“We are intertwined. My people can be truly safe if Basel’s people are truly free, and safe. There is another way.” -Yuval Abraham (co-director)
*** UPDATED (05/10/25): See Addendum
This year’s Best Documentary Oscar winner shows the destruction of the occupied West Bank, Masafer Yatta by Israeli soldiers and settlers between 2019-2023, and the alliance which develops between the Palestinian activist, Basel Adra and Israeli journalist, Yuval Abraham who each co-directed the film.
The filmmakers’ strategy from the beginning was to protect their people by bringing The World’s attention to the injustices occurring in The West Bank – routine harassment and sabotage of the settlers and their homes, utilities and livestock. The documentary shows a man being shot by an IDF soldier for trying to protect his toolkit and generator. The man, Harun Abu Aram became paralyzed and later died from his wound.
To receive the industry’s highest honor at this year’s 97th Academy Awards is mission accomplished for these courageous filmmakers. But their success represents only the tip of the spear for the collective. At the time of writing this the rogue Israeli government has enacted its final solution for the roughly two million surviving, starving citizens of Gaza. Despite widespread opposition by its own citizens, an occupational invasion force of tens of thousands of Israeli soldiers has now entered the territory, as the world watches in horror. Let us not be mere witnesses.
No Other Land (2024) is an up-close and personal look at the brutal occupation of a peaceful settlement by an encroaching authoritarian regime, and a microcosm of what is now happening across the entire Middle East region. Today peace between Israel and Palestine is as doubtful a prospect as ever. Amidst the darkest of skies, Adra and Abraham’s directorial ethnic alliance is a narrow ray of hope. Whether that light grows or fades now depends on us.
-Experience Film🇵🇸
Addendum
Experience Film has since learned that Hamdan Ballal, one of the other two credited directors of this film was beaten my Israeli settlers and arrested for 24 hours three weeks after receiving his Oscar (NPR, March 29).
Experience Film 
These types of movies are very important, if nothing else, a time capsule that shows future generations that the history written by the winners is not the only version. I’ll try to watch this at some point. Thanks for sharing!
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So naive I was in my school days reading history textbooks, true and false, thinking to myself “good thing THIS won’t ever happen again.”🤪 The doc itself is not factually surprising, but visceral.
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Link to watch: https://www.lookmovie2.to/movies/play/30953759-no-other-land-2024
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I simply don’t care for the Palestinians. They’re the losers of history. In this world of force and might, the giant boot heel stomps down on your face if you can’t take care of yourself.
I care about my money and my personal fame as an author. That’s it. Anything else is a luxury for the fat First Worlder citizen.
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I always appreciate your honesty. But your selfish attitude is a self-fulfilling prophecy for the apocalypse you novelize.
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Your concern for strangers halfway across the world is bizarre to me, EF. I’ve never understood the liberal point of view. This is part of what I mean when I call you a “little bitch.” I want a friend who understands the value of force and is a tough, cool dude on top of that. I like you, EF, but you are not the one I am seeking for. Still, we can work together. Your passion and skill for filmmaking are undeniable, and you deserve better in life than being exiled in Cincinnati, away from the main currents of cinematic artistry. Enjoy your weekend, my friend.
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“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” -MLK Jr. .My concern stems from both pity and knowledge of consequence. You live in Canada. You must live with neither the guilt or the consequences of this genocide. Americans do. They’re killing in the name of America. Our tax dollars are supplying bombs. And it’s my country, my people who stand to reap the whirlwind of a multinational retributional coalition if the rest of the world grows a spine.
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I believe sincerely that any “nation” that acts without compassion does so at its own peril. However, I also recognize that there are both reciprocal and pragmatic limits. Regardless, individuals tend to be swept up in the movements that define nations. And the “Palestinian” issue is indeed one of those cases, far more complex and involved than a single narrative, however moving it may be. I’m old enough to remember the Oslo Accords, Rabin’s assassination, Arafat’s probable assassination, and the terrorist rampages across Israel by groups such as Hamas that led to the downfall of Israeli peacemakers like Shimon Perez. Nothing happens in a vacuum.
I don’t know what the solution is to a nation of disparate populations created merely as a political proxy to destroy Israel. “Palestine” was a construct of peoples united only by their utility to a particular side in a series of historical wars. And this isn’t my opinion. It was voiced by Zuheir Mohsen, who was a PLO leader of one of those populations, way back in 1977. But now, the “Palestinians” have become an anachronism that nobody wants to acknowledge, even less to shelter. This latest conflict arose because Israel was just about to sign a mutual defense treaty with Saudi Arabia, compelling Iran to push Hamas to rock-the-boat hard enough that it couldn’t be ignored. And it wasn’t. And many, many individuals have now been tragically swept up in the movements that define their nations.
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Even while watching this doc I was thinking to myself, “we need a corresponding doc from the Israeli settlers POV.” To build on your point that this conflict is, “far more complex and involved than a single narrative.” The U.S. has been ally to Israel since its inception. A close-knit alliance among the elites. 90% of U.S. Congress takes large campaign donations through AIPAC. So our politicians feel obliged to aid / permit their behavior. They are pushing this alliance to its limit and it’s clear to me Netenyahu’s end goal is complete dismantling / dissolution of IRAN and the conquest of nothing less than the entire middle East, either through military aggression or economic flex of strength… The numbers from the Gaza conflict speak loud to me. The casualty ratio is 100:1. Prisoners exchanges are a comparable skewed ratio. Israel is trying to normalize the narrative that Jewish lives matter more. And that is an unhealthy precedent.
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Netenyahu is a product of the last 30-years. And I suspect that Iran has managed to become a nuclear-armed state in the interim. They just don’t have the ability to deliver what they’ve so far created. This is likely why the Saudi’s want a defense alliance with Israel (which is certainly nuclear armed), and why there is now such a push to address Iran conclusively. Caught in the middle, I’m not sure what the answer is for the Palestinians, especially in Gaza.
I won’t usually post links. And please feel free to remove it. But this is an article from a few years back that says a little about where I’m coming from. (Replace the “[DOT]”):
luminousaether.wordpress[DOT]com/2019/01/16/the-limits-of-compassion/
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No censorship here; I welcome any links anytime. I have not read much yet, but great quote from Paul Bloom, ““…empathy will have to yield to reason if humanity is to survive.” He talked this out with Sam Harris on “The Making Sense” Podcast (Then called, “The Waking Up Podcast”) A very memorable episode. I also took Bloom’s Science of Happiness course in its entirety and earned a certificate via the free online education platform, edX. Love that guy!
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I need to take a closer look at this documentary. I must admit, I often get lost in the conflict between other countries, but I know this is wrong. Thanks for sharing your thoughts.
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I’m actually…speechless by some of the things being espoused in the comments. I actually thought at least one person was joking–until I realized, no. Not joking. A lack of empathy will lead nowhere but to more suffering. And name calling is the last resort of losing the high ground, I think.
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I value difference of opinion here and honesty. but I know what you mean. What comes to mind is that infamous Star Wars comment you referenced, directed at John Boyega … There is a real Dark Side to people. Interacting with it as authors we make our art more informed and more representative of reality.
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I love that you’re 35 going on 65, EF. Reasonable in a very mature way. I find that as I get older, though, rudeness is intolerable. Like Buckaroo said in the Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai,–“you don’t have to be mean.” But that’s probably asking too much of people these days. Mean is the go to now. Mean is the new orange.
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PS: John Boyega! I called him John Bodega, lol Doy
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Yeah this sounds like a tough one to watch, but important. If you’re ever in the mood for a different sort of documentary, check out Maiden, about the first all-female crew to compete in the Whitbread round-the-world sailboat race ― a world removed from this subject matter, but with a better story than most fictional movies.
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