The Oscar-winning director of a documentary about the Israel-Palestinian conflict was released from detention on Tuesday, a day after being injured and arrested during an attack by Israeli settlers in his village in the occupied West Bank.
Hamdan Ballal, co-director of the acclaimed documentary No Other Land, explained that he had been assaulted by settlers after filming them attacking a neighbor’s house, and then returning to ensure his own home wasn’t targeted.
“I was just waiting outside, in case any settlers or army came to attack my home,” he told Reuters after his release from police custody.
He described being pushed to the ground while soldiers shouted at him to stand up, pointing their guns at him. “It’s crazy, you can imagine your family, your kids inside the home, and you need to protect them,” he said.
Before the incident, during which he was arrested by Israeli security forces, a group of settlers attacked an Iftar gathering at the end of Ramadan in the village of Susiya, near Hebron.
“Dozens of settlers attacked the Iftar gathering,” Jihad Nawajaa, the head of the Susiya local council, told Reuters by phone. “The young men came out to stop them, and there were about eight injuries on our side.”
Israeli police arrested three men, including Ballal, who was hurt in the confrontation.
“This is not the first time settlers have attacked our gathering, but recently the attacks have increased,” Nawajaa said, noting that settlers had stolen around 10 sheep during the attack.
Monday’s incident added to the ongoing allegations that Israeli settlers have been raiding Palestinian or Bedouin villages in the West Bank, sometimes stealing livestock. Palestinians and activists monitoring such incidents claim that the police and military often do not intervene.
Lamia Ballal, the filmmaker’s wife, said settlers gathered around their house and her husband went outside to prevent them from breaking in.
“The settlers attacked him, started beating him, and then they arrested him,” she told Reuters.
Anna Lippman, an American-Canadian from the Center for Jewish Nonviolence, said her group was attacked by settlers after arriving in the village about 15 minutes after the violence began.
The Israeli military said police and soldiers intervened after Palestinians threw rocks at Israeli citizens’ vehicles and later at security forces.
“In response, the forces apprehended three Palestinians suspected of hurling rocks, as well as an Israeli civilian involved in the violent confrontation,” the military stated.
It denied reports that one of the Palestinians was arrested in an ambulance.
When asked about Ballal’s condition and status on Tuesday, Israeli police sent the army’s statement from the previous night.
No Other Land, a film about the Israeli displacement of a Palestinian community, co-directed by both Palestinian and Israeli filmmakers, won the Oscar for Best Documentary at this year’s Academy Awards.
Ballal said one of the settlers involved in the attack was someone he knew well.
“This is not the first time,” he said. “He’s attacked my home many times and even grazed his cows in my garden.”
Basel Adra, another co-director of the film, believed the settlers targeted Ballal as revenge for the film’s portrayal of the Masafer Yatta area near where Monday’s incident took place.
“Because he carries his camera and documents what is going on, I think he’s targeted and avenged this way at night,” he said.
European countries and the previous US administration of President Joe Biden imposed sanctions on violent Israeli settlers, though under President Donald Trump, those sanctions were lifted.
