On Monday, amidst the occupied West Bank, Israeli settlers viciously assaulted one of the Palestinian co-directors of the Oscar-winning documentary, "No Other Land," prior to his apprehension by Israeli military forces, as recounted by two fellow directors and various eyewitnesses. Hamdan Ballal, the filmmaker, was among three Palestinians detained in the village of Susiya, according to Lea Tsemel, their legal representative. Although police informed her that they were being held at a military base for medical attention, she expressed her inability to reach them by Tuesday morning, leaving their whereabouts a mystery.
Basel Adra, another co-director who witnessed the detention, narrated a scene of chaos where approximately two dozen settlers—some masked, some armed, and some dressed in Israeli uniforms—assaulted the village. Upon the arrival of soldiers, they aimed their weapons at the Palestinians while the settlers continued to pelt stones. "Since our return from the Oscars, we've faced daily attacks," Adra lamented to The Associated Press. "This could be their retribution for making the movie. It feels like a punishment meted out to us."
The Israeli military asserted that they apprehended three Palestinians suspected of throwing rocks at their forces and one Israeli civilian involved in a violent altercation between Israelis and Palestinians—a claim contested by witnesses interviewed by the AP. The military transferred them to the Israeli police for questioning and evacuated an Israeli citizen from the area for medical treatment.
"No Other Land," which garnered the Oscar for Best Documentary this year, chronicles the residents of the Masafer Yatta area's valiant efforts to thwart the Israeli military's demolition of their villages. Ballal and Adra, both hailing from Masafar Yatta, crafted this joint Palestinian-Israeli production alongside Israeli directors Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor.
The film has garnered an impressive array of international accolades, commencing at the Berlin International Film Festival in 2024. However, it has also sparked outrage both in Israel and internationally, prompting Miami Beach to contemplate terminating the lease of a movie theater that screened the documentary.
Adra recounted that settlers infiltrated the village on Monday evening, shortly after residents concluded their daily Ramadan fast. A particular settler, who according to Adra frequently harasses the village, approached Ballal's home accompanied by the military, prompting soldiers to fire shots into the air. Ballal's wife overheard her husband being beaten outside and crying out, "I'm dying," Adra said.
Subsequently, Adra witnessed soldiers escorting Ballal, handcuffed and blindfolded, from his home to a military vehicle. Speaking to the AP via phone, he disclosed that Ballal's blood still stained the ground outside his front door. Another eyewitness, who requested anonymity due to fear of retaliation, corroborated some details of Adra's narrative.
Meanwhile, a group of 10-20 masked settlers armed with stones and sticks also attacked activists from the Center for Jewish Nonviolence, smashing their car windows and slashing tires to force them to flee the area, as recounted by Josh Kimelman, an activist at the scene. Video footage provided by the Center for Jewish Nonviolence depicted a masked settler shoving and swinging his fists at two activists in a dusty field at night. The activists hastily retreated to their car as rocks thudded against it.
Since capturing the West Bank during the 1967 Mideast war, alongside the Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem, Israel has constructed over 100 settlements housing over 500,000 settlers with Israeli citizenship. The 3 million Palestinians residing in the West Bank live under an apparently indefinite Israeli military rule, with the Western-backed Palestinian Authority administering population centers.
In the 1980s, the Israeli military designated Masafer Yatta in the southern West Bank as a live-fire training zone and ordered the expulsion of its residents, mostly Arab Bedouin. Despite the order, around 1,000 residents have largely remained, facing regular incursions by soldiers to demolish homes, tents, water tanks, and olive orchards. Palestinians fear that outright expulsion could loom at any time.
During the Gaza war, Israel killed hundreds of Palestinians in the West Bank during large-scale military operations, which coincided with a surge in settler attacks on Palestinians. Conversely, there has also been an increase in Palestinian attacks on Israelis.
