Witnesses said that Israeli settlers beat the Palestinian director of the Oscar-winning documentary “no other land” near his home on Monday night and were detained by Israeli authorities on Monday night.
According to 26-year-old Joseph Kaplan Weinger, director Hamdan Ballal has at least 20 masked men, mainly teenagers armed with rocks, sticks and knives in his hometown of Susya, his hometown of Susya. Mr. Weinger is part of a volunteer initiative that provides protection in areas vulnerable to settler violence.
It is unclear what triggered the attack, but Mr. Weiling, also a PhD student in sociology at Los Angeles, said the organization had arrived in Susya, south of Hebron and attacked West Bank residents as they broke the fast during the St. Muslim month of Ramadan. He said some ridiculed people shouting holiday wishes.
Mr Wenger said he began honking his horn in an attempt to remind nearby Israeli soldiers to conduct the attack, but Israeli forces prevented him and two companions from reaching Mr Balar’s home.
“The soldiers stood up,” he said. “Later, when we got there, we saw his blood.”
Mr. Paleral, 37, is one of three Palestinians detained, according to witnesses and the Israeli military. Leah Zemel, the attorney representing the detainees, said she was told they were previously detained at a military medical center but she had no idea why she was detained.
The Israeli military said in a statement that “several terrorists” threw rocks at Israeli citizens, damaged their vehicles near Suaa and prompted “violent confrontation” to involve “reciprocal rock between Palestinians and Israelis.” The military said that when its troops and police arrived, “terrorists” threw stones at them.
The statement said three Palestinians suspected of throwing rocks and Israeli civilians were “further questioned by Israeli police.” It said Israel was injured and transported to receive medical treatment.
As the Israeli military has been conducting fierce attacks on the West Bank, the attack on Mr. Balaral was a part of an effort to combat radical groups. Historians say the operation has focused on the northern West Bank since January, forcing more than 40,000 Palestinians to flee their homes, the largest displacement of civilians on the territory since the Arab-Israel War in 1967.
Mr. Ballar is one of four directors – the others are the Palestinian-Israel collective Basel Adra, Rachel Szor and Yuval Abraham, which won the Oscar for Best Documentary this month. The film chronicles the demolition of houses in or near the village of Masafer Yatta, where Mr Adra is from, claimed by Israeli forces that the area has a military training ground for on-site fires.
The documentary captures the destruction between 2019 and 2023 and archival videos. It was released last year in Israel’s expansion of the West Bank settlement, encouraged by far-right Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. According to the UN Humanitarian Coordination Bureau, violence against Palestinians has increased due to the expansion, and the agency has tracked violence in the region.
The Palestinian authorities’ official news agency WAFA reported that settlers attacked Masafer Yatta hours before the director won the Oscar.
Susya also engaged in a lasting legal battle with the Israeli government over its plans to undermine the plan and move residents of the areas Israel considers to be archaeological sites.
Mr Weiger, who spent the past few months in South Hebron Hills, said attacks in the area became more frequent during Ramadan. “There’s something almost every day,” he said.
Another Palestinian director of the film, Mr Adra, said on social media that he arrived in Sua shortly after the violent eruption on Monday night and saw masked attackers throwing stones. Israeli soldiers then arrived, but he said instead of arresting the attackers, they pointed the rifle at the Palestinians and began to move in their direction.
Mr Adra said he was dispersed with the others on the scene and later saw soldiers taking Mr Balalal away.
Chase Carter, spokesman for the Jewish Center for Nonviolence, linked Jewish activists with Palestinians in the West Bank for documentary and human rights work, said five Jewish American activists who went to the scene to record the attacks were beaten by settlers. He said settlers smashed cars with the militants inside with rocks.
Adra recalls on social media that he, Ballal and the creators of the film were only a few weeks ago when he was reviewed at the Oscars.
“But we always knew we had to return to this reality because unfortunately the world did not help end careers,” he said.
Alissa Wilkinson,,,,, Aaron Boxerman and Natan Odenheimer Contribution report.
