Israel releases Oscar-winning Palestinian director Hamdan Ballal after attack by Jewish settlers: official

SUSIYA, West Bank, March 25 — The Oscar-winning director of a documentary on the Israel-Palestinian conflict was arrested late on Monday after being injured during a raid by Israeli settlers on his village in the occupied West Bank, a local official who was present said.Hamdan Ballal, co-director of the award-winning “No Other Land”, was attending a gathering for Iftar, the end of the daily Ramadan fast, at Susiya village near Hebron, when a group of settlers attacked the gathering, said Jihad Nawajaa, head of the Susiya local council.“Dozens of settlers attacked the gathering at Iftar,” Nawajaa told Reuters by phone.“The young men came out to prevent them, and there were about eight injuries on our side.”Israeli police arrested three men, including Ballal, who was injured during the standoff, he said.“This is not the first time that the settlers attacked our gathering, but in the recent period the attacks have increased,” he said, adding that the settlers had stolen around 10 sheep from the village during the attack.Monday’s incident was the latest in which Israeli settlers have been accused of raiding Palestinian or Bedouin villages and encampments in the West Bank, sometimes to steal livestock.

Palestinians and activists who monitor such attacks say the police and army typically stand by without intervening.Lamia Ballal, the filmmaker’s wife, said settlers had gathered around the family house and her husband had gone outside to prevent them from breaking in.“The settlers attacked him and started beating him, and then they arrested him, we do not know anything about him,” she told Reuters.Morning Report and Evening Update: Your source for today's top stories Please provide a valid email address.

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Anna Lippman, an American-Canadian from a group called the Center for Jewish Nonv...