World

Israeli military court to try Palestinian teen protest icon

13 of February 2018

FILE - In this Jan. 15, 2018 file photo, Ahed Tamimi is brought to a courtroom inside the Ofer military prison near Jerusalem. Tamimi is to go on trial Tuesday, Feb. 13, 2018, before an Israeli military court, for slapping and punching two Israeli soldiers in December. Palestinians say her actions embody their David vs. Goliath struggle against a brutal military occupation, while Israel portrays them as a staged provocation meant to embarrass its military. Tamimi is one of an estimated 350 Palestinian minors in Israeli jails. (AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean, File),FILE - In this Jan. 15, 2018 file photo, Ahed Tamimi is brought to a courtroom inside the Ofer military prison near Jerusalem. Tamimi is to go on trial Tuesday, Feb. 13, 2018, before an Israeli military court, for slapping and punching two Israeli soldiers in December. Palestinians say her actions embody their David vs. Goliath struggle against a brutal military occupation, while Israel portrays them as a staged provocation meant to embarrass its military. Tamimi is one of an estimated 350 Palestinian minors in Israeli jails. (AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean, File)

Palestinian protest icon Ahed Tamimi is to go on trial before an Israeli military court for slapping and punching two Israeli soldiers in December. The case has drawn criticism of Israel for prosecuting the teenager and underscored what Palestinians say is their legitimate resistance to Israel's rule, now in its 51st year. Israel has treated Tamimi's actions as a criminal offense, indicting her on charges of assault and incitement that could potentially lead to years in prison.

OFER MILITARY BASE, West Bank (AP) — Palestinian protest icon Ahed Tamimi is to go on trial before an Israeli military court for slapping and punching two Israeli soldiers in December in a case that has drawn wide criticism of Israel for prosecuting the teenager.

It has also underscored what Palestinians say constitutes legitimate resistance to Israel’s rule, now in its 51st year after Israel captured the West Bank, Gaza Strip and east Jerusalem in 1967.

Israel has treated Tamimi’s actions as a criminal offense, indicting her on charges of assault and incitement that could potentially lead to years in prison.

Tamimi’s father, Bassem, told The Associated Press as he headed into the court on Tuesday that he comes “with no good expectations, because this a military court, and it’s part of the Israeli military occupation.”