NABI SALEH: Palestinian teenager Ahed Tamimi said Monday she was deeply changed by her eight-month sentence in an Israeli jail for slapping two soldiers, but does not regret any of her actions.
Tamimi, who was 16 when she was arrested in December for hitting and kicking soldiers in front of her house in the occupied West Bank, was released Sunday and swarmed by media from across the globe.
In an interview the day after her release, the now 17-year-old told AFP that she understood she had become a “symbol” of the Palestinian cause.
“Of course my life has been changed a lot. I changed a lot in prison,” said Tamimi.
“I became more focused, more aware also. Prison ages a person. In one day you age 100 years,” she said in the backyard of her home in the West Bank village of Nabi Saleh.
Asked if she would have done the same thing if she had known it would land her behind bars for months, she said yes.
She pointed to the circumstances in which the soldiers had entered the garden of her house in December during a day of major protests that saw her cousin shot in the head with a rubber bullet.
Her confronting of the Israeli soldiers was recorded and went viral online.
“I didn’t do anything wrong that I should regret,” she said.
“If I had known I would be in jail eight months, of course I would have done it because it was a natural reaction to a soldier being in my house shooting at people, people from my village,” she said.
“Any person in this situation — I hit him, maybe there are people that would have killed him.”
Israel’s military said the two soldiers had been in the area to prevent Palestinians from throwing stones at Israeli motorists.
Tamimi told The Associated Press she hopes to pursue a law degree in order to document human rights violations.
The video of the altercation does not show the soldiers reacting to Tamimi’s actions or using their weapons, and the teenager was arrested four days later.
Tamimi said she hoped to study law to expose the issue of Israel’s occupation to the rest of the world.
Israel has long said Tamimi and her siblings have been manipulated by her parents — longtime activists — and used as pawns in staged provocations.
When she was only 14, a picture of her biting a soldier’s hand to prevent him from arresting a family member went viral.
She denied claims that she had been exploited.
“My family never exploited me once,” she said.
“I am mature enough and I know the cause. I know the consequences that will stem from choosing this path. I am not a child.”
Tamimi and her mother Nariman were sentenced to eight months by an Israeli military court in a plea deal following the December incident.
Israel has occupied the West Bank and east Jerusalem since seizing it in a 1967 war. Tamimi’s village Nabi Saleh is close to a number of Israeli settlements.
Palestinian teen icon says she has a ‘political future’
Palestinian teen icon says she has a ‘political future’
- “Of course my life has been changed a lot. I changed a lot in prison,” said Tamimi
- Tamimi said she hoped to study law to expose the issue of Israel’s occupation to the rest of the world
Editorial: The threat of Yemen’s fragmentation is far reaching
- The southern issue is a just cause — one that must be addressed in any future political settlement and not reduced to the ambitions of any single individual, including the likes of Aidarous Al-Zubaidi
RIYADH: As Yemen’s political landscape continues to shift at a dizzying pace, it is worth pausing to reflect on the official Saudi position — and the commentary of some of our leading Saudi columnists — regarding the recent unilateral moves by the Southern Transitional Council (STC) in the governorates of Hadramout and Al-Mahrah. These actions, taken without the consent of the Presidential Leadership Council (PLC) or coordination with the Arab Coalition, represent a dangerous gamble with the future of a fragile nation — one that Saudi Arabia, like its Arab neighbors, wishes only peace, stability, and prosperity.
There is no ambiguity in the Kingdom’s stance: it has worked tirelessly to preserve calm in Hadramout and Al-Mahrah, steering both regions away from military escalation and toward peaceful solutions. In a bid to contain the situation, Saudi Arabia, in coordination with its brothers and partners in the United Arab Emirates and the PLC, dispatched a joint team to negotiate with the STC. The goal was clear — facilitate the withdrawal of STC forces and hand over military sites to the National Shield Forces.
Yet despite Riyadh’s call for de-escalation and its appeal to the STC to prioritize national interest and social cohesion, the Council has persisted in its confrontational posture, seemingly indifferent to the grave consequences of its actions.
Observers in Riyadh will note that the Kingdom remains steadfast in its support for the PLC and Yemen’s internationally recognized government. Its commitment to Yemen’s stability is not rhetorical — it is political, economic, and developmental. Saudi Arabia’s vision is to shepherd Yemen from the shadows of conflict into an era of peace, prosperity, and regional integration. This is not merely a function of geography or shared borders; it is a reflection of the Kingdom’s religious, political, and economic responsibilities in the Arab and Islamic world.
From this vantage point, the newspaper firmly believes that the STC’s unilateral actions in Hadramout constitute a blatant violation of Yemen’s transitional framework. They undermine the legitimacy of the recognized government, threaten the fragile peace, and jeopardize the political process. Worse still, they echo the very tactics employed by the Houthi militias — an alarming parallel that should not be ignored.
It is therefore essential to reiterate the Kingdom’s position: the STC must withdraw its forces from Hadramout and Al-Mahrah, restoring the status quo ante. This is not a punitive demand, but a necessary step to safeguard national security and prevent further military flare-ups.
At the same time, Saudi Arabia has consistently affirmed that the southern issue is a just cause — one that must be addressed in any future political settlement. It is enshrined in the outcomes of Yemen’s National Dialogue and must be resolved inclusively, reflecting the aspirations of all southern Yemenis — not reduced to the ambitions of any single individual, including the likes of Aidarous Al-Zubaidi or other STC figures.
Ultimately, we urge the separatists to choose reason over recklessness. Partitioning Yemen will not bring peace — it will sow the seeds of future wars, embolden extremist actors, and pose a threat not only to Yemen’s internal cohesion but to regional and international stability. As Western and American policymakers know all too well: what happens in Yemen never stays in Yemen.
