In a quiet West Bank village, Basel Adra and Yuval Abraham sit at night, wondering if Basel will ever visit Yuval’s home freely, if his village will get building permits, or if peace will ever be a reality.
For years, the two friends have documented the destruction of homes, schools, and wells by the Israeli army after a court declared Basel’s community illegal.
Their hope for change has now reached a global audience through No Other Land, a documentary nominated for an Oscar and a BAFTA for Best Documentary Feature.
The film chronicles the struggle over Masafer Yatta, a Palestinian community of 20 villages facing eviction, and highlights Basel and Yuval’s friendship.
Directed over five years by Basel, Yuval, Hamdan Ballal, and Rachel Szor, No Other Land captures heartbreaking scenes of destruction and personal tragedy.
It shows a bulldozer demolishing a primary school, mud being poured into a well, and a soldier shooting a villager in the neck while confiscating a generator. The injured man was paralyzed and later died.
The Israeli army (IDF) defended the shooting, saying it was accidental during a scuffle over a weapon, but Palestinian eyewitnesses claimed the shot was deliberate and noted they were not contacted during the investigation.
Masafer Yatta’s fight began in the 1980s when Israel declared the area a military training zone and claimed residents did not live there permanently.
In 2022, Israel’s Supreme Court sided with the government, paving the way for the demolition of homes and the expulsion of over 1,000 villagers.
The film documents the impact on families forced to move into caves and shows intimate moments of resilience and love in the face of loss.
“We have no other land,” a woman tells her crying daughter as they watch their home being destroyed.
Though No Other Land focuses on the harsh realities of life under occupation, it also explores Basel and Yuval’s complex friendship.
While Yuval, an Israeli journalist, moves freely between Israel and the West Bank, Basel cannot enter Israel without a permit.
Despite their shared values, their starkly unequal realities create tension.
In one scene, a villager asks Yuval, “How can we remain friends when it could be your brother or friend destroying my home?”
Yuval openly admits his complicity.
“The fuel in the bulldozers is my tax money,” he says. His outspokenness has not come without consequences.
After calling for a ceasefire in Gaza during an award acceptance speech in Berlin, Yuval faced death threats and was labeled antisemitic, despite being the grandson of Holocaust survivors.
“It’s absurd,” he said. “Learning from history should teach us to fight against dehumanization—no matter who the victim is.”
Since October 2023, violence in the West Bank has surged, with Israeli settlers attacking Palestinian villages.
According to the UN, 13 Palestinians were killed by settlers, and over 850 were killed by Israeli forces.
Settler attacks have reached record levels, with incidents of assault and property damage at their highest since 2006. While the UK and other governments have condemned the violence, sanctions on settlers remain limited.
Yuval believes real change will only come with international pressure.
“There’s no way forward without a just, fair political solution where Palestinians can truly be free, and both our peoples can have security and self-determination,” he says.
The film’s final scenes are harrowing. Basel films a settler shooting his cousin, whose hands appear empty. Soldiers stand by as settlers throw rocks at Palestinian homes.
The IDF said the case is under investigation, but the community remains skeptical.
“Settlers have unlimited power now,” Basel said, describing daily harassment and arrests of shepherds in his village.
Still, Basel refuses to give up. He recalls a brief visit from former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair, after which Israel canceled demolition orders in his village.
“This is a story about power,” he says in the film.
At a protest, he adds, “One drop of water doesn’t make change. But keep dropping the water, and it will.”
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