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A Palestinian filmmaker who was part of a team that won an Oscar for “no other land”, a documentary representing life under Israeli occupation, was beaten by settlers of West Bank, then arrested by Israeli forces, his co -director announced on Monday.
Director Yuval Abraham said on x This Hamdan Ballal co-director was beaten by a “group of settlers” and injured his head and in the stomach in the Palestinian village of Susiya, Masafer Yatta. He added that Ballal was able to call an ambulance, but that the Israeli soldiers withdrew.
A spokesperson for Israeli Defense Forces said: “Unlike the affirmations, no Palestinian who was inside an ambulance was arrested” on Monday.
The FDI spokesman said that “violent clashes” between Israelis and Palestinians broke out near Susiya in the Yehuda brigade. The “clashes” developed afterwards, the FDIs said: “Several terrorists threw stones on Israeli civilians and damaged their vehicles.
“When the FDI and the police arrived at the scene to disperse the clashes, several terrorists began to throw stones on the security forces,” the spokesman said in a statement that NBC News translated from Hebrew. “In response, the forces arrested three Palestinians suspected of having threw stones on the strength and an Israeli citizen who was involved in violent clashes. The detainees were taken to the Israeli police for another interrogation. An Israeli citizen who was injured during the incident was taken for medical treatment. ”
The spokesperson did not say if Ballal was in detention.
Reached by NBC News, Abraham said he was not aware of the Ballal status or the place where is located. He described Monday as “a terrifying night”. He was not there at the time of the attack, but he said that he had spoken with militants and local Palestinian eyewitness.
Violence against the Palestinians by Israeli colonists and forces has climbed since the start of the war in Gaza. Masafer Yatta, a collection of hamlets in the southern part of the West Bank which is the subject of “no other field”, has been at the center of Israeli demolitions since the 1980s, after the Israeli army said the region a restricted military area.
Anna Lippman, an activist from the Center for Jewish Nonviolence, an organization that promotes non -violent civil resistance led by the Palestinians, said that she was part of the group of international activists who have been attacked by “more than a dozen Israeli settlers”.
Videos and photos that Lippman shared with NBC News that she said that she had taken to show several masked people pursuing her as well as other activists in their car, breaking her windows. A man wearing a mask seems to push Lippman and makes him swing his fists.
Lippman said in a message that Ballal, who did not appear in the video she captured, had been injured earlier on Monday and “is still in detention and we don’t know where”.
Five Jewish activists, including Lippman, found themselves in the West Bank participating in a “three -month caristance project,” said Center for Jewish nonviolence in a press release. The group went to the village of Susiya after responding to “calls to come and support residents who were attacked”.
A two months ceasefire between Israel and Hamas collapsed last week when Israel resumed his Bombing campaign in Gaza. Israeli air strikes have killed more than 700 people, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health in the enclave led by the militant group.
Israel and the Trump administration blamed Hamas for the resumption of hostilities, citing the militant group’s refusal to respond to Israel’s demand to release more hostages taken in the attacks of October 7, 2023, in exchange for the resumption of talks.
But that was not part of the original cease-fire agreement in three phases, which entered into force on January 19. The first phase of this agreement ended on March 1. Phase two has never started.
Abraham and Ballal were in the Oscars this month, when they accepted the prize for the best documentary feature on stage alongside the filmmakers Rachel Szor and Basel Adra.
“No other land”, one of the best evaluated documentary characteristics of last year, did not obtain theatrical distribution in the United States-a fact that filmmakers attributed to political sensitivities around the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The documentary was screened in independent cinemas in selected cities; Digital spinners have been made available to the voters of the academy and certain media members.
A spokesperson for Cinetic Media, who manages media information requests for “no other land,” said NBC News that the The company is aware of the Abraham post on X on Ballalis, but did not have any other information to share on Monday afternoon.
In their acceptance speech, Abraham and Adra pleaded for the end of the conflict.
“We made this film, Palestinian and Israeli, because together, our voices are stronger,” said Abraham. “We see each other. The atrocious destruction of Gaza and its people must end. The Israeli hostages suddenly taken in crime of October 7 must be released. ”
In his statement to NBC News on Monday, Abraham also appealed to documentary viewers to “act”.
“Hamdan, who was beaten, had the idea of” no other field, “he said. “For this brutal reality to end. It is now up to the millions that have seen our film to change it.”
