Armed with his camera, the Palestinian filmmaker Basel AdraOscar winner for the documentary No Other Landhas been recording for years what he describes as the “impunity” with which Israeli settlers and soldiers act in Occupied West Bank.
From his terrace, in the alda theypoints out the settlement of Ma’on: it seems calm, but he assures that “There are incidents almost daily.”
The tension intensified after the start of the war in Gaza, in October 2023. “The world allows them to commit crimes,” said the 29-year-old director. Since winning the award, he has given interviews, recorded hundreds of attacks and seen “dozens of communities flee due to violence.”
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Together with a team of journalists, Adra visited the bedum village of Umm al Khair. To get there, you cross an Israeli settlement where a graffiti warns in Arabic: “There is no future for Palestine”. According to the Ramallah Ministry of Healthsince 2023 settler attacks and military operations in the West Bank have caused around thousand Palestinian dead. In the same period, Palestinian armed attacks killed at least 43 Israelis, including soldiers.
Not even the presence of international activists has stopped the violence. Adra remembers the murder of her friend Awdah Hathaleenfilmed by other activists while documenting the destruction of family land. The Israeli investigation did not classify it as homicide. “Days later, the same settler returned to continue digging,” he reported.
In Desktop Yacht —a group of villages that includes Tuwani— assures that they build new positions “24 hours a day.” The Israeli Supreme Court endorsed the eviction of eight villages in 2022. In Umm al Khairthe cement houses are surrounded by buildings of inhabitants, Israeli flags and fences. The community leader, Jalil Hathaleenshows 14 demolition orders received on October 28. They have two weeks to appeal. “Even if they tear everything down, we will stay. We have nowhere to go”, he stated.
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“Once they came armed, with stones and sticks. They hurt my brothers. We called the police and they continued while they watched,” Basel Adra / Palestinian filmmaker.