Hamdan Ballal was attacked by masked men in his home village in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, witnesses said. The Israeli military said he was being held for questioning.
Read in Spanish
The Palestinian director of the Oscar-winning documentary “No Other Land” was beaten bloody outside his home by Israeli settlers and detained by Israeli authorities in the occupied West Bank on Monday evening, witnesses said.
Director Hamdan Ballal was attacked in Susiya, his home village, by at least 20 masked men, mostly teenagers, armed with rocks, sticks and knives, according to Joseph Kaplan Weinger, 26, who said he stumbled upon the attack after it began. Mr. Weinger is part of a volunteer initiative that provides protection in areas vulnerable to settler violence.
It is unclear what prompted the attack, but Mr. Weinger, who is also a doctoral student in sociology at the University of California, Los Angeles, said the group struck Susiya, which is south of Hebron, and attacked West Bank residents as they broke their fast during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. Some mockingly shouted holiday blessings as they did so, he said.
Mr. Weinger said he began honking his car horn in an attempt to alert nearby Israeli soldiers of the attack, but Israeli forces prevented him and his two companions from reaching Mr. Ballal's home.
“The soldiers were just standing around,” he said. “Later, when we arrived, we saw his blood on the ground.”
Mr. Ballal, 37, was one of three Palestinians detained, according to witnesses and Israeli military officials. Leah Zemel, a lawyer representing the detainees, said she had been told they were being held at a military center for treatment before being interrogated, but did not know the reason for their detention.
The Israeli military said in a statement that “several terrorists” threw stones at Israeli civilians, damaging their vehicles near Susiya and triggering a “violent confrontation” that included “stone-throwing between Palestinians and Israelis.” The military said that when its forces and police arrived, the “terrorists” began throwing stones at them.
