Ahed Tamimi was arrested after she was filmed confronting an Israeli officer and a soldier outside her home in a village in the occupied West Bank on Dec. 15 following what Israel says was an assault by people throwing stones at its troops, APA reports quoting Reuters.
A video of the encounter showed Tamimi slapping an officer and punching a soldier next to him in the face. Both men, who were also kicked by the teenager, wore helmets and combat gear and tried to deflect her blows, but remained largely passive.
The soldiers had deployed during a weekly Palestinian protest in the village against Israeli policy on settlements in the West Bank, one of the most heated issues in efforts to restart Israeli-Palestinian peace talks, frozen since 2014.
London-based Amnesty International noted the altercation took place on the same day Tamimi’s 15-year-old cousin was hit in the head by a rubber bullet fired by an Israeli soldier.
Right-wing Israelis have debated whether the troops had appeared weak by opting not to strike back. The Israeli army said they acted professionally by showing restraint.
Defence Minister Avigdor Lieberman praised the court’s decision to keep Tamimi in custody, tweeting: “Israel will not permit the harming of its soldiers and anybody trying to do so will pay a heavy price.”
The case has made Tamimi into a potent symbol for Palestinians, and a commentator in the left-wing Israeli newspaper Haaretz said Israel risked turning her into a “Palestinian Joan of Arc”.
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