KUALA LUMPUR — Palestinian activist and filmaker Hamdan Ballal al-Harini, who co-directed the joint Palestinian-Israeli Oscar-winning film, No Other Land, has been arrested by Israeli soldiers at his West Bank home.
He was also beaten before being taken away late yesterday, Bernama-Anadolu Ajansai reported, citing Palestinian anti-settlement activist Osama Makhamra.
The assault and arrest took place during encroachment by Israel settlers on the West Bank village of Susya.
Hamdan had co-directed No Other Land, about a Palestinian family’s forced displacement from their home by Israeli forces, and the friendship between the displaced Palestinian protagonist and an Israeli journalist who tries to help him.
The film won the Oscar this year for best documentary at the 97th Academy Awards in Los Angeles on March 2.
Hamdan co-directed the film together with Israelis Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor and another Palestinian, activist Basel Adra, who plays the documentary’s protagonist.
During their acceptance speech, the four filmmakers called for an end to ethnic cleansing against Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank.
The assault by Israeli settlers on Hamdan’s village was also reported by Israeli daily Haaretz, which interviewed witnesses and international activists who said that Hamdan was struck on the head. They also said settlers had damaged water tanks, stole security cameras and smashed car windows.
As he was being transported to a hospital in a Red Crescent ambulance, Israeli soldiers—some from an emergency settler unit—stopped the vehicle, detained him, and handed him over to other troops, Haaretz added.
The fate of the detainees remains unknown, with no official comment from Israeli authorities.
According to past reporting by CNN, Hamdan had told the network of his real-life experience of intimidation and threats by Israeli settlers in recent years, and these threats intensified after Hamas attacked Israel on Oct 7, 2023.
Ballal told CNN he had reported these incidents to the police, but no action was taken.
Footage for No Other Land, showing destruction of the Palestinian West Bank community by Israeli settlers, was recorded between 2019 and 2023, before the Hamas attack.
It has won numerous awards at various international film and documentary festivals since its world premiere in Feb 2024. – March 25, 2025