Ballal’s co-director said he had been attacked by Israeli settlers and then taken away by soldiers
Calls have grown for the release of Palestinian filmmaker Hamdan Ballal — the co-director of the Oscar-winning documentary No Other Land — after his co-director said he had been assaulted by settlers and taken away by soldiers in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said they detained Ballal, along with two other Palestinians, on suspicion of throwing rocks during a clash near Susya in the West Bank, Israeli media reported.
Newsweek has reached out to the IDF for comment.Why It Matters
The incident has drawn attention to the high tensions in the West Bank, which have escalated alongside Israel’s war against Palestinian militant group Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
Palestinians seek both territories for an eventual state, but the expansion of Israeli settlements in the West Bank in the decades since Israel captured the territories in the 1967 Middle East war has complicated prospects for peace. Most countries regard the settlements as illegal.What We Know
Ballal was attacked by Israeli settlers in the West Bank, according to Israeli media reports that quoted anti-settlement activists and his Israeli co-director Yuval Abraham.
