I WANT you to watch a documentary that will infuriate, pierce your heart, make you weep and cause sleepless nights — as it did for me. Because it’s not enough to imagine what Palestinians endure every day as we catch snippets of images on TV or social media feeds, desensitising us as constant exposure to violence can do.

We must watch No Other Lands to understand what it is like to live in fear of Israelis — soldiers and settlers — coming to evict you from your home. And then watch what happens when they tear your home down in front of your eyes, unaffected by your screams and pleas. And then you are forced to live in a cave, carrying on as normal as possible because the other choice is to leave.

No Other Land tells the story of Palestinian villagers resisting Israel’s cruel efforts to forcibly evict them from their lands in Masafer Yatta. It is a joint production of Palestinian and Israeli filmmakers, filmed over five years, right up till the Hamas attack on Israel. It focuses on Palestinian activist and filmmaker Basel Adra and Israeli journalist Yuval Abraham, who is against the occupation. Their bond is as central to the film as Israel’s brutal actions against the residents resisting their assault.

You will not forget the father trying to calm his young daughters as they watch their home razed to the ground. Or as the mother shouts at the soldiers, begging them not to raze the toilet at least. Moments later, Israeli soldiers open fire and a young man, Harun is shot. He is paralysed from the shoulders down. It is heartbreaking to watch his mother grieve over his just-shot body. You will then see how Harun returns to live in a cave with his family, being shifted from hospital bed to a mattress on the floor by family members using a blanket as a ‘stretcher’ to move him. He cannot leave to get medical treatment. In one scene, his mother sits next to him, when they hear some sounds, perhaps footsteps, fearing another Israeli raid; he asks “who is coming?” She replies “nobody is coming.”

What is it like to watch one’s home being razed to the ground?

In 2019, around 2,500 Palestinians faced forced expulsion from Masafer Yatta, in the south of the West Bank in the occupied territories. Israel claims the villagers have built illegally on military training land. Palestinians deny this. It doesn’t matter what they say; we watch as Israel comes to raze houses, schools, even a chicken coop.

“I don’t think we can have security if Palestinians don’t have freedom,” Abraham tells Democracy Now. We also watch the hate Abraham receives from Israelis for advocating for Palestinians. After a painful demolition, a Palestinian man tells Abraham he may not be accepted here anymore.

In one touching scene between the two friends, late at night, Adra — who cannot leave the West Bank — tells Abraham — who can move freely — they should leave the place together. Where will we go, asks Abraham. The Maldives replies Adra, as a donkey neighs in the background. Abraham replies “the donkey is laughing at your plan.”

Adra gets his activism from his parents, and we see family home videos documenting the father’s resistance. They would rebuild after homes were destroyed. They built a school in secret, at night away from authorities’ eyes. That school was also visited by former British prime minister Tony Blair in 2009. In archival footage from that visit, Blair passes Adra’s home where his father stands. In a voice-over, Adra says Israel did not order any demolition of a school or house on the street Blair walked on. This is a powerful testament to … well … power.

One day the soldiers come to des­troy a chicken coop. Young children try to rescue a small pig-eon buried under the rubble as someone yells “Basel … come here, keep filming, they are here”, and the camera rushes across to where the soldiers are climbing a mountain. “I’m filming you,” Adra shouts. “You are just like criminals expelling us.” A soldier warns against coming closer or he’ll arrest him. On what grounds screams Adra as they grab him, a scuffle ensues before the camera falls to the ground and you hear his screams but he manages to escape. They return the next day to arrest his father. It is distressing to say the least.

It is a world, as Adra says, built on division. Yellow licence plates for Israeli cars who can travel anywhere and green licence plates for Palestinian cars that can’t leave the West Bank. Israel controls both.

Every week a family must decide whether to endure these hardships or leave their land, ie, lose their land. It is more challenging to stay on their lands yet many do so. It is an urgent film and I hope it receives the Oscar it is nominated for so it gets wider reach.

The writer is a journalism instructor.

X: @LedeingLady

Published in Dawn, February 2nd, 2025