ISRAELI ARMY ARRESTS PALESTINIAN INVOLVED IN OSCAR-WINNING FILM IN WEST BANK

RAMALLAH (Palestine), March 25 (Bernama-Anadolu) -- The Israeli army arrested a Palestinian from the West Bank late Monday who was involved in producing a documentary that won an Oscar earlier this month, Anadolu Ajansi (AA) reported.

Palestinian anti-settlement activist Osama Makhamra, who monitors Israeli violations, told Anadolu that Israeli forces detained Hamdan al-Harini, a contributor to the Oscar-winning film No Other Land, during an assault by illegal settlers on the Susya community in the Masafer Yatta area south of Hebron.

On March 2, No Other Land won the Oscar this year for best documentary at the 97th Academy Awards in Los Angeles.

Co-directed by Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Hamdan Ballal and Rachel Szor, the film spotlights a Palestinian family’s forced displacement from their home in Masafer Yatta by the Israeli government.

During their acceptance speech, the filmmakers called for an end to ethnic cleansing against Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank.

Makhamra detailed that the arrest occurred as illegal settlers attacked Susya, after which Israeli forces and police arrived and detained three people, including al-Harini.

The Israeli daily Haaretz reported that "dozens of settlers assaulted Palestinians in Susya on Monday," injuring al-Harini, a known activist.

Witnesses and international activists told the newspaper that settlers struck al-Harini on the head, 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.

American peace activists at the scene contacted police, who reportedly did not intervene, while settlers fled upon the army’s arrival.

“The forces took the three detainees away, handcuffed and blindfolded, despite one being injured,” he said.

The fate of the detainees remains unknown, with no official comment from Israeli authorities.

Earlier Monday, Makhamra told Anadolu that around 30 Israeli settlers stormed Susya, firing shots into the air and assaulting residents.

Jihad Nuwaja, head of the Susya local council, confirmed that four Palestinians sustained bruises and injuries from the settlers’ attack.

Tension has been running high across the occupied West Bank, where at least 937 Palestinians have been killed and nearly 7,000 injured in attacks by the Israeli army and illegal settlers since the start of the onslaught on Gaza on Oct. 7, 2023, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry.

In July, the International Court of Justice declared Israel’s long-standing occupation of Palestinian territories illegal, calling for the evacuation of all settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

-- BERNAMA-ANADOLU