NEW YORK, January 29, 2018 (WAFA) - Over 40 organizations will rally at New York’s Penn Station on Tuesday to demand the release of Ahed Tamimi, the 16-year-old Palestinian girl held in Israeli military detention since Israeli forces raided her home in the West Bank village of Nabi Saleh early the morning of December 19, a press release said on Monday.

"We must demand the release of Ahed Tamimi, who is held in Zionist captivity paid for by U.S. tax dollars that funded the soldiers who harassed and shot her family in the first place," said Nerdeen Kiswani of New York City Students for Justice in Palestine. "The U.S. played a part in starting this, so we must play a part in ending it."

The demonstration is part of a series of worldwide actions marking both Ahed‘s 17th birthday on Wednesday, January 31, and the start of her Israeli military trial, scheduled to begin at Israel‘s Ofer prison the same day.

Tamimi’s family, however, asked the court to defer the trial date to February 6 when the court is supposed to hear the case against Tamimi’s mother, Nariman, who was also detained on the same day as her daughter when she went to inquire about her at Benyamin detention center.

"At least 40 gatherings over a week, including 14 on Tuesday alone, will call for Ahed‘s release," said Joe Catron, U.S. coordinator of Samidoun: Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network. "Her imprisonment by Israeli occupation forces has ignited a strong global campaign and reinvigorated the overall movement to liberate Palestine."

Tamimi was detained after she was filmed slapping an Israeli soldier who used her family home two days before her detention to open fire at village youths confronting Israeli forces who raided their village.

Her detention has generated strong criticism at home and abroad.

M.K.