Oscar-winning Palestinian filmmaker attacked by Israeli settlers in West Bank, co-director says
Live updates: Follow the latest on Israel-Gaza A Palestinian co-director of Oscar-winning documentary No Other Land was injured on Monday in an attack by a mob of Israeli settlers in the West Bank, one of the film's other directors has said. Hamdan Ballal received injuries to his head and stomach after a group of settlers attacked the village of Susya, Yuval Abraham said in a post on X. Activist group Centre for Jewish Non-violence said Ballal was being treated in an ambulance when Israeli soldiers detained him and a second Palestinian man. Abraham said it was unclear where Ballal is or if he is receiving medical treatment. The village of Susya is in the region of the occupied West Bank that features heavily in the documentary, which focuses on human rights issues in the occupied territories, including Israeli military and settler violence against Palestinians. A statement from the film's production house claimed that the attack began when settler Issachar Manne, a US-Israeli citizen, and his son Shem Tov, initiated the attack by throwing stones at Palestinian residents and vandalising property, including a water tank and a car owned by Ballal. The statement said about 15 masked settlers carrying batons, knives and M-16s were also involved in the attacks, which Israeli security forces did nothing to stop. No Other Land, which won the Oscar this year for Best Documentary, chronicles the struggle by residents of Masafer Yatta to stop the Israeli military from demolishing their villages. It has two Palestinian co-directors, Ballal and Basel Adra – both residents of Masafer Yatta – and two Israeli directors, Abraham and Rachel Szor. In the 1980s, the Israeli military marked Masafer Yatta as a live-fire training area and ordered residents, mostly Arab Bedouin, to be expelled. Despite this, about 1,000 people have stayed. However, soldiers often come to tear down houses, tents, water tanks and olive orchards, leaving the residents worried about being forcibly removed at any moment.
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