Israeli army court closes doors on Palestinian teen’s trial

OFER MILITARY BASE, West Bank: The closely watched trial of a Palestinian girl who slapped and punched two Israeli soldiers opened before an Israeli military court in the West Bank on Tuesday, but the judge ordered all proceedings to be held behind closed doors in a case that has drawn wide criticism of Israel for prosecuting the teenager.

Ahed Tamimi, 17, appeared fresh and confident as she entered the packed courtroom. She briefly whispered to relatives in the back of the room before the judge ordered everyone except her family out.

“Stay strong! Stay strong!” shouted her father, Bassem Tamimi.

After the prosecution read the indictment, the trial was adjourned until next month.

Ahed Tamimi has been incarcerated since she was arrested on Dec. 19, four days after she was filmed confronting the soldiers outside her West Bank home.

Israel has treated her actions as a criminal offense, indicting her on charges of assault and incitement that could potentially lead to years in prison.

But Ahed Tamimi’s supporters see a brave girl who struck two armed soldiers outside her West Bank home in frustration after having just learned that Israeli troops seriously wounded a 15-year-old cousin, shooting him in the head from close range with a rubber bullet during nearby stone-throwing clashes.

The teen with the large curly mane of blond hair, who turned 17 in jail last month, has become the latest symbol of the long-running battle between Palestinians and Israelis over global public opinion.

Israel’s full-throttle prosecution of Tamimi, one of an estimated 300 Palestinian minors in Israeli jails, and a senior Israeli official’s recent revelation that he once had parliament investigate whether the blond, blue-eyed Tamimis are a “real” Palestinian family have helped stoke ongoing interest in the case.

It has also underscored what Palestinians say constitutes legitimate resistance to Israel’s rule, now in its 51st year after Israel captured the West Bank, Gaza Strip and east Jerusalem in 1967.

Palestinian teen Ahed Tamimi, right, looks at a document handed to her by lawyer Gaby Lasky at the military courtroom at Ofer Prison, near Ramallah, on Tuesday. (Reuters)