Hamdan Ballal: Oscar-winning Palestinian director attacked by Israelis in occupied West Bank

One of the Palestinian directors of the Oscar-winning documentary No Other Land, has been attacked by Israeli settlers in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.

The Palestinian news agency WAFA reported that four Palestinians, including filmmaker Hamdan Ballal, were injured in an attack by settlers in the village of Susya, near Hebron on Monday. According to the report, armed settlers threw stones at the village’s residents, houses and cars.

Ballal was said to have been hit in the head by a stone, and nothing was initially known about his whereabouts or condition.

Lawyer Leah Tsemmel said police told her they’re being held at a military base for medical treatment and she hasn’t been able to speak with them.

Palestinian activists and observers reported that Israeli soldiers took the injured Ballal out of an ambulance and detained him.

The Israeli military said in a statement that three Palestinian suspects, as well as an Israeli civilian, had been detained, but denied that a Palestinian had been “apprehended from inside an ambulance”.

The Israeli military said that “several terrorists hurled rocks at Israeli citizens, damaging their vehicles near Susya [in the West Bank]. Following this a violent confrontation broke out, involving mutual rock-hurling between Palestinians and Israelis at the scene.”

The military went on to say that, when police got to the scene, “several terrorists began hurling rocks” at them.

“In response, the forces apprehended three Palestinians suspected of hurling rocks at them, as well as an Israeli civilian involved in the violent confrontation. The detainees were taken for further questioning by the Israeli Police.”

The statement also said that an Israeli citizen was hurt and was evacuated to receive medical care.

Israeli journalist Yuval Abraham, one of the four filmmakers behind No Other Land, posted a video on X showing masked men running towards the camera, one of them throwing a rock at it and the screen going black.

“The group of armed KKK-like masked settlers that lynched No Other Land director Hamdan Ballal (still missing), caught here on camera,” the post read.

No Other Land is an Israeli-Palestinian documentary about the demolition of Palestinian villages in the West Bank.

Earlier in March the film won the Oscar for best documentary.

It also won the Panorama Audience Award and the Berlinale Documentary Film Award, among other nods.

Basel Adra, another co-director, witnessed the detention and said around two dozen settlers, some masked, some carrying guns, some in Israeli uniform, attacked the village.

Soldiers who arrived pointed their guns at the Palestinians, while settlers continued throwing stones.

“We came back from the Oscars and every day since there is an attack on us,” Adra told The Associated Press.

“This might be their revenge on us for making the movie. It feels like a punishment.”

with AP