Ahed Tamimi is the new poster child of the Palestinian resistance. The 17-year-old has become recognisable worldwide with her piercing blue eyes and irrepressible blond hair. Tamimi doesn’t conform to the stereotypical image of a Palestinian youth standing up to Israeli soldiers in the occupied territories.
This week, her widely publicised trial began in an Israeli military court where she has been charged with slapping and kicking a soldier in December. It is a charge that could land her in jail for a decade. Her mother, Nariman, has been locked up for filming the incident, as has a cousin.
Tamimi lashed out in anger after watching a video hours before of the same soldier shooting her cousin Mohammad, 15, in the face at close range with a rubber bullet. The injury left him in a medically-induced coma for 72 hours.
One can understand her reaction, but the case has drawn dramatic responses from both sides.
To many Israelis, Tamimi is a trouble-maker seeking publicity, having staged the provocation to embarrass the military. To many Palestinians, she exhibited bravery by standing up to heavily armed soldiers, in what has become a David versus Goliath struggle against a military occupation now in its 51st year. The video of the altercation has gone viral.
The UN has stated that people living under occupation are allowed to use all available means, including armed struggle, to liberate themselves. Tamimi, however, has not turned to armed resistance. Some of her cousins in the village of Nabi Saleh, near Ramallah in the West Bank have resisted military occupation by throwing stones. Five years ago, Tamimi attended the funeral of one of her relatives who was shot and killed in clashes with the Israeli military. That same year she was photographed raising her clenched fist at a soldier.
Tamimi’s extended family numbers in the hundreds, and has a history of activism. Her father, Bassem, was involved in the first intifada, and believes authorities may also be punishing him for his activism by incarcerating his wife and daughter. He spent four years in an Israeli jail.
The current indictment against Tamimi has suggested that Palestinian youth do not have the right to resist the Israeli military occupation at all. According to the UN, their actions are justified, but in the court of Israeli public opinion, slapping or kicking an occupying soldier has offended the sensibilities of many Israelis. Some argued the soldiers should not have exercised restraint in dealing with her.
To those on the far right of the Israeli political spectrum, any form of resistance to the occupation, even by children, must be dealt with vociferously. Israel’s education minister Naftali Bennett has said that Tamimi and her cousin Nour deserve to finish their lives in prison.
Ben Caspit, a leading Israeli analyst, wrote a column in which he proposed subjecting Tamimi to retribution “in the dead of night without witnesses and cameras”. He admitted his own form of revenge would certainly lead to his incarceration. Graffiti sprayed on the walls of Nabi Saleh has called for the death penalty for Tamimi, and said her family has no place in Israel.
More than 300 Palestinian children are being held in Israeli jails, and 1 400 prosecuted in special juvenile military courts over the past three years. Human rights groups have documented that many children are beaten and tortured in detention. UN human rights investigators have called for Tamimi to be released, warning her rights have been violated under international law.
An important part of the story is the context of what has been happening in the village of Nabi Saleh, which has provoked its residents to engage in regular anti-occupation protests since 2009. Anger erupted after the Israeli army restricted access of Palestinian residents to their nearby lands in order to make way for Israeli settlers in the area. The Israeli settlement of Halamish was built on expropriated Palestinian land, and the settlers have taken over an ancient spring which is a vital water source for the community which depends on farming.
The question being asked is how should the community resist the injustice other than to engage in regular protests? The Israeli military maintains a heavy and near constant presence in the village. Following clashes with local residents, children have been dragged out of their beds in the middle of the night and arrested, as happened with Tamimi. A month ago, the Israeli army declared the village a closed military zone prior to a protest demanding her release.
Prominent Israeli Haaretz journalist Gideon Levy has asked his compatriots: “What would you do if Ahed Tamimi was your daughter?”
* Ebrahim is Independent Media's foreign editor.