘[Ahed] is committed, like her father. ‘‘So to see that girl’s name coming up … she had to be provoked to do that.’’
Rubber bullets and teargas are often used by the army to quell protesters, Cameron said.
The teen’s outburst came after her 15-year-old cousin was shot in the face by a rubber bullet, leaving him in a medically induced coma.
Ahed has since been detained. ‘‘It’s to get her out of the way. [She] wants justice and peace for her family. That’s what they want.’’
And the peaceful protests on the West Bank really are peaceful, except for the occasional frustrated stone-throwing teenager, Cameron said.
‘‘You can see how the provocation would push them to do that. It doesn’t justify it … But there’s nothing else they can do.’’
Soldiers frequently raid houses and interrogate locals in the middle of the night, Cameron said.
Cameron spent one night with a Palestinian family who asked her to stay in the hopes that an ‘‘international presence’’ would deter the army from attacking their house.
She remembers watching schoolbuses being searched by armed soldiers twice a day, every day.
‘‘It’s like psychological harassment. ‘‘You live in constant fear and insecurity and frustration, day after day after day.’’