NOVANEWS
Ahed Tamimi
Through a bullhorn to cut through the hum of holiday shoppers, some forty people rallied in New York City’s Union Square Friday night in support and solidarity for Ahed Tamimi, the 16-year-old Palestinian girl arrested by Israeli soldiers during a December 19th pre-dawn raid of her family’s home in the occupied West Bank village of Nabi Saleh.
The “Emergency Rally to End Child Detention” calling to “Free Ahed Tamimi!” was organized by NY4Palestine and c0-sponsored by other grassroots Palestine solidarity organizations including Al-Awda NY: The Palestine Right to Return Coalition, the New York and New Jersey chapters of American Muslims for Palestine and Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network.
The mood was noticeably despondent, with many speakers expressing a sense of helplessness in the face of what is a particularly harsh injustice, even by the standards of the Israeli military.
Tamimi has appeared in photographs and video footage for much of her life — growing up in the gaze of an unsympathetic international media but at the fore of weekly demonstrations held by the residents of Nabi Saleh since a Jewish-only settlement confiscated their land and spring a decade ago. Images of Ahed confronting heavily armed soldiers, her eyes more serious than theirs, have captivated the global Palestine solidarity movement, turning Ahed into a symbol of defiance to the occupation of Palestine…
