29 July 2018•Update: 29 July 2018
By Qais Abu Samra
RAMALLAH
Israeli authorities on Sunday released Palestinian teen Ahed al-Tamimi and her mother from prison after an 8-month detention.
“The Palestinian people will continue their struggle against the Israeli occupation,” al-Tamimi told reporters upon her release in her hometown Nabi Saleh village, west of the West Bank city of Ramallah.
“The occupation is doomed to end and [Israeli] detention will not break our will,” the 17-year-old teenager added.
After her release, al-Tamimi laid a wreath of flowers on the tomb of late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat and met with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas at his Ramallah complex.
“The peaceful popular resistance is the best weapon against the Israeli arrogance to show the barbarism of the occupation to the whole world,” Abbas said during the meeting, according to the official Wafa news agency.
He said the symbol of resistance drawn by al-Tamimi “will prove to the world that our Palestinian people will continue to hold on their land, no matter the sacrifices are”.
Al-Tamimi has turned into a Palestinian resistance icon after she was filmed while slapping an Israeli soldier during a raid on her home to arrest her brother.
Israeli forces arrested the Palestinian girl in December and an Israeli court gave her an 8-month detention in March for “attacking” an Israeli soldier.
A defiant al-Tamimi thanked all supporters who stood by her and her family during her detention.
"The Palestinian prisoners are in a high spirit and I carry a message from them that I will reveal this evening,” al-Tamimi said.
In 2012, Istanbul’s Basaksehir Municipality granted al-Tamimi the prestigious Hanzala Courage Award for defying Israeli soldiers who had just arrested her brother.
