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Ahed Tamimi, a teenage girl who became an icon of the Palestinian resistance against the Israeli occupation after slapping two Israeli soldiers, was released from prison on Sunday after eight months in detention.
The 17-year-old girl and her mother, Narimane, also incarcerated as a result of the incident, were greeted by a crowd of relatives, supporters and journalists in their village of Nabi Saleh in the occupied West Bank. .
"The resistance continues until the occupation ends," she said, her voice covered by the cries of her supporters, facing a wall of cameras, the shoulders covered with a keffiyeh , symbol of Palestinian resistance. She thanked "all those who supported and support all the prisoners."
Upon their release from prison in Israel, Ahed and his mother were led by Israeli soldiers to Nabi Saleh. In tears, the teenager kissed the members of her family and the support that came to welcome him, on a small path leading to the village.
Then the father, Bbadem, surrounded by his daughter and his wife, accompanied them to the family home, under the shouts of the crowd chanting: "We want to live free!"
The teenager visited relatives who lost one of their loved ones, killed last June in clashes with Israeli soldiers.
She then laid flowers on the grave of Palestinian leader Ybader Arafat in Ramallah and went to the headquarters of the Palestinian Authority, where she met with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.
The head of the Palestinian Authority praised the teenager, "a model of the Palestinian struggle for freedom, independence and the establishment of our Palestinian state," according to a statement released by the news agency Palestinian President Wafa
The president also added that "the peaceful people's resistance is the best weapon to face the arrogance of the occupation and to show its barbarity to the world."
The Israeli authorities were keen to limit media coverage of the release of Ahed Tamimi and his mother, including spreading conflicting information about where they were supposed to return to the occupied West Bank after their release.
On Saturday, two Italians and a Palestinian were arrested after painting the now-famous face of the long-curled teenager on Israel's separation wall in the occupied West Bank.
– "A child in prison" –
Ahed Tamimi was arrested on December 19, 2017, a few days after being filmed in a video that became viral on the internet.
The images showed her in the process Approach with his cousin Nour Tamimi of two Israeli soldiers leaning on a low wall in the courtyard of his house in Nabi Saleh, a village in the West Bank, a Palestinian territory occupied by Israel for more than 50 years.
The two girls ask them to leave and then kick and punch them and slap them.
Palestinians praise Ahed Tamimi as an example of courage in the face of Israeli abuses in the Occupied Palestinian Territories.
The Israelis, on the other hand, consider that the teenager is exploited by her family, as the girl had already been involved in a series of incidents with soldiers whose images had been circulating around the world.
For human rights defenders, the Tamimi case is also a symbol that has shed light on the practices of Israeli military courts and their very high conviction rate – 99% – of Palestinians. Since the West Bank is a territory occupied militarily by Israel, the Palestinians who reside there are tried in military courts.
"Israel imprisoning a child for eight months … reflects the endemic discrimination, the lack of official procedure and the mistreatment of children, "Omar Shakir, director of Human Rights Watch in Israel, tweeted on Sunday.
"Hundreds of Palestinian children remain behind bars and receive no attention," he added.
Ahed Tamimi was 16 years old at the time of his arrest. Sentenced to eight months in prison on March 21 after an agreement to plead guilty, the teenager turned 17 in prison. Her cousin had been released in March.
The teenager and her mother were released three weeks early, a common practice because of overcrowded prisons, told AFP the two women's lawyer, Gaby Lasky.
The teenager was sentenced to nearly eight months in prison – as was the case of Israeli soldier Elor Azaria, who was sentenced to nine months for shooting a wounded Palestinian badailant, who no longer posed a threat.
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