Palestinian behind Oscar-winning documentary arrested by Israeli army

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM: The Palestinian co-director of the Oscar-winning documentary “No Other Land” was attacked by settlers and arrested by the Israeli army on Monday in the occupied West Bank, according to his co-director Yuval Abraham.

In a post on X, Abraham said a “group of settlers” had set upon 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,” Abraham wrote.

The incident took place in the southern West Bank village of Susiya, according to the anti-occupation NGO Center for Jewish Nonviolence, whose members said they filmed the events first-hand.

The army said it was verifying the information when questioned by AFP.

Israel has occupied the West Bank since 1967.

“No Other Land”, which was directed by Israeli-Palestinian activists, won best documentary at this year’s Academy Awards.

Shot in nearby Masafer Yatta, the documentary follows a young Palestinian struggling with forced displacement as the Israeli army tears down his community’s homes to make space for a firing zone.

The Israeli army declared Masafer Yatta a restricted military zone in the 1980s.

The West Bank, excluding Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem, is home to around three million Palestinians as well as nearly half a million Israelis who live in settlements that are illegal under international law.