RAMALLAH (Reuters) – The Oscar-winning director of a documentary on the Israel-Palestinian conflict was arrested late on Monday during a standoff over an attempt by settlers to steal sheep from Palestinian farmers in the occupied West Bank, a witness 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. It was unclear how badly he had been injured.
The Israeli military said police and soldiers intervened after Palestinians threw rocks at the vehicles of Israeli citizens. It said three Palestinians suspected of throwing rocks at them were arrested.
It denied reports that at least one of the Palestinians was arrested in an ambulance.
“No Other Land,” a film about Israeli displacement of a Palestinian community, co-directed by Palestinian and Israeli directors, won the Oscar at this year’s Academy Awards.
(Reporting by Ali Sawafta; Editing by Sharon Singleton)
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