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FILM REVIEW: ‘No Other Land’ directed by Basel Adra, Hamdan Ballal, Yuval Abraham, and Rachel Szor

While reading about the ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas, I have been watching a powerful documentary about the plight of West Bank villagers under siege by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and violent ultra-nationalist settlers, whom the army allows to operate with impunity.

Sunday morning, January 19, the long-awaited agreement between Israel and Hamas for a ceasefire and hostage release went into effect, setting off celebrations in Gaza. Under the agreement, in the first six-week stage, around 1,650 Palestinians will be released from Israeli prisons. Meanwhile 33 of around 95 hostages—some alive, some dead—will be freed by Hamas and other groups such as Palestinian Islamic Jihad. Israeli forces will withdraw from population centers; Palestinians will be allowed to start returning to their homes in northern Gaza. There will be a surge of humanitarian aid in Gaza, with around 600 trucks entering each day.

The fragile agreement has another two steps, and there are probably myriad ways that it can be undermined over the next months by the actions of the two parties involved, so the conflict can again turn violent. (A permanent peace deal has not yet been finalized.) While reading about the agreement, I have been watching a powerful documentary, “No More Land,” that is about the plight of West Bank villagers under siege by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and violent ultra-nationalist settlers, whom the army allows to operate with impunity. Yes, it is shot sympathetic to only one side in the conflict, since it is a directorial collaboration between Palestinian activist Basel Adra and Israeli journalist Yuval Abraham, who speaks Arabic and is totally sympathetic towards the plight of the villagers. (There are two other directors as well.) The film depicts the despair and hopelessness of displaced Palestinian villagers in Adra’s home territory, displaying feelings that have existed long before Hamas’ unconscionable onslaught on Israel and Israel’s murderous retribution in Gaza. In the film, there is no sign of Hamas or Hezbollah, just West Bank villagers being oppressed, a reality that has long existed under Israeli occupation.

“No Other Land,” 2024. Photo courtesy of L’Atelier Distribution.

Yuval has established a close personal relationship with Basel, who is a resident of Masafer Yatta, a network of Palestinian villages in the southern Hebron Hills subject to an aggressive campaign of demolition and forced transfer by the Israeli army. The IDF behaves brutally, bulldozing the villagers’ houses and a children’s school in session, claiming the land is needed for training the army and a firing range. The IDF forces many of the villagers to leave and others to live in caves. The villagers led by Basel, with many women and children participating, engage in protest marches that the IDF breaks up—sometimes violently using stun grenades and tear gas, paralyzing and killing one villager. Basel suffers from despair and a depletion of energy, and he feels his life is constricted, unable to acquire a permit to visit Israel. On the other hand, as an Israeli citizen, Yuval is free to come and go by car from Israel to the West Bank and back again. And he continues to try, with no effect, to talk to the IDF soldiers about why they are destroying homes.

One of the other directors involved is a Palestinian, Bellal, who talks aloud about how he could not maintain a friendship with Yuval, given the circumstances. Yuval asserts he is an ally, but Bellal bitterly responds asking what help Yuval’s commitment provides him.

The talk between Yuval and Basel is profoundly pessimistic, conveying the feeling that the “world is going crazy” and there is no stability in the West Bank. The film concludes right before Hamas attacked in October 2023. The film does much less with the daily life of the West Bank villagers than with roiling, seemingly insoluble conflict that defines life there. Still, it is a powerful statement that should be seen about the commitment of the Palestinians to their land despite the occupation.

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