Tamimi, symbol of Palestinian resistance, to be freed today
She was jailed for seven months for kicking and slapping regime soldiers in West Bank
APalestinian teenager jailed by the Israeli occupation regime for slapping and kicking regime soldiers in the occupied West Bank is to go free today after eight months behind bars.
Ahed Tamimi was arrested on December 19, days after she was recorded on video with her cousin Nour Tamimi in the yard of their home in Nabi Saleh, near Ramallah, telling two soldiers to leave, then shoving, kicking and slapping them.
She was 16 at the time and turned 17 in prison.
She was refused bail throughout her detention and subsequent trial in an Israeli military court on charges, including assault, stone-throwing, incitement to violence and making threats.
On March 21 the court agreed a plea bargain giving her an eight-month sentence, including time already spent in custody.
The same court hearing freed Nour Tamimi immediately, when she accepted a plea deal.
Ahed comes from a family of prominent activists and has been involved in a series of previous incidents, with pictures of her confronting soldiers widely published. But the December video went viral and turned her into a symbol of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
For Palestinians she is a hero, jailed for standing up to soldiers occupying her land and intruding upon her family home.
To many Israelis she personifies how Palestinians encourage their children to hate and how they try to manipulate the media. Last week an Italian artist daubed a 14-foot image of her face and curly reddish hair on the Israeli wall in the occupied West Bank.