Israeli authorities have released an Oscar-winning Palestinian director who was detained by the army after being attacked by Jewish settlers in the occupied West Bank. He said they beat him in front of his home while filming the assault.
Hamdan Ballal and the other directors of No Other Land, which looks at the struggles of living under Israeli occupation, had mounted the stage at the 97th Academy Awards in Los Angeles earlier this month when it won the award for best documentary film.
On Tuesday, with bruises on his face and blood on his clothes, he was released from an Israeli police station in the West Bank settlement of Kiryat Arba. He and two other Palestinians who had been attacked and detained were driven to a nearby hospital.
Ballal said he was held at an army base and forced to sleep under a freezing air conditioner.
“I was blindfolded for 24 hours,” he told The Associated Press. “All the night, I was freezing. It was a room, I couldn’t see anything…. I heard the voice of soldiers laughing about me.”
Lea Tsemel, the attorney representing the three men, said they received only minimal care for their injuries from the attack and that she had no access to them for several hours after their arrest. She had earlier said they were accused of throwing stones at a young settler, allegations they deny.
Palestinian residents say around two dozen settlers — some masked, some carrying guns and some in military uniforms — attacked the West Bank village of Susiya on Monday evening as residents were breaking their fast during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
Soldiers who arrived pointed their guns at the Palestinians, while settlers continued throwing stones, they said.
The Israeli military said Monday it had detained three Palestinians suspected of hurling rocks at forces and one Israeli civilian involved in what it described as a violent confrontation.
On Tuesday, it referred further queries to police, who did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
