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Palestinian Protest Icon Ahed Tamimi Calls for Continued ‘Resistance’ against Israel

Seventeen-year-old Ahed Tamimi confirmed her status as one of the most polarizing figures of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict by calling for continued “resistance” against the Jewish state after being released from prison on Sunday. Tamimi, who served an eight-month sentence for slapping and kicking an Israel Defense Forces soldier, received a hero’s welcome in her home town of Nabi Saleh. Thereafter, she proceeded to lay a wreath at the grave of former Palestinian leader Yassir Arafat before meeting current boss Mahmoud Abbas at his headquarters in Ramallah. “Our resistance will continue. The power is with the people and the people will decide their destiny and their future,” Tamimi asserted to reporters. For his part, Abbas described Tamimi as “a model” for the Palestinian struggle, in which “popular resistance is the ideal weapon to confront the arrogance of the occupation and expose its barbarism in front of the whole world.” While Tamimi is feted by many who oppose Israeli military control over the West Bank, in Israel she is viewed by a large swath of the public as a provocateur. In this respect, Tamimi has been dubbed “Shirley Temper” because of her physical likeness to former actress Shirley Temple and due to multiple viral social media videos showing her confronting Israeli security forces.