Hamdan Ballal, Palestinian co -director of the Oscar -winning film « No Other Land », attacked by Israeli settlers and arrested – Liberation

This is not the first attack on Hamdan Ballal, but this time, the Palestinian director is in the hands of the Israeli army. This Monday, March 24, according to several witnesses, the activist, Documentary co -director No Other Land rewarded this year at Oscarswas arrested by Tsahal after settlers attacked his house.

According to several Jewish activists present on the spot denouncing Israel’s expansion policy in the West Bank, Hamdan Ballal’s house located in Susya’s Palestinian face, south of the West Bank, was surrounded and attacked by a group made up of fifteen settlers.

The attack started around 6 p.m. in this small village located in the region of Masafer Yatta, to the south Hébron. « They started throwing stones on the Palestinians and destroyed a water tank near Hamdan’s house », said to the British newspaper The Guardian One of the activists of the center for Jewish non-violence.

The witnesses add that a group of soldiers finally arrived shortly after the start of the attack on the scene, in the company of other settlers dressed in TSAhal uniforms. While Ballal was evacuated by ambulance to be treated, Israeli soldiers arrested the vehicle, reports the Israeli newspaper Haaretz. According to residents, soldiers who arrested him belonged to a rapid intervention unit composed of settlers from neighboring colonies. The unit then gave it to other soldiers. According to several witnesses, the Palestinian activist was injured when he was taken by the army.

Yuval Abraham, Israeli co -director of the film, wrote this Monday on X that Ballal had been « lynchéAnd that he presented injuries to the head and in the belly. He added that he was unaware where he was and if he received medical care. «  »I stand alongside Karam, Hamdan’s 7 -year -old son, near Hamdan’s blood in his house, after his lynching by settlers. Hamdan, co -director of our film « No Other Land », is still missing after being removed by soldiers, injured and in blood. Here’s how they erase Masafer Yatta »wrote Basel Adra. Last February, Basel Adra was also surrounded and attacked by masked Israeli settlers. « The colonists destroyed his car with stones and burst a tire», Also added another witness to Guardian, Supporting photo. « All windows and windshields have been broken. »

The reasons remain obscure and the Israeli army has not yet commented on the incident. This is not the first time that the directors and members of the team No Other Land are attacked by settlers. Shot between 2019 and 2023 in the West Bank, the documentary co-signed by an Israeli-Palestinian quartet tells the courageous resistance of the inhabitants of Masafer Yatta, suffocated by the colonization of the Hebrew State.

The film No Other Land aroused an outcry in Israel following the speeches of the winners at the Berlin International Film Festival, calling for a cease-fire in Gaza and begging the German government to stop providing weapons to Israel. For his part, the Israeli Minister of Culture described the victory at the Israeli-Palestinian documentary Oscars as « Sad moment for the world of cinema ».