In Oakland activists rally to free imprisoned Ahed Tamimi

On January 31, Ahed Tamimi, a Palestinian activist, turned 17 years old behind bars in an Israeli prison. Almost 8,000 miles away, in Oakland, Rania Salem, another 17-year-old Palestinian activist from San Francisco, joined a rally to celebrate Tamimi’s birthday and demand her release.

Tamimi could face 10 years in prison after being charged with aggravated assault and 11 other charges. On December 18, a video of her slapping two Israeli soldiers went viral. That same day, her cousin Mohamed Tamimi, who was demonstrating against the Trump administration’s decision to move the American embassy to Jerusalem, had been shot in the head with a rubber bullet. Ahed Tamimi was detained the following

day.

Since then, she has been away her home at Nabi Saleh. Rania Salem, who was in Oakland rallying to support her, has been far from Palestine all her life. “Both my parents were from Hebron, but they had to flee because their home was taken,” she said. Salem was born in San Francisco, but this summer wants to go for to Palestine the first time. “It is not fair that I didn’t grow up in our homeland. … I am so disconnected now, but I want to understand where I come from,” she said. Today she organizes rallies with Arab Youth Organizing, a group that seeks to empower young people and low-income families.