West Bank: Settlers attack film crew
Film directors join left-wing organization on tour of south Mount Hebron area to document human rights violations against Palestinians; attacked by group of young settlers who attempt to suck Palestinian’s water well dry. Director says, ‘it is not long before the weapon of a Jew is aimed not only at Arabs in Shfaram but at Jews in Ramat Hasharon and Dizengoff Street (Tel Aviv)’
Members of the left-wing group Ta’ayush – Arab Jewish Partnership and two film directors who accompanied them were attacked by settlers as they were touring the south Mount Hebron region last Saturday.
The film directors, Nissim Mousak and , joined the tour to document what the organization refers to as human rights violations by the settlers against Palestinians residing in the area.
Alexanderovitch was struck in the head with a rifle by a hooded settler, who also attempted to grab the director’s camera. Mousak documented the incident with his video camera; the settlers soon spotted him, but he was able to escape and salvage the video tape before his camera was snatched.
“For the past two years I have been shooting a film on the activities of Ta’ayush in the south Mount Hebron region; this is not the first time I witnessed an attack, but it was definitely one of the more brutal incidents,” Mousak said.
The next Natan Zada?
“We stopped to film a group of young settlers who had opened the water well of a Palestinian with the intent of sucking it dry. They ran towards us. I saw a masked settler armed with an M-16 rifle lunge at Alexanderovitch. I did not stop filming, and when another armed settler spotted me, he and five of his friends attacked me as well. I managed to take the tape out of the camera just before they stole it and ran with it to the settlement.”
Mousak continued: They punctured our car’s tires and ran away only when IDF troops approached. If the rifle of the next Natan Zada would have been cocked, a bullet may have been fired accidentally – and who knows how it would have ended. Their brutal behavior shows that it is not long before the weapon of a Jew is aimed not only at Arabs in Shfaram but at Jews in Ramat Hasharon and Dizengoff Street (Tel Aviv). These people hold rifles with the State’s approval.
Mousak has filed a complaint with the Hebron Police Department and transferred footage of the incident to investigators.
