Oscar-winning Palestinian director released after arrest

The Oscar-winning director of a documentary on the Israel-Palestinian conflict was released from detention on Tuesday, a day after being injured and arrested during a raid by Israeli settlers on his village in the occupied West Bank.

Hamdan Ballal, co-director of the award-winning "No Other Land", said he had been assaulted by settlers after filming them attacking a neighbour's house and then returning to make sure his own house was not attacked, Reuters reports.

"I was just waiting outside, if any settlers or any army were attacking my home," he told Reuters after being released from police custody.

He said he had been pushed to the ground, while soldiers yelled at him to stand up and pointed their guns at him. "It's crazy, you can imagine your family, your kids inside the home and you need to protect them," he said.

Shortly before the incident, in which he ended up being arrested by Israeli security forces, a group of settlers attacked a gathering for Iftar, the end of the daily Ramadan fast, at Susiya village near Hebron.

"Dozens of settlers attacked the gathering at Iftar," Jihad Nawajaa, head of the Susiya local council, 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.

"This is not the first time that the settlers attacked our gathering, but in the recent period the attacks have increased," Nawajaa 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.