NO OTHER LAND PHOTOGRAPHS ONGOING HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS
A docudrama, No Other Land films Israelis as they forcibly take over land in the West Bank occupied by Palestinians for centuries. Filming starts in 2019 by showing how 1,000 Palestinians live in standard housing within Masafer Yatta, a group of 20 Palestinian villages in the mountainous southern tip of the West Bank. Although Israel declared in 1980 that the area was to become a training area for tanks of the Israel army, the decision was then challenged by Palestinians in court. The filming is most intense after the Israeli high court rules in favor of eviction in 2022.
In the beginning, Palestinians hear sounds from the Israeli army, wondering what will come next. And, just as they feared, army equipment arrives. Filmviewers then see exactly how homes and even a school are demolished by bulldozers. An Israeli named Ilan is in charge of the demolitions, wearing mirrored sunglasses. Palestinians are ordered to leave the area. They are forbidden to build homes without a permit, and no such permits are issued. But rather than evacuate and live in urban Hebron, some re-establish homes within caves. “We have no other land, that’s why we suffer for it,” says an older woman after her home is destroyed. At another point, a woman screams, “My daughters are still in there!” as a soldier pushes her out the door of her home. The soldier responds, “Doesn’t matter,” clearly trained to have no concern for Palestinian human life. In another scene, soldiers pour cement into the community’s water well. Shots are fired, with some deaths and casualties appearing on screen.
An alliance develops in the film between Palestinian activist Basel Adra and Israeli journalist Yuval Abraham. The co-directors are Yuval Abraham, Basel Adra, Hamdan Ballal, and Rachel Szor. During the film Yuval also writes news articles about the events. Filming ends in 2023, just before Hamas unleashes a terrorist attack at Israel, as if a response to the gradual takeover of Palestinian lands despite UN Resolution 252 of 1968 (never mentioned in the film) that bans such activity. Evidently triggered by Israel’s war in Gaza, Israeli settlers evicted 16 more Palestinian villages in the West Bank during the past year, and a 17th occurred while the film premiered in Los Angeles during the last week of February 2025.
The Political Film Society has nominated No Other Land as best film exposé, best film on human rights, and best film on the need for democracy and peace for 2025. MH