Welcome to the Empire Files podcast. This is your host, Abby Martin. This is the audio of our show.

You can watch the episodes on our YouTube channel or at the Empirefiles.tv.

All my family here are in danger. We are at risk of dying at any moment. In any time, I can expect a soldier coming towards me to shoot me and kill me, and this

feeling affects us permanently.

Recently, the struggle for Palestinian human rights gained international attention surrounding

a new icon of resistance, 16-year-old Ahad Tamimi. On December 15, a video of Tamimi slapping an Israeli soldier outside of her home went viral.

But what isn't seen on the video is that just moments before Israeli forces shot her 15-year-old cousin Muhammad point-blank in the face with a rubber bullet, causing severe internal bleeding.

A few days later, Ahed was violently arrested in the middle of the night in a raid by dozens of soldiers.

Ahed's 20-year-old cousin, Noor, her aunt Manal, and Ahed's mother Nariman, have since been arrested.

Her mother, Nariman, has been charged with aggravated assault and incitement for uploading

the video of her daughter on social media. And just days into 2018, the first Palestinian teen,

killed by Israeli forces in the West Bank, was Ahed's other cousin,

Musaub Tamimi. He was shot at close range by soldiers raiding their village.

Ahed's arrest and imprisonment by the Israeli army has drawn ire from the international community

and attention to the brutal military occupation, in particular its treatment of children, up to 700 of which are

processed through Israeli military courts every year, some as young as 12. Today, Ahed is in jail awaiting

trial. Israel has slapped her with 12 different charges, including assaulting a soldier. Some of the

charges are for incidents years ago, including stone throwing,

a crime for which Israel recently increased the maximum penalty for to a 20-year prison sentence.

While in the West Bank in late 2016, I visited the small village where the Tamimi family has lived for generations.

We're here in Nabe Sale, a village under occupation by Israeli forces.

At the entrance to the village is a military outpost and on their land is a large illegal settlement.

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