The Israeli military has confirmed that Palestinian detainees, including Oscar-winning director Hamdan Ballal, received medical treatment and were handcuffed "in accordance with operational protocol." Ballal alleges that police beat him while in custody. The Israeli military has repeatedly rejected those allegations as “baseless. Ballal, whose work documents the struggles of Palestinians under Israeli occupation, insists that neither intimidation from settlers nor government forces will displace him from his home.
Ballal’s determination courts grave risk amidst this day-to-day reality of intensified violence and land acquisition, allegedly intended to further enable the expansion of settlements. Amnesty International has documented this phenomenon, calling out the complicity of Israeli forces in making possible settler aggressions. Such events, like Ballal’s recent experiences, are making the tension in his village palpable. He describes a shocking episode in which settlers hunted down two black farmers, his neighbors, as they returned home after dark.
“To say hi to me? Or to give me flowers? No, they came here to attack, to kill, to push you to leave your home,” Ballal stated, reflecting the grim reality faced by many Palestinians.
Since Israel’s war against Gaza began after Hamas’ attack on October 7, Ballal and his family have mostly stopped farming. The ordeal of war has made them pivot their attention from agricultural production. The warfare has polarized historic tensions, creating dire situations for Palestinians within the occupied territories. According to a joint report by advocacy groups Peace Now and Kerem Navot, the number of settler outposts—often makeshift caravans on hilltops—has surged by nearly 50% since these attacks.
As the number of illegal settler outposts grows, so too does the appropriation of new land. Ballal explores this nuance deeply in his films. Such expansions are often met with the expansion of violence, both from settlers and Israeli security forces. Yet, even under these pressures, Ballal doesn’t waver in his dedication to his land—even when he’s threatened directly. He describes a particularly spooky run-in with a soldier who reportedly menaced him with a firearm.
“At that moment, I thought because of my Oscar, they wanted to kill me,” Ballal told CNN, describing the frightening experience.
Ballal’s defiance is representative of the larger Palestinian struggle today against displacement. Most villagers finally yield to years of constant brutality and violence and flee their ancestral lands. Ballal holds his ground and won’t get on the bandwagon. His commitment is only vaulting higher thanks in part to firsthand experiences and a profound attachment to his native soil.
“When they have the law in their hand, they can do whatever they want,” Ballal remarked, emphasizing the perceived impunity with which settlers operate.
The situation is complicated by international dynamics. In January, former President Trump rescinded Biden-era sanctions on far-right settler groups and individuals accused of violent actions against Palestinians in the West Bank. During his presidency, Trump abandoned the U.S. stance that Israeli settlement expansion in these territories contravenes international law—a stance not shared by most of the international community.
Israel, in turn, opposes any attempt to characterize its treatment of Palestinians as apartheid or ethnic cleansing, coining as antisemitism any such characterization. This position has been the basis of ongoing discord on the international scene.
For Ballal and many of his peers, these profound international political changes have a fatal impact on the day-to-day realities on the ground. His personal narrative is deeply connected to the larger geopolitical undercurrents defining the impacted lives of Palestinians who live in the shadow of occupation. Despite encountering intimidation and violence, standing against this with oppressed workers, Ballal gets strength from his family and his work. His 18-month-old daughter, cradled in his arms, provided a piercing reminder of what’s most important as he stood amongst this chaos, hopeful change was possible.
