Documentary Chronicles Destruction of Palestinian Community
The 2024 Documentary, No Other Land, won the United States’s highest film award for a documentary feature, netting an Oscar at the 97th Academy Awards for Best Documentary Feature.
The film’s path from inception to international recognition wasn’t easy; the Palestinian and Norwegian co-production faced boycotts, censorship, protests, skittish distributors, and violent reprisals that have served as a parallel struggle alongside the subject of the documentary.
Four Years of Production, 20 Years of Footage
Palestinian activist, Basel Adra, calls the Palestinian settlement of Masafer Yatta his home. For 20 years, he and his family have been documenting the forced expulsion of Palestinians from Masafer Yatta in the West Bank by the Israeli Military.
As a volunteer photographer for B’Tselem, the Israeli non-profit dedicated to documenting human rights violations in Israeli-occupied Palestinian territories, Basel Adra partnered with Israeli journalist Yuval Abraham to create a documentary about Adra’s struggle to resist displacement.
Neither Adra nor Abraham were seasoned filmmakers; in fact, none of the main collaborators on their team had ever created a feature film.
Contrasting Abraham’s freedom of movement as an Israeli citizen against the restrictions imposed upon Adra as a Palestinian, the film features raw instances of Palestinians protesting the destruction of their own homes. In one instance, Israeli soldiers shoot a Palestinian man, Harun Aram, as he tries to prevent the theft of his electric generator. He is paralyzed and left homeless due to the destruction of his home. Eventually, he succumbs to his injuries due to lack of medical care.
The team filmed over four years, and accessed Adra’s 20+ year archive of home film in order to create the final documentary.
The Power of Film
In a world where eyewitness accounts rarely lead to justice, the power of film is often the only defense that the oppressed have.
In an interview with Canadian magazine POV, Adra said:
“The camera is a main part of our community. It started around 2000 and it’s playing a role of [providing] evidence. This documentation is important for us. First of all, it shows the truth, it shows our lives to the world, and it shows the injustice that we are living and going through. Second of all, these videos and this evidence helps us a lot of time. For example, people might end up in jail because a soldier or a settler created a lie, like “this Palestinian guy attacked me,” or “he was throwing stones,” or “they’re in my field.” If we say the opposite, we will not be believed, but if we come with a video, the evidence shows that these settlers were shooting, these settlers were in the field, or these settlers came to our home with soldiers to attack us. It’s the only tool that we have to fight with.”
Since its production and release, No Other Land has become an international tool used to share an unvarnished look at the violence and displacement to which Palestinian families are subjected.
A Critical Darling That Faced Many Protests
No Other Land debuted at the 74th Berlin International Film festival, where it won the Berlinale Documentary Film Award. Co-directors Adra and Abraham called for a ceasefire in their acceptance speech, leading to Israeli news channels calling him “antisemitic,” and causing a flood of death threats.
Undaunted, the film screened in numerous other film fests across the globe, winning 34 film awards, including the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature at the 97th Academy Awards, with Adra becoming the first Palestinian filmmaker to win an Academy Award. In his speech, Adra called for the world to “stop the injustice and stop the ethnic cleansing of Palestinian people.” Abraham called out the mistreatment of Palestinian families at the hands of the Israeli government, saying, “When I look at Basel, I see my brother. But we are unequal. We live in a regime where I am free under civilian law and Basel is under military laws that destroy his life and he cannot control. There is a different path: a political solution without ethnic supremacy, with national rights for both of our people.”
Even after winning an Oscar, Adra and Abraham still had a hard time securing distribution for their film in the United States. A distribution agreement with Mubi fell through when the team discovered that Sequioa, the private equity firm, had invested in Mubi. As Sequoia also had previously invested in Israeli military intelligence tech startup, Kela, the team could not in good conscience partner with Mubi.
Eventually, they secured distribution via streaming services in the United States. Today, No Other Land is available to rent on Amazon Prime, Apple TV, and YouTube, among other streaming platforms.
Violent Reprisals Haunt the Town of Masafer Yatta
In the years since the film’s release, Adra and the residents of Masafer Yatta have faced violent attacks — reprisals for showing the truth about Masafer Yatta. One of the co-directors of the film, Palestinian filmmaker Hamdan Ballal, was violently attacked by Israeli settlers in his own home. After being beaten bloody, Israeli soldiers removed him from an ambulance and detained him at a military base. Ballal recounted that he was beaten by Israeli soldiers in captivity. “They were laughing about me… I heard ‘Oscar’ but I didn’t speak Hebrew.”
Awdah Hathaleen, a consultant on No Other Land, was fatally shot by Israeli settler Yinon Levi when he opened fire on a group of Palestinians who were trying to prevent an Israeli settler’s bulldozer from illegally plowing through Palestinian olive groves. As of 2026, Yinon Levi has not been charged with a crime. However, thanks to footage of the shooting, the Israeli government in February 2026 stated their intention to charge Yinon Levi with the killing — an extremely rare example of legal consequences for Israeli settler violence in Palestine.
Masafer Yatta and Residents Still in Limbo
Even after the international scrutiny that No Other Land brought to the forced resettlement of Masafer Yatta, the Palestinian residents of Masafer Yatta remain in legal limbo, regularly attacked by Israeli settlers who chip away at the Palestinian land through coordinated attacks on livestock, homes, and olive groves. +972, the magazine that employed Yuval Abraham, reported in early 2026 of a highly orchestrated attack spearheaded by settlers and supported by Israeli soldiers, in which settlers stole hundreds of goats and uprooted 500 olive trees. Israeli soldiers restrained Palestinian residents while settlers beat them – in some cases breaking bones.
Documentation Preserves Truth, But It Cannot Act Alone
Documenting the truth through films such as No Other Land is a powerful tool in countering violence and disinformation, but it alone cannot protect vulnerable populations from violence. As Adra said in his interview with POV magazine…
“What’s happening to us is not just because of the Israelis, because Israel’s getting support from Western governments like the U.S., Canada, and other governments. People need to see what their money is serving and need to act because they have responsibility, not just from solidarity perspective, but their governments who are supporting it. This needs to stop and people need to act about it, talk about it, vote for the right people. I would ask them to keep protesting to end this injustice and this occupation.”
Abraham added:
“Actions needs to match the rhetoric. Canada has expressed a lot of rhetoric about the need for a two state-solution and the need for a political solution. But I don’t think they have taken sufficient action that would help us achieve that on the ground. They need to know that there are Palestinians and Israelis who want that and would want them to take more action to actually use the tools that they have to pressure the Israeli governments to end this occupation and to reach a political solution. This is what we dream about and we hope to see in our lifetimes.”
Help End Injustice Today
You can help end the mistreatment of Palestinian families in the West Bank. Contact your representative and demand they urge Israel to halt the forced resettlement of Masafer Yatta.
