After Winning an Oscar for No Other Land, Palestinian Filmmakers Returned Home to ‘Same Reality’ of Occupation, Violence, Palestinian Rights Committee Hears
Speakers Discuss Growing Collusion Between Israeli Settlers, State Apparatus
After winning the Oscar for No Other Land, the film’s Palestinian co-directors returned to occupation and violence, the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People heard today in a meeting where several speakers drew attention to the increasing collusion between Israeli settlers and the State apparatus.
Basel Adra, one of the three co-directors of No Other Land, said he grew up seeing bulldozers entering Palestinian communities and destroying homes. But this was so routine that journalists were not interested in covering it. So, as a teenager, he started carrying a camera and filming because he wanted the world to see what it was like to live under brutal occupation.
Five years ago, he started working on the documentary with friends, he said, adding that the movie succeeded beyond expectations. “But even after winning the Oscar, we went back to the same reality,” he observed. He detailed many harrowing stories of violence, destruction and arbitrary detention. Three weeks after the Oscars, settlers attacked a mosque in the village of one of his co-directors, Hamdan Ballal. About 20 settlers started vandalizing the village. Hamdan tried to protect his family by locking the door of his house and standing outside, but two soldiers started beating him, and then abducted him and two other Palestinians to a military base. He spent 20 hours in the base, handcuffed and blindfolded while soldiers mistreated him — when he was brought to interrogation, he was accused of attacking the settler and only after he paid a fine was he able to leave and get medical treatment.
Detailing several such stories of violence, destruction and detention, Mr. Adra said it is Israeli State policy to enable radical right-wing terrorist settlers. The soldiers and police provide not only impunity but also support to settlers attacking communities in the West Bank. He also highlighted an Israeli court decision to designate the area of Masafer Yatta, which contains several Palestinian villages, as a “firing zone” for the Israeli military to do military exercises. The struggle against the occupation is something he inherited from his father and grandfather, he said, hoping that his daughter will be able to live without the weight of occupation.
Events in Masafer Yatta Village in West Bank Part of Larger Policy to Create Settler Regime
What is happening in Masafer Yatta is part of a larger policy of creating a “settler regime”, Netta Amar-Shiff, human rights lawyer, speaking via video, said. The village of Jinba in Masaffer Yatta that was attacked repeatedly last week was long a vital economic and cultural centre, she said. She also detailed a court case in which Palestinians presented the history of Masafer Yatta and requested that its designation as a “firing zone” be overturned. Sharing some of the historical evidence presented to the court, she showed an 1879 Palestine Exploration Fund Map as well as pages from a book about the Hebron Hill cave dwellers. The book details an archaeological study of the region, including the discovery of ancient grain containers called ”suma’a” — the author concludes that their presence is a signal of historic permanent residency. Regardless, the court dismissed all these findings.
Masafer Yatta has been a target of extensive settlement activities since 7 October 2023, she said. But “this is not the same military we know from before 7 October,” she said, adding that while settler violence has long been linked with Israel’s expansion, now armed settlers have been formally incorporated into the regular military forces — they receive drones, vehicles, arms and technology. Human rights lawyers such as her are fast running out of solutions as judicial remedies disappear, she said, adding that an immediate international intervention is crucial. From her Mizrahi Jewish perspective, she said, “it is not just a necessity to end the conflict, it is an honour and a blessing.”
Humanitarian Workers, More Aid Cannot Resolve Conflict; Solution Is Political
The Committee also heard from Younis Khatib, President of the Palestine Red Crescent Society, who recalled how his organization used to have a training centre in Masafer Yatta to train young Palestinians until six years ago when the Israeli army prevented the Red Crescent from reaching that area. Recently, the Israeli Defence Minister, Israel Katz, said that the West Bank is the heart of Israel, he said, adding that what is happening right now in Masafer Yatta is part of the larger Israeli plan for the West Bank. Most Palestinian cities in the West Bank are totally controlled by Israel.
“There will be more and more evictions if the international community allows it,” he said, asking how the two-State solution can be implemented if one side does not believe that the other side should be able to exercise their rights as human beings. He also highlighted the dehumanization of Palestinians, noting that pre-fab building materials for temporary housing in Gaza had to be negotiated in the recent ceasefire agreement. Denying Palestinians a dignified life is intentional — from day one, the objective was to push the Palestinians out of the Gaza Strip. “This is a continuation of 1948,” he said.
This cannot be solved with more humanitarian aid to the West Bank and Gaza, he said, stressing that the resolution is political. “Don’t expect that humanitarians will do your job,” he stressed. It is the responsibility of the United Nations and the international community to stop the killing of aid workers. Referring to the aid workers — including the eight staff from his organization — who were killed and buried in a mass grave in Rafah, the bodies discovered a few days ago, he said: “We don’t train our paramedics to risk their lives; we train them to save lives.” The war in Gaza has been the conflict with the largest number of killed aid workers. “Khalas, stop counting for God’s sake,” he said, underscoring that these are not numbers, but lives. These are colleagues, friends and sons, he said, adding: “The souls of our colleagues ask for justice.”
No Other Land Brings to Life How Land Is at Heart of Illegal Occupation
James Turpin, Chief of the Prevention and Sustaining Peace Section of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, said the documentary film, No Other Land, brings to life, in a compelling and accessible way, what the UN has documented in countless reports. Land is at the heart of the occupation of the Occupied Palestinian Territory, he said, detailing how Israel’s settlement policy is eroding Palestinian rights. Israel continues to transfer its civilian population to East Jerusalem — there are now around 737,000 Israeli settlers in the West Bank, and almost a third of them are in East Jerusalem alone. Steps are regularly taken to accelerate construction of additional housing units. “This is accompanied by demolition of Palestinian properties and structures — mostly under the pretext of lacking building permits, which are almost impossible for Palestinians to obtain,” he pointed out.
Israel also undertakes the illegal appropriation of occupied land for Israeli settlements through declarations of “State land”, and the establishment of military zones (as seen in No Other Land), nature reserves, and cultural and archaeological sites. Livelihoods centred around olive production are particularly targeted by Israeli State and settler violence, he said, adding that “many Palestinian farmers are unable to harvest their trees due to violence and movement restrictions”. Israel’s provision of services for settlers in settlements and outposts institutionalizes control of the Occupied Palestinian Territory. “The line between settler and State violence has blurred to a vanishing point, further enabling violence and impunity,” he said.
But “while there may be obfuscation on the ground”, international law is very clear, he said, stressing that Israel’s unlawful presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory must end, as affirmed by the International Court of Justice.
Return to Ceasefire Key for Implementing Arab Plan for Gaza’s Reconstruction
Riyad Mansour, Permanent Observer of the State of Palestine, also briefed the Committee, noting that he just came from a meeting with the Group of Friends of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA). The group was formed when the Israeli Government started unleashing its campaign against UNRWA. There is tremendous frustration in the international community, from the Arab Group to European countries, that the Israeli authorities broke the ceasefire, he said. Highlighting the Arab plan for reconstruction of Gaza, he said that the first stage of the plan is to build temporary housing in the Gaza Strip. In order to make that happen, “we need this ceasefire to be put back in place,” he underscored.
Early next month, a meeting will take place in Egypt to move the Plan forward, he said, also noting the conference to be held in New York in June, co-chaired by Saudi Arabia and France, towards creating conditions conducive to the implementation of a two-State solution. Ending the illegal Israeli occupation is crucial for that, he said. His delegation will continue its “political offensive” in the General Assembly in order to take actions on the decisions that will be taken in Cairo and New York.