Case against Palestinian teen spotlights her activist family

NABI SALEH, West Bank (AP) — Israel's hard-charging prosecution of a 16-year-old Palestinian girl who slapped and kicked two Israeli soldiers has trained a spotlight on her activist family and its role in what Palestinians call "popular resistance."

The case of Ahed Tamimi has come to embody rival, grievance-filled Palestinian and Israeli narratives at a time of overwhelming skepticism on both sides about chances of ending their long-running conflict.

Many Palestinians have embraced Tamimi as a symbol of a new generation standing up to Israeli rule.

In Israel, she is seen either as a naive youth manipulated by her elders, a serial trouble-maker or a threat to Israel's image and military deterrence.

The December incident that catapulted her into the headlines came 10 days after President Donald Trump's recognition of contested Jerusalem as Israel's capital.