Hamdan Ballal recounts assault by Israeli settlers and soldiers

It was already dark by the time Hamdan Ballal arrived back home on Tuesday evening, after 24 hours in Israeli military and police custody. The night before, around 15 Israeli settlers — armed with knives, batons, and one with a rifle — had stormed his village of Susiya in the occupied West Bank, hurling stones and assaulting residents along with activists who were staying there.

Ballal, the Oscar-winning co-director of “No Other Land” (which he wrote about…