In 2022, an Israeli court greenlit a plan that would displace over 1,000 Palestinians in Masafer Yatta, a region in the occupied West Bank. Residents faced immediate expulsion from their villages and the demolition of their homes, with Israel having classified the region as a closed “firing zone” to be used for military training purposes. The plan was 20 years in the making, with the region under constant threat of destruction in yet another example of Israeli aggression on the occupied Palestinian territories and its people — and how did resident and activist Basel Adra react? He picked up his camera and started shooting.
The documentary “No Other Land,” which premiered yesterday at the 62nd New York Film Festival, is co-directed by Adra, Israeli journalist Yuval Abraham, Hamdan Ballal and Rachel Szor. The collective worked tirelessly and relentlessly to document the incremental demolition of Masafer Yatta’s villages and the subsequent expulsion of its people by Israeli authorities. The film documents the military operation and its resulting arrests, school demolition, forcible separation of families and assault on those attempting to resist.
The forced eviction, as captured by Adra and Abraham, incited widespread protests and demonstrations across Masafer Yatta and the rest of the West Bank, with Palestinians of all ages protesting the mass displacement and demanding an end to the Israeli military occupation of Palestine. “There is no other land but ours,” one elderly woman says, “That is why we suffer for it.” Protesters carried signs calling for military withdrawal from Masafer Yatta and mourned the lives lost in Israel’s assault, taking to the streets with black balloons and Palestinian flags. Dissent was met with grenades, tanks and firearms by the Israeli military.
Over the course of the film, as Adra and Abraham push their way through the brutal occupation and aggression, the two form a friendship — adding a lighthearted layer to what is a devastating film. Their mutual perception and understanding of injustice — elevated further by Abraham’s defiance against his nation — channels a sense of empathy and authenticity that is seldom seen in mainstream media coverage of Palestine. “No Other Land” is an example of what journalism should strive to be: a form of activism. Pure, unfiltered documentation.
One of the film’s prevalent faults is its use of music in establishing a sense of drama and suspense, when the striking camerawork capturing acts of injustice in every respect speaks for itself. Adra, Abraham, Ballal and Szor offer a work of journalistic integrity that is essential and staggering. In the age of Israel’s ongoing siege in the Gaza Strip and its escalating bombardment in southern Lebanon, “No Other Land” is essential viewing.
Contact Yezen Saadah at [email protected].
