The case of Hamdan Ballal: Violence to punish those who speak out

By Cristina Gutiérrez

On Monday, March 24, Hamdan Ballal, one of the Palestinian co-directors of the Oscar-winning documentary "No Other Land," was attacked by a group of Israeli settlers in the village of Susiya in the occupied West Bank. Ballal was attacked outside his home by a group of approximately 20 settlers, who inflicted severe wounds to his head and abdomen. Shortly after the attack, the Israeli army took Ballal into custody at a military base where he was beaten and kept handcuffed overnight, releasing him on Tuesday morning. The Israeli army claimed to have arrested three Palestinians on charges of throwing stones at the military, a claim refuted by witnesses at the scene. 

Earlier this month "No Other Land", directed by Hamdan Ballal, together with Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor, won the Oscar for Best Documentary Feature. The film chronicles the constant abuses and home demolitions carried out by the Israeli army in the Palestinian community of Masafer Yatta in the West Bank and the systematic attacks on the population by Israeli settlers. In the wake of the international recognition gained by the documentary and its Oscar win, the aggressions perpetrated by settlers against the Palestinian population in the West Bank have increased alarmingly as a form of revenge and collective punishment. 

The Oscar for "No Other Land" was a form of validation of Palestinian suffering and gave visibility and recognition to their struggle. It meant shedding light on the injustice that Palestinians live day by day in the West Bank under Israeli occupation and their need for freedom and self-determination. The documentary was also an act of courage on the part of its creators who knew that the work would most likely strike a chord and generate violent reactions from those who do not want the world to see the true face of the occupation. The recent attack on Ballal, along with the increasing indiscriminate attacks by the settlers, is the price they are being made to pay for their success and a way of trying to silence those who seek to raise their voices on this issue.

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