Jailed Palestinian teen planning to study in UK for three months

The young Palestinian woman jailed for slapping two Israeli soldiers during a raid on her house has told a Jordanian media outlet that she is planning to study English in the UK for three months.

Ahed Tamimi, who became the poster-child for Palestinian resistance, plans to study international law in order to fight for Palestinian rights internationally, and said a three-month crash course in the English language would help.

In December 2017, aged 16, Tamimi was filmed hitting soldiers in a video that went viral. She said she was deprived of sleep and food during her interrogation and signed a plea deal, admitting to assault, incitement and two counts of obstructing soldiers. She was jailed along with her mother. Both were released in late July.

After her UK study, the young activist from the village of Nabi Saleh, who has been nicknamed ‘Shirley Temper’ by the Israeli media, said she would be returning to the West Bank because her brother was due to be released.

Since her release, Tamimi has seldom been far from the news, and this week support for her was cited by Israel’s Central Election Committee as a reason for disqualifying an Israeli-Arab candidate from running next month.

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