The Palestinian director of the Oscar-winning documentary “No Other Land” has been arrested by the Israeli army after masked settlers attacked his home. According to five Jewish-American activists who witnessed the attack, Hamdan Ballal, one of four directors of the film that documented the destruction of villages in the West Bank, was surrounded and attacked by a group of about 15 armed settlers in Susya in the Masafer Yatta area south of Hebron.
“They started throwing stones at the Palestinians and destroyed a water tank near Hamdan’s house,” said Joseph, one of the activists from the Jewish Center for Nonviolence, who asked that his full name not be used for security reasons.
Witnesses said a group of soldiers arrived at the scene along with other settlers dressed in military uniform, who followed Hamdan to his home and handed him over to the army.
"The settlers destroyed his car with stones and slashed one of the tires. All the windows were broken," said another witness.
Ballal was injured by settlers and taken by the Israeli army. Members of the activist group filmed the attack and then entered the house and saw blood on the floor, which a family member said was spilled when Hamdan was hit in the head.
Israeli co-director Yuval Avraham wrote on X that Ballal was attacked and posted a video showing a masked settler allegedly attacking Ballal's home.
"There has been no news since then and it is not clear whether he is receiving medical care and what is happening to him," he said.
According to an eyewitness, four Palestinians were injured by stone-throwing, most of them lightly. Police said three Palestinians were arrested, including an Israeli minor, who was later released due to injuries sustained after being hit by a stone.
On March 3, "No Other Land," which chronicles the destruction of the Palestinian village of Masafer Yatta in the West Bank by the IDF, won the Oscar for best documentary. The film featured two Palestinian directors, Ballal and Basel Adra, both residents of Masafer Yatta, and two Israeli directors, Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor.
On stage in Los Angeles, two of the film's four directors, one Israeli and one Palestinian, called for rights for the Palestinians and a negotiated solution to the conflict. Avraham spoke about the destruction of Gaza and also about the Israeli hostages, brutally kidnapped on October 7.
"There is another way, a political solution, without ethnic supremacy, with national rights for both our peoples," he said. Days after Avraham's Oscar speech, the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI) issued a statement condemning the documentary for violating the movement's "anti-normalization guidelines." The head of the municipal council of the Palestinian village of Susya, had a different opinion and thanked activists for their support, including Israelis. The documentary, despite the Oscar, has yet to find a distributor in America. (A2 Televizion)
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