No Other Land, which won an Oscar for Best Documentary last week, chronicles the violence of the Israeli occupation in Masafer Yatta, the cluster of Palestinian villages located on the southern edge of the West Bank. It depicts how Palestinians resist expulsion from their land, which includes relying on cameras to “show the world” what is happening, hoping that doing so will make a difference.
In this part of Palestine, the violence is not in the form of bombs raining from the sky, as in the genocide in Gaza. Rather, it takes the form of relentless house demolitions, official raids by the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) soldiers and unofficial ones by Israeli settlers, destruction of water and electricity infrastructure, severe restrictions on mobility, land takeover, beatings, arrests and killings. As the film ends, it has no victory to proclaim; the last scenes depict the increasing violence from Israeli settlers and the army after October 7. Indeed, this violence continued leading up to and after the Oscar ceremony. As Basel Adra — the Palestinian journalist-activist who is the protagonist of the film — says in the opening scenes, “I started filming when we started ending.” No Other Land depicts Palestinians’ ongoing struggle, of which the film itself is a part.
The situation in Masafer Yatta reflects a broader phenomenon where the State of Israel is expelling Palestinians from the rural areas of the West Bank, and concentrating them into small areas so that there is more land for constructing settlements and other uses. Films in the past such as Five Broken Cameras have also highlighted this process of dispossession and Palestinians using cameras to resist it.
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No Other Land is also about the growing friendship between Adra and Yuval Abraham, an Israeli journalist and activist. As Abraham witnesses the situation in Masafer Yatta, he becomes increasingly invested in supporting the struggle against the Israeli occupation and his friend, Adra. Abraham’s actions are far from unique within the broader context of “solidarity activism”, where Israeli and international activists join the Palestinian struggle. This can come at a heavy price, including international activists being killed by Israeli security forces. On the other hand, as committed the Israeli solidarity activists like Abraham are, they represent a rather small and marginalised fraction of the Israeli society, are intensely attacked by the Israeli government, and largely overlooked by the global Left.
There are also some deep paradoxes within solidarity activism, which No Other Land explicitly addresses. A Palestinian activist notes that although Abraham is trying to help, it doesn’t change the fact that others close to him are likely complicit in the Israeli occupation (for instance, by serving in the IDF). Adra points out that while Abraham chooses when to be in Masafer Yatta, Adra has no such choice. Further, because of apartheid laws, Israeli (and international) activists fall under the civil legal system while Palestinians are under military rule. This means that they cannot “co-resist” the occupation in a straightforward way. Even if they are arrested together, Israeli activists are taken to a civilian court while Palestinians to a military court, where a conviction is essentially guaranteed. Adra and Abraham do not leave the inequality between them unaddressed, but nor do they let it overwhelm their friendship and activism. They resist however they can, using the means available to them.
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I had the privilege of watching No Other Land in Adra’s village in Masafer Yatta a year ago. It was the first screening of the film in Palestine, and the audience included activists and residents of Masafer Yatta and Israeli anti-occupation activists. The mood was festive, with songs playing on loudspeakers, food being distributed, and children running around — activists are rarely able to gather in such big numbers to celebrate something. Once the film began, children exclaimed upon seeing themselves on the screen, even if the scenes were harrowing. The film retold stories already known to this community, but still, it made it possible to collectively mourn the losses and celebrate the community’s resilience.
It was unclear whether this film project would be completed given the circumstances, including raids by the IDF on Adra’s house and the seizure of filming equipment. It was unclear if the screening in Masafer Yatta would be possible — it was likely that IDF would obstruct people from reaching the venue or shut down the event. And given the unquestioning support for the State of Israel by all major political and cultural institutions in the West, especially after October 7, it was unimaginable a year ago that No Other Land would win an Oscar. Its phenomenal success is a reason for celebration, even though, sadly, it has not changed the situation on the ground.
Aman Abhishek is a PhD student in media studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA.
