"No Other Land" Consultant Awdah Hathaleen Killed by Israeli Settler in West Bank
Palestinian activist and community leader Odeh Hathalin, also known as Awdah Hathaleen, who worked with directors Basel Adra and Yuval Abraham on their Oscar-winning documentary "No Other Land", has been shot dead by an Israeli settler in the Occupied West Bank.
In a post on
X
, Israeli journalist and documentarian Abraham said that Hathalin was shot in the chest on Monday by an Israeli settler.
The director added the assailant had been identified by local residents as Yinon Levi, who is among a group of Israeli settlers operating in the West Bank, who have been sanctioned by the UK and the EU, while Donald Trump rescinded restrictions at the beginning of his presidency this year.
The post also featured footage of Levi brandishing a gun and firing wildly, although it was not clear whether the images were related to the incident in which Hathalin was killed.
Israeli media reported that Levi was arrested by Israeli police on Monday on suspicion of fatally shooting Hathalin, but was released on house arrest on Tuesday, while investigations continued.
"No Other Land," which won the Best Documentary Academy award this year, documents the cycle of destruction and harassment on a collection of hamlets and their Bedouin communities which lie on the Palestinian West Bank side of the 1949 Green Line.
Their future has been at stake since Israel declared much of the land they are situated on a live-fire training zone in the 1980s, with their inhabitants coming under further pressure from the construction of illegal Israeli settlements on their doorstep such as Carmel and Ma'on.
Hathalin has been described as a father of three, English teacher and activist hailing from the village of Umm Al-Kheir, who supported journalists visiting the area and also took part in in the filming of "No Other Land."
'I can hardly believe it. My dear friend Awdah was slaughtered this evening.He was standing in front of the community center in his village when a settler fired a bullet that pierced his chest and took his life. This is how Israel erases us — one life at a time,' wrote No Other Land co-director Adra on his X account, attaching an image of them together in Rome.
Hathalin's murder comes amid growing violence settler across the entire West Bank in recent months and sparked been widespread condemnation.
France's Ministry For Europe and Foreign Affairs put out a statement on Tuesday voicing the country's 'immense sadness' on learning of 'the murder' of Odeh Hathalin.
'France condemns this murder in the strongest possible terms, as well as all the deliberate violence perpetrated by extremist settlers against the Palestinian population, which has been increasing across the West Bank, particularly in Kafr Malik and the Christian village of Taybeh in recent weeks,' read the statement.
'This violence constitutes an act of terrorism. Settlers have killed more than 30 people since the beginning of 2022. Israeli authorities must take responsibility and immediately punish the perpetrators of this violence, which continues with impunity, and protect Palestinian civilians,' it added.
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