Ahed Tamimi Marches: Rights Defender Protests for Palestinians in UK

Ahed Tamimi, an icon of Palestinian resistance, is on the front lines of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign and the Stop The War Coalition march Saturday in London to protest against Israel’s bombing of Gaza and long-time illegal occupation of Palestinian land. 

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Tamimi is from the Palestinian village of Nabi Saleh in the occupied West Bank. She rose to prominence when she was jailed for eight months in Israel for slapping two Israeli soldiers who had just shot and killed her cousin. She become one of the thousands of child prisoners held in military detention in Israel.

One of her younger brothers was arrested earlier this year in a raid on the village that has been resisting Israeli forces who want to occupy the land. Several of her family members, including a 16-year old cousin have also been held by Israeli forces over the past several years.

The The Institute for Middle East Understanding posted on Instagram that Tamimi joined "London's 'National Demonstration for Palestine' today to mark the Nakba, which commemorates the 750,000 Palestinians forced to flee their homes in 1948, driven out by Zionist militias."

Tamimi's family said that she will be joined at the May 11 march with British politicians, Diane Abbott, Richard Burgon and Lloyd Russell-Moyle, according to the Independent.

Organizer Lindsey German, told the U.K.'s Morning Star: “We are delighted that Ahed Tamimi is joining us in London. ... We have always shown solidarity with the Palestinians and she has become a symbol of the brutal treatment of children and young people at the hands of the Israelis.”

The human and land rights defender had been keeping a low profile since March when she announced she would be traveling to the U.K. to study for a degree in international law.