“I started to film when we started to end.”

No Other Land, codirected by Basel Adra and Yuval Abraham, is a documentary on the annexation of Palestinian land by Israel. Basal narrates how the army asked for the farmers’ permission to only build a road. Today there are settler communities there. It follows the friendship of Basel Adra and Yuval Abraham, a guy who begins filming the devastation of his community in Palestine and the journalist who joins him in exposing the tale to the world. The film has been in production for five years and is available on Apple TV+ and Prime Video.

Basel Adra, a young Palestinian activist, has been protesting Israel’s military displacement of his people in Masafer Yatta, a West Bank area, since he was a youngster. There is over 20 years of occupation footage. He fights the steady devastation of his hometown with the only weapon he is allowed; a camera. In his hometown, the Israeli forces demolish houses and displace residents in order to create a military firing zone.

Eventually, Adra befriends Yuval, a Jewish Israeli journalist who helps him in his battle. Received sceptically by Basel’s community, Yuval eventually uncovers several stories never published in mainstream Israeli media. They create an unexpected relationship. Their friendship is tested by the vast difference in their living conditions: Basel is constantly oppressed and facing violence, whilst Yuval has freedom and security. The documentary is yet another testament to the recorded and documented atrocities committed by the Israeli military that courts turn a blind eye to.

In an interview clarifying how the situation in the Palestinian West Bank is split, Basel explained how The Oslo Accords (1995) split the Palestinian West Bank into three administrative zones: Area A (18 percent), where the Palestinian Authority controls both civil and security concerns; Area B (22 percent), where the PA administers only civil matters; and Area C (60 percent), where Israel retains complete sovereignty. The living conditions worsen further as Israeli settlers attack Palestinians burning homes, breaking cars, cutting water lines and wires with chainsaws, filling wells and murder people, all backed by the military. Shots from the film include people removing belongings from rubble and children looking perplexed as their houses, schools and playgrounds are demolished. When they march—an anguished crew with a banner stating ‘Palestinian Lives Matter,’ they are confronted with stun grenades.

“Area C where I live is under complete military control. You want to build a house, you have to ask the military; you want clean water, you ask the military; you want to move a stone, it goes through the Israeli military rules.”

When Isreal picks up the guns, they leave no stone unturned in ravaging and razing through a land that is not theirs to begin with. With over 61,709 civilians including 17,492 children brutally tortured, murdered, burnt and carpet-bombed in an area measuring barely 41 kilometres (25 miles) long to 6 to 12 km (3.7 to 7.5 mi) wide over the span of just fifteen months, the statistics appear to be farfetched. Yet, somehow Palestinians lived through it. This, however, was not enough to quench the thirst of Palestinian blood for the Israelis.

The war did not begin on October 7. The ceasefire deal may seem to avert the eyes away from the Gaza strip. However, the atrocities in the West Bank picked up pace the second the ceasefire deal was signed. On January 21, Israel began an assault on Jenin and its refugee camp, killing at least 26 Palestinians. The attack was then extended to the city of Tulkarem, where at least three Palestinians died. The Israeli escalation in the West Bank followed a ceasefire and prisoner exchange agreement reached in Gaza on January 19.

Israel frequently exploits the pretext of a lack of construction licences to demolish Palestinian homes, particularly in Area C of the occupied West Bank. Israel exploded 20 apartment complexes in Damaj neighbourhood of Jenin as part of Operation Iron Wall, that has displaced more than 20,000 Palestinians. Furthermore, Israeli military killed 50 ‘terrorists’ who were just civilians and arrested another 100. So has the Israeli government acquiesced the ceasefire deal just to put a kibosh on any other deals safeguarding Palestinian rights in the West Bank? The answer is a massive ‘yes’ following Isreal’s largest single demolition operation in the West Bank since 1967.

“Your life becomes a story of building a home – once, twice- seven, ten times “

No Other Land is a crucial film for raising awareness about the relentless oppression and devastating living conditions endured by Palestinians under Israeli occupation. Co-directed by Palestinian activist Basel Adra and Israeli journalist Yuval Abraham, the documentary offers an unfiltered, firsthand portrayal of the systematic violence, land confiscation and forced evictions carried out by the Israeli military, particularly in the West Bank.

Unlike mainstream media narratives that often sanitise or justify Israeli actions, this film captures the harrowing reality of Palestinian displacement, the destruction of homes and the sheer resilience of those fighting to exist in their own land.

What makes No Other Land particularly impactful is the collaboration between a Palestinian and an Israeli, challenging the perception that oppressive government policies are universally supported by its population. By recording these ongoing crimes using direct, on-the-ground footage, the film demonstrates that the occupation is a continual and systematic violation of human rights, rather than a historical matter. It forces spectators to confront the harsh realities of life under occupation, cutting through political rhetoric to highlight the suffering of ordinary people who have been dehumanised.

No Other Land is more than simply a documentary; it’s an act of resistance; a tribute to the resilience of individuals who refuse to be erased; and a call to action for viewers worldwide to demand justice, accountability and an end to apartheid.

“We have to raise our voices, not being silent as if… as if no human beings live here.”

The Palestinians have no other land. They are the natives. The guests they once welcomed because the world shut their doors on them now have the hosts wandering the streets with keys to their houses hung around their necks – a symbol of the land they own but are not allowed to set foot in.

The writer has a degree in psychology with a minor in mass communication. She can be reached at ukmaryam2@gmail.com