On January 1, The Israeli military filed 12 charges against Palestinian teenager Ahed Tamimi. The 16-year-old, who was filmed defending her home and her brother by hitting a soldier in her home village of Nabi Saleh last month, could remain in Israeli prisons for years if convicted on charges including incitement and assaulting and threatening Israeli troops. Israel’s military tribunals are notorious for their near-100 percent conviction rate against Palestinians.

Her sharp eyes reflect
the octangular, blue base of the Dome of the Rock.
Her hair shines like the golden dome,
reflecting back the light of Mohammed (PBUH*)
who ascended to the heavens from the rock beneath.
She wears no makeup but white, black, green, and red.
She wears a scarf of black and white:
black is the strength that fills her soul,
white is the peace for which she fights.

She fights with a stone in her left hand;
her empty right hand slaps, punches
or offers peace, a weapon in itself,
stronger than all of their guns.

If you call her name, you hear echoes
of the past, present and future,
of those who made an oath
to remain rooted like olive trees,
to remember every stolen olive
and every spilled drop of blood.

Her name means “oath”
and an oath she made:
She will fight.

* PBUH = peace be upon him