Palestinian director Hamdan Ballal is detained in Israel and becomes worse after Oscar wins

Hamdan Ballal, Palestinian director who won the Oscar No other landwon the best documentary at the prestigious awards ceremony earlier this month.

“So, they’re attacking me,” he said in a phone interview with CBC News.

“They punished me because I heard this [to the outside world],” he said from his home in Masafer Yatta, a Palestinian village in South Hebron Hills.

The film, co-directed with Palestinian compatriot Basel Adra and Israelis Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor, records Palestinian Palestinians, living under the occupation and striving to stick to their own land.

Israel captured East Jerusalem and the West Bank from Jordan in 1967. Illegal under international law Most of the world.

The West Bank has about 3 million Palestinians living in the Gaza War escalated tensions.

Balalal said he was detained after being beaten by settlers whom he identified as Shem Tov Luski and two soldiers after filming Israeli settlers harassing Palestinian villagers on Monday.

He said his ordeal began around 6 p.m. when a resident of his hometown of Susiya called him to remind him of the existence of the Israelites.

“When I got there, settlers [were throwing] The stone and destroyed the water tank, the car there. ” he said.

When Ballal left to check on his family, he said he was Luski and two soldiers, all armed, and he continued to beat him even if he fell to the ground.

He said his medical request was ignored and he ended up blindfolded and taken to a place where he could stay overnight.

The director said he was worried that he would be killed

The head of Susiya Local Council said trouble began when settlers attacked a party in IFTAR, marking the end of daily fasting during Ramadan.

Militants from a group called the Jewish Center for Nonviolence were summoned to the scene by villagers and said they were also attacked by settlers, showing videos to various news organizations.

Ballal identified settler Luski lived in a nearby settlement called ancient Susiya. Last summer, Israeli human rights group B’tSelem recorded his harassment of Ballal and other Palestinians.

Balaral said he had been threatened by Lusky and other settlers before, but this time he was really worried that he would be killed.

“It got worse after the Oscars,” he said.

In response to a Canadian Broadcasting Corporation news inquiry, the IDF said its soldiers had transferred three Palestinian “detained people” to police, “asking questions about allegedly rock, property damage and endangering regional security.”

The statement also claimed that they were beaten at the IDF detention center at night and said that IDF troops “promoted medical treatment” for the detainees after they transferred it to Israeli police.

“Why do we make this movie”

Palestinians living in occupied territories have faced violence by Jewish settlers in recent years, according to human rights groups, especially those living in “outposts” associated with larger settlements.

The groups that sent monitors to the West Bank, Palestinians, rights groups and militant groups said Israeli troops often cannot stop violence and intimidation by settlers.

The war in Gaza triggered a surge in violence in the West Bank, with the Israeli military conducting military operations, killing hundreds of Palestinians and displaced. Settlement violence and attacks on Israelis are increasing.

When asked if he thought his film might change things, Balalal said he hoped it would be.

“Until now, nothing has changed on the ground,” he said. “But that’s why we made this movie.”