By Kareem Khadder, Kara Fox, Hira Humayun and Max Saltman, CNN
Hamdan Ballal receives treatment at a hospital in Hebron, in a photo shared on Instagram by Basel Adra. Photo: Instagram / Basel Adra
The Palestinian co-director of Oscar-winning film 'No Other Land' Hamdan Ballal has been beaten up by Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank, taken away by Israeli soldiers and detained overnight, according to his family, friends, colleagues, eyewitnesses and lawyer.
On Tuesday afternoon (local time), following his release from detention, Ballal's lawyer Leah Tzemel said that he had been "arbitrarily" held in police detention in Kiryat Arba'a, an Israeli settlement in the occupied West Bank, and that he had been beaten in custody by Israeli soldiers. Following his release, he was moved to a hospital in Hebron, where he was treated for his injuries, according to his brother, Nimer.
Despite suffering from dehydration and bruising, Ballal left the hospital, his co-director Basel Adra told CNN. He has now returned home to his family in Susya in the occupied West Bank, his brother said.
CNN has reached out to Israeli authorities for comment on the allegations.
Speaking through tears from inside her home in the village of Susya on Tuesday afternoon, Ballal's wife Lamya told CNN that her husband was attacked in front of their house by three settlers shortly after Iftar, the sundown breaking of the fast during Ramadan.
Ballal had seen a group of settlers who were attacking the village, she said, but when he tried to document them, they came after him.
The men beat Ballal with brass knuckles and with the butt of a rifle to his head, she said, while a mob of other settlers threw stones at the door and "tried to penetrate into the house from the windows," where she and her terrified three children were sheltering.
Adra told CNN that he had gone to Ballal's home on Monday evening after Ballal called him in distress. He arrived to see Ballal and at least one other person being taken away.
Adra added that a group of masked Israeli settlers, Israeli police and the military were also outside the home, with Israeli soldiers firing at anyone who tried to get close. CNN saw a bullet casing on the ground on Tuesday, just steps from Ballal's front door.
The Israeli military said it had arrived at the scene of a "violent confrontation" between Palestinians and Israelis who were throwing rocks at each other. It said the fight had broken out after several "terrorists hurled rocks at Israeli citizens, damaging their vehicles."
Three Palestinians and an Israeli were then taken in for questioning after "several terrorists" threw rocks at the security forces, it said.
Yuval Abraham, another co-director of the film, who is Israeli and was not at the scene at the time of the incident, said Ballal had sustained injuries to his head and abdomen.
Najah Mughanam, Ballal's neighbour, told CNN that she and her husband, both sheep farmers in their 60s, were also attacked by the settlers.
"They beat up my husband with a shovel," she said, adding that it was the second time in a week that the settlers had come to attack them on their land. On Monday, in addition to trying to steal their sheep, their water tank was also slashed with a knife.
Mughanam said that since the war began, settler violence in her village had increased. "Since October 7, there have been more than 45 attacks on us, here in Susya," she said.
Emirati filmmaker Hamdan Ballal holds his Oscar for Best Documentary Feature for "No Other Land" during the 97th Annual Academy Awards Governors Ball. Photo: ANGELA WEISS / AFP
'There's no accountability'
Five American activists from the Centre for Jewish Nonviolence (CJNV) who were also at the scene on Monday said they too had been assaulted by Israeli settlers. They said more than a dozen settlers had attacked the village, wielding batons, knives and at least one assault rifle, following a dispute involving an Israeli settler who was shepherding near a Palestinian home.
Jenna, an activist who asked to be identified by her first name only for fear of retaliation, said she and her colleagues were attacked by around 20 masked settlers when they approached Susya that night. Her group did not witness Ballal's arrest.
"We tried to retreat to the car, and they hit me with sticks," she told CNN, adding that the settlers smashed several of the car's windows and slashed a tire. Video from the car's dash camera shared by CJNV shows a masked individual throwing a rock directly at the windshield, and photos show broken glass littering its interior.
Josh Kimelman, a Jewish American whose father is Israeli, was in the same group. He told CNN that Israeli soldiers witnessed the incident but did nothing to prevent it.
"We told them that they attacked us," Kimelman said. "They said everything will be fine and then stood by us and didn't follow the settlers."
Kimelman said that similar attacks happen frequently, but they don't always get as much attention as they should. "They don't always involve an Oscar-winning filmmaker," he said.
"There's no accountability for settlers who commit violence," he added.
Earlier this month, Ballal, Adra and Abraham had all stood alongside each other to accept the Oscar for best documentary. The joint Israeli-Palestinian team's film recounts the eviction of Palestinians from their homes in the occupied West Bank.
Ballal, a Palestinian farmer, has previously been subject to intimidation and threats by Israeli settlers. He recounted to CNN last year how settlers put their livestock on his land while he was asleep. He told CNN's Nic Robertson the settlers planned to take his land and farm and that their aggression intensified after the deadly Hamas attacks of 7 October 2023.
Ballal had documented his interactions with settlers, including threats of violence from a settler who claimed God had given him Ballal's land.
Ballal said he called the police but to no avail.
"No Other Land" documents the continued demolition by Israeli authorities of Masafer Yatta, a collection of villages in the Hebron mountains of the West Bank where Adra lives with his family. The documentary highlights the Israeli government's efforts to evict the villagers by force, with viewers seeing the local playground being torn down, the killing of Adra's brother by Israeli soldiers, and other attacks by Jewish settlers while the community tries to survive.
Ballal's wife Lamya told CNN that after the Oscar win, settler aggression toward Ballal grew.
"Because he has brought our (suffering) to the entire world and shown what the settlers are doing to us, they want to get revenge on him because the entire world knows what is going on, what the settlers are doing to us," Lamya said.
Israel settler violence has continued to ravage Palestinian villages in the West Bank. The number of herding outposts - established by Israeli settlers to mark their claim - has expanded by nearly 50 percent since the war broke out, according to a joint report shared with CNN by Peace Now and Kerem Navot, two Israeli advocacy groups that oppose settlements and track their development, covering data up to the end of December 2024.
-CNN
