Hamdan Ballal, the Palestinian filmmaker and codirector of the Oscar-winning documentary No Other Land, is missing having been set upon and attacked by masked Israeli settlers in his home village of Susya.
Yuval Abraham, who made the film with Ballal, suggested an element of collusion between the settlers and Israeli security personnel, posting, ‘A group of settlers just lynched Hamdan Ballal… They beat him and he has injuries in his head and stomach, bleeding. Soldiers invaded the ambulance he called, and took him. No sign of him since.’
The Center for Jewish Nonviolence, via Associated Press, says Ballal and Palestinians were beaten up by Israeli activists, with further reports suggesting they were armed with sticks and knives. ‘A group of 10-20 masked settlers attacked him and other Jewish activists with stones and sticks, and smashed their car windows and slashed their tires.’
In a statement the Israeli Defence Force said: ‘IDF and Israeli Police forces arrived to disperse the confrontation, at this point, several terrorists began hurling rocks at the security forces.’
Diana Buttu, a Palestinian lawyer and activist, told Al Jazeera that Ballal is likely to ‘face the wrath’ of the Israeli military. Gaza’s Health Ministry, in figures largely regarded as accurate by bodies including the United Nations, says 792 people have been killed and 1,663 injured in the week since Israeli resumed its war against Palestine last week.
No Other Land centres on a Palestinian family living in the West Bank and the destruction of their home by Israel.
25 March: Hamdan Ballal and two other Palestinians have left the police station where they were being detained by Israeli forces for allegedly throwing stones at a young settler, accusations they deny, the Guardian reported.
The three suffered serious injuries from Monday evening’s attack and spent the night on the floor of a military base, said Lea Tsemel, Ballal’s lawyer.
The director’s wife, Lamia Ballal, described that on Monday night she heard her husband screaming, then saw him being beaten by three men in uniform when she looked out the window. ‘Of course, after the Oscar, they have come to attack us more,’ she said. ‘I felt afraid.’
