Oscar-winning Palestinian director Hamdan Ballal released from detention

The Israeli army detained by the Palestinians after they attacked settlers, and Hamdan Ballal, the co-director of the Oscar-winning film No Other Land, has been detained.

His fellow co-director Yuval Abraham wrote in a post on social media platform X on Tuesday that Hamdan Ballal was free and is about to return home to his family after being handcuffed all night and beaten in a military base.

According to the Associated Press news agency, Ballal and two other Palestinians were seen leaving the Israeli settlement of Kiryat Arba in the occupied West Bank when their journalists saw them.

Ballal’s face was covered in blood and his clothes were covered in it, according to the AP.

Ballal claimed that he was forced to sleep beneath a freezing air conditioner while being held at an army base.

He told AP, “I was blindfolded for 24 hours.”

“I was freezing all night.” I could hear soldiers laughing at me because it was a room where I couldn’t see anything.

The three men’s lawyer, Lea Tsemel, claimed that the three men’s attorneys had no access to them for several hours after their arrests because they had only received minor injuries from the attack. They had previously claimed they had been accused of throwing stones at a young settler, but they deny this.

No Other Land, which explores the struggles of people living under Israeli occupation, was the subject of Ballal and the other No Other Land directors’ performances earlier this month at the 97th Academy Awards in Los Angeles, where they received the Oscar nomination for Best Documentary Feature.

As residents of the West Bank village of Susiya broke their fast during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan on Monday evening, about 20 settlers attacked the village of Susiya in the evening. Some were masked, some were carrying weapons, and some were dressed in military uniform.

Residents told the AP that soldiers who arrived pointed their weapons at Palestinians as settlers continued to throw stones at them.

As she huddled inside with their three children, Lamia Ballal, the director’s wife, claimed she overheard her husband being brutalized outside their home. She yelled, “I’m dying,” as he did. and requesting an ambulance.

When she looked out the window, she saw two men wearing uniform assaulting Ballal with their rifles and another person wearing civilian clothing posing as if the violence were being recorded.

They have obviously come back to attack us more after the Oscar, Lamia said. “I was afraid.”

Amnesty International, a human rights organization, demanded accountability for the attack.

Hamdan Billal was forced to flee by Israeli soldiers after being attacked by Palestinians by Israeli settlers. He has since been free, but those responsible for the attacks must be held accountable, according to a post on X.

Ballal claimed a well-known settler had previously threatened him before the attack.

In a video that was widely circulated in August that threatens Ballal, the settler and other masked men are seen together. In the video, the settler uses profanity and tries to get Ballal to fight him, saying, “This is my land, I was given it by God.” The settler claims in the video that “next time it won’t be nice”

The car’s windshield and windows were shattered on Tuesday when a small bloodstain was visible outside Ballal’s family home. The nearby water tank had a hole in the side that the neighbors claimed had been punched by the settlers.

Since the Oscar win, there has been a significant upswing in attacks by settlers and Israeli forces, according to Basel Adra, one of the film’s co-directors.

Soldiers are only there to facilitate and assist the attacks, he said, adding that no one can stop the pogroms.

Nobody is stopping this, according to the statement “we’re living in dark days here, in Gaza, and throughout the West Bank.”

Source: Aljazeera