Oscar-winning Palestinian director assaulted by Israeli settlers in West Bank, detained by army

Extremist Jewish settlers have beaten up the Palestinian co-director of the Oscar-winning documentary film "No Other Land" in the occupied West Bank, before he was detained by Israeli military forces.

Activist group Center for Jewish Nonviolence said a group of settlers attacked the Palestinian village of Susiya in the Masafer Yatta area on Monday evening, and one of the victims of the price tag attack was Hamdan Ballal.

Ballal sustained a bloody head injury, the activists said. He was detained along with a second Palestinian man and his whereabouts are currently unknown, they added.

Basel Adra, another co-director, witnessed the detention and said around two dozen settlers — some masked, some carrying guns, some dressed in military uniform – attacked the village. Soldiers who arrived pointed their guns at the Palestinians, while settlers continued throwing stones.

"No Other Land" has won a string of international awards, starting at the Berlin International Film Festival in 2024.

The film, which won the Oscar this year for best documentary, chronicles the struggle by residents of the Masafer Yatta area to stop the Israeli military from demolishing their villages.

“We came back from the Oscars and every day since there is an attack on us,” Adra said. “This might be their revenge on us for making the movie. It feels like a punishment.”

Adra said settlers entered the village shortly after residents broke the daily fast for the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

A settler — who according to Adra frequently attacks the village — walked over to Ballal’s home with the military, and soldiers shot in the air.

Ballal’s wife heard her husband being beaten outside and scream “I’m dying,” according to Adra.

Adra then saw the soldiers lead Ballal, handcuffed and blindfolded, from his home into a military vehicle. He said Ballal’s blood was still splattered on the ground outside his own front door.

Israeli co-director Yuval Abraham posted on X: “A group of settlers just lynched Hamdan Ballal, co director of our film no other land. They beat him and he has injuries in his head and stomach, bleeding. Soldiers invaded the ambulance he called, and took him. No sign of him since,”

Josh Kimelman, one of the activists at the scene, said a group of 10-20 masked settlers with stones and sticks also assaulted activists with the Center for Jewish Nonviolence, smashing their car windows and slashing tires to make them flee the area.

Video provided by the activist group showed a masked settler shoving and swinging his fists at two activists in a dusty field at night. The activists rush back to their car as rocks can be heard thudding against the vehicle.

This is not the first time that directors and member of crew of "No Other Land" have been attacked by settlers.

Last February, Adra was also surrounded and attacked by masked Israeli settlers.

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