before being detained by the Israeli military. Hamdan Ballal, who co-directed No Other Land, had his house in the Israeli-occupied West Bank surrounded by settlers during an attack last Monday, the activists said. His co-director Yuval Abraham said Mr Ballal was beaten by settlers then taken by soldiers while in an ambulance. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said no Palestinian had been detained from an ambulance. Mr Abraham said on Tuesday afternoon that Mr Ballal had been freed.

The IDF said three Palestinians and an Israeli had been detained on suspicion of ‘rock hurling’ at security forces. Earlier, an activist who was at the scene told the BBC the three detained Palestinians, including Mr Ballal, were injured in the settler attack and were being held at an Israeli police station in the West Bank. They are suspected of throwing stones and injuring a young settler shepherd and were interrogated, the activist said, adding that they had access to a lawyer.

The attack began at about 18:00 (16:00 GMT) last Monday, when around a dozen masked settlers mounted an attack in the village of Susya, five Jewish American activists from Center for Jewish Nonviolence group (CJNV) said. The five said they had gone to the village to document the incident and had come under attack themselves, with settlers smashing their car windows, and punching and hitting them with sticks. Mr Ballal's house is reported to have been surrounded by the settlers. Yuval Abraham, the Israeli director who won the Oscar this month alongside Mr Ballal, said people had been injured and properties destroyed in the attack.

The activist who spoke to the BBC said they had complained to the Israeli soldiers that they were under attack. They said the army initially watched the attack, then approached only as the assault on the car was ending. The soldiers then refused to pursue the settlers, leaving them free to attack houses on the other side of the hill, the activist said. The IDF confirmed that soldiers and police had arrived to disperse the confrontation. They said rocks had been "hurled" at security forces. (BBC/AP)