Oscar-winning Palestinian director Hamdan Ballal arrested

The Oscar-winning director of a documentary on the Israel-Palestinian conflict was arrested late on Monday after being injured during a raid by Israeli settlers on his village in the occupied West Bank, a local official said.

Hamdan Ballal, co-director of the award-winning No Other Land, was attending a gathering for Iftar, the end of the daily Ramadan fast, at Susiya village near Hebron, when a group of settlers attacked the gathering, said Jihad Nawajaa, head of the Susiya local council.

“Dozens of settlers attacked the gathering at Iftar. The young men came out to prevent them, and there were about eight injuries on our side,” he said. Israeli police arrested three men, including Ballal, who was injured during the standoff.

Monday’s incident was the latest in which Israeli settlers have been accused of raiding Palestinian or Bedouin villages and encampments in the West Bank, sometimes to steal livestock. Palestinians and activists who monitor such attacks say the police and army typically stand by without intervening. Lamia Ballal, the filmmaker’s wife, said settlers had gathered around the family house and her husband had gone outside to prevent them from breaking in. “The settlers attacked and started beating him, and then they arrested him. We do not know anything about him,” she said.

Anna Lippman, an American-Canadian from a group called the Center for Jewish Nonviolence, said her group had been attacked by settlers after arriving in the village around 15 minutes after the attack began. “Shortly after we were attacked, Hamdan was blindfolded and handcuffed,” she said, adding that other activists had seen him being led to a military vehicle and driven off.