Every now and then, we hear about dauntless people standing up to the might of abusive governments and illegal regimes in power. Sometimes, these brave people happen to be children who have been brutalized through massive coercion and violence against them and their communities. Palestine has been one such place, from where countless figures of bravery emerged since Israel expelled the Palestinian people from most of their historic homeland in the Nakba (catastrophe) of 1948.
Broadly, the Nakba is where the current Palestinian problem finds its root. Throughout 1947 and 1948, Israeli militias and terrorist groups systematically expelled over eight million Palestinians, a process that is deemed as the ethnic cleansing of Palestine. The millions of Palestinian refugees now find themselves squandered, either in the remaining Palestinian areas of their historic homeland (West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza) or in the neighbouring countries like Jordan, Lebanon and Syria. Many of them live under an apartheid system in Israel.
In addition, the West Bank remains under Israeli military rule or what is technically known as a military occupation since 1967. The territory of Gaza, for all practical purposes, also remains at the mercy of Israeli forces that encircle this tiny enclave from both land, air and through the sea.
In the central part of occupied West Bank, there is a village called Nabi Saleh. This historic village with a tiny population of 600 people is believed to be situated around the shrine of Prophet Salih, who prophesised to the tribe of Thamud. In 1977, Israelis built an illegal settlement near the village and usurped the lands belonging to the people of Nabi Saleh. The Israeli settlers also confiscated a spring, which used to supply fresh water to the village.
Fast-forward to 2009 and we see organized resistance against Israeli encroachment gaining new momentum in Nabi Saleh. The residents of the village started organizing weekly protests against the confiscation of their lands as well as the broader issue of military occupation of Palestine. The Tamimis, a large family in Nabi Saleh, has been at the forefront of these regular protests.
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On January 31st, 2001, during the height of second intifada, a girl was born in the Tamimi household, who would later become the face of the Palestinian struggle against Israel. Ahed Tamimi, a courageous child, whose untamed hair is as rebellious as her unfathomable spirit, took the mantle of resistance from her predecessors and began to march for her rights at a tender age of eleven years.
At this age, Ahed tried to fend off Israeli forces while they tried to apprehend her mother. For this act of courage, she was commended by the Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas.
Ahed was recognized for the first time around the world in 2012 when she flashed her fist at the face of an Israeli soldier who was hell-bent on detaining her brother. Three years later, in a viral video, Ahed was seen bravely fending off an Israeli soldier who assaulted and tried to arrest her 12 year old brother Mohammed Tamimi. The Tamimis were again marching against the colonization of their land and illegal detention of Palestinians.
On December 15th, 2017, in one of the most testing times for the Tamimi family, Ahed Tamimi’s 15 year old cousin also named Mohammed was shot by Israeli forces in the head during another protest demonstration in NabiSaleh. With a shattered skull, Mohammed was left in a pool of blood. In a complex surgery that involved putting him in a medically induced coma, some of the bones of Mohammed’s skull were removed and will only be put back in place after May this year.
Meanwhile, later in the day, Israeli forces again came looking for another one of Ahed’s cousins to arrest him. When they reached near Ahed’s house, already stressed out because of Mohammed’s critical condition, she and her mother Nariman Tamimi lashed out at Israeli soldiers. In another viral video, Ahed was seen defiantly slapping and kicking an Israeli soldier.
On the night of December 19th, 2017, Ahed was arrested and immediately put under a sham military trial. International human rights groups criticized Israeli violations and expressed concern over the fairness of this trial. Thirteen days later, a defiantly smiling Ahed was sentenced to serve eight months in prison.
Surrounded by Israeli guards in the military courtroom, when asked about what she thought of this sentence, in an unflinching tone, Ahed answered, “There is no justice under occupation”.
Nakba: In 1947-48, multiple Zionist groups used systematic, violent means to depopulate historic Palestine from its original inhabitants. More than 8 million Palestinians were forced to flee their homes and thousands killed. This collective tragedy came to be known as Nakba.
Ethnic Cleansing: A United Nations Commission of experts defined ethnic cleansing as a purposeful policy designed by one ethnic or religious group to remove by violent and terror-inspiring means the civilian population of another ethnic or religious group from certain geographic areas.
Apartheid System: Recognized as a crime against humanity, apartheid refers to an institutionalized regime of systematic oppression and domination by one racial group over any other racial group or groups and committed with the intention of maintaining that regime.
Military Occupation: According to 1907 Hague Regulations, a military occupation consists of direct control of one hostile state’s territory by a rival hostile state’s armed forces.
Illegal Settlement: This refers to the “residential colonies” built by Israelis in the Palestinian territories outside the green line. Green line refers to the Israeli border, recognized along with its neighbors in 1949.
Also Read: THE KEEPER OF CALLIGRAPHY
Settlers: The residents of settlements.
Colonization: The act of confiscating land from indigenous populations.
Detention: Arrest
Medically Induced Coma: During a major surgery of the head, a person is often put under temporary coma with the help of medicines.
Zionism: It is a set beliefs that proposes the superiority of Jewish people over other people of the world. Also it promotes the idea of Israel as separate homeland exclusively for the Jews.
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