The Palestinian co-director of Oscar-winning film “No Other Land” Hamdan Ballal was beaten up by Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank and taken away by Israeli soldiers, his colleagues and eyewitnesses said.
Ballal’s co-director Basel Adra told CNN that he had gone to Ballal’s home in the West Bank village of Susya on Monday after Ballal called him in distress. He arrived to see Ballal and at least one other person being taken away.
Outside Ballal’s home was a group of Israeli settlers, some of whom were throwing stones, Adra said. Israeli police and military were also outside the home and Israeli soldiers were firing at anyone who tried to get close, he added.
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, said Ballal had sustained injuries to his head and abdomen and had not been heard from since. Abraham did not witness the incident himself.
Five American activists from the Center for Jewish Nonviolence (CJNV) who were also at the scene said they too had been assaulted by Israeli settlers.