Teenage Palestinian protest icon who slapped soldier released from prison in Israel

A Palestinianteenager released by Israel on Sunday after completing a prisonterm for kicking and slapping an Israeli soldier urged continuedstruggle against Israeli occupation of the West Bank, a callechoed by the Palestinian president.

Ahed Tamimi, 17, became a heroine to Palestinians after theincident last December outside her home in Nabi Saleh, a villagewhich has campaigned for years against land seizures by Israel,leading to confrontations with the Israeli military and Jewishsettlers.

Israelis regarded the incident, which Tamimi's motherrelayed live on Facebook, as a staged provocation.

Tamimi, who was 16 at the time of her detention, faced 12charges, including aggravated assault. In March, she pleaded guilty to a reduced charge sheet that included assault and wassentenced to eight months' imprisonment, dating back to herarrest in December.

Wearing her trademark black-and-white chequered Arab scarf,Tamimi greeted dozens of well-wishers in brief remarks outsidethe home of a Nabi Saleh villager killed by Israeli forces.

"From this martyr's house, I say: resistance is continuinguntil the occupation is removed," she told reporters. "All the female prisoners in jail are strong, and I thank everyone whostood by me while I was in prison."

Palestinians want the West Bank for a future state, alongwith East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip. Most countries considerIsraeli settlements in the West Bank to be illegal, somethingIsrael disputes.

U.S.-sponsored negotiations on founding a Palestinian statealongside Israel have been stalled since 2014.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, in a statementpublished by the official news agency Wafa after he met Tamimi and her mother, described the teenager as "a model of peacefulcivil resistance..., proving to the world that our Palestinianpeople will stand firm and constant on their land, no matterwhat the sacrifice."

Tamimi's case drew global attention and AmnestyInternational said after her conviction that her sentence was at odds with international law. Amnesty said that imprisonment of aminor must be used only as a last resort for the shortest appropriate period of time.