Culture Israeli soldiers bar West Bank tour organized by Oscar...

Israeli soldiers bar West Bank tour organized by Oscar winners

-

- Advertisment -
ADVERTISEMENT

Israeli soldiers on Monday barred journalists from entering villages in the West Bank on a planned tour organized by the directors of the Oscar-winning movie No Other Land.

The directors of the deeply compassionate and powerful documentary, which focuses on the systematic Israeli settler attacks on Palestinians in the West Bank, said they had invited the journalists on the tour to interview residents about increasing settler violence in the area.

In video posted on X by the film’s co-director, Yuval Abraham, an Israeli soldier tells a group of international journalists there is “no passage” in the area because of a military order.

Basel Adra, a Palestinian co-director of the film who lives in the area, said the military then blocked the journalists from entering two Palestinian villages they had hoped to visit.

“They don’t want journalists to visit the villages to meet the residents,” said Adra, who had invited the journalists to his home. “It’s clear they don’t want the world to see what is happening here.”

Some of the surrounding area, including a collection of small Bedouin villages known as Masafer Yatta, was declared by the military to be a live-fire training zone in the 1980s. Some 1,000 Palestinians have remained there despite being ordered out, and journalists, human rights activists and diplomats have visited the villages in the past.

No Other Land
No Other LandCPH:DOX

Palestinian residents in the area have reported increasing settler violence since 7 October 2023, when Hamas attacked Israel and kickstarted the war in the Gaza Strip.

Israeli soldiers regularly move in to demolish homes, tents, water tanks and olive orchards — and Palestinians fear outright expulsion could come at any time.

Adra said the journalists were eventually able to enter one of the villages in Masafer Yatta, but were barred from entering Tuwani, the village where he lives, and Khallet A-Daba, where he had hoped to take them.

Adra said settlers arrived in Khallet A-Daba Monday and took over some of the caves where village residents live, destroying residents’ belongings and grazing hundreds of sheep on village lands. The military demolished much of the village last month.

Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal, Basel Adra, and Yuval Abraham accept the Oscar for Best Documentary at this year's Oscars - 2 March 2025
Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal, Basel Adra, and Yuval Abraham accept the Oscar for Best Documentary at this year’s Oscars – 2 March 2025AP Photo

No Other Land, which won theOscar this year for Best Documentary, chronicles the struggle by residents to stop the Israeli military from demolishing their villages. The joint Palestinian-Israeli production was directed by Adra, Hamdan Ballal, Palestinian activist from Masafer Yatta, and Israeli directors Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor.

The film also won Best Documentary at the Berlinale, with Adra using his acceptance speech to say that it was difficult to celebrate while his Palestinian compatriots in Gaza were being “slaughtered and massacred.” He called on Germany “to respect the UN calls and stop sending weapons to Israel.”  

Abraham, then took to the stage: “We are standing in front of you. Now, we are the same age. I am Israeli, Basel is Palestinian. And in two days, we go back to a land where we are not equal.”  

He continued: “I am under civilian law; Basel is under military law. We live 30 minutes from one another but I have voting rights. Basel does not have voting rights. I am free to move where I want in this land. Basel, like millions of Palestinians, is locked in the occupied West Bank. This situation of apartheid between us, this inequality, has to end.” 

At the time, the speeches of Abraham and Adra were criticized by the Mayor of Berlin, Kai Wegner – of the Christian Democratic Union party. 

On X, he wrote: “Anti-Semitism has no place in Berlin, and that also applies to the art scene. I expect the new management of the Berlinale to ensure that such incidents do not happen again.” 

This led to a massive backlash, and this year, the new Berlinale director Trcia Tuttle addressed the controversy around the film, defending the No Other Land filmmakers by saying that “discourse which suggests this film or its filmmakers are antisemitic creates danger for all of them, inside and outside of Germany, and it is important that we stand together and support them.” 

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here

Latest news

Newly discovered document adds evidence that Shroud of Turin is fake

ADVERTISEMENT The Shroud of Turin is one of the most treasured ancient artefacts, attracting countless tourists to the Italian city - despite the fact that the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist in Turin only publicly displays it on special occasions. Also known as the Holy Shroud, the linen cloth bears the faint image of

Original Harry Potter director on reboot series: ‘What’s the point?’

ADVERTISEMENT Chris Columbus, the celebrated American director of both Home Alone films, Mrs. Doubtfire and the first two Harry Potter films, has questioned the need to reboot the series with the upcoming HBO adaptation of J.K. Rowling’s novels. The filmmaker is currently promoting his Netflix film The Thursday Murder Club, which is based on the

Film of the Week: ‘Sorry, Baby’ – A masterful exploration of trauma

ADVERTISEMENT The scariest thing about life’s worst moments is the silence in which they often unfold. The world goes on, night falls, the windows of a suburban house glow as cars drive by. Yet for the person inside, existence has cracked; an irrevocable disconnect between who you once were, and the confused ghost you’ve become. 

From Taylor to Twin Peaks: The most iconic rings in pop culture

ADVERTISEMENT Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce have set the internet ablaze with news of their engagement, and all eyes have been on the ring.  According to US reports, Kelce worked with New York designer Kindred Lubeck of Artifex Fine Jewelry to design the ring and since the news of the engagement broke, the designer’s website has
- Advertisement -

165-million-year-old dinosaur with ‘weaponised tail’ found in Morocco

ADVERTISEMENT Scientists have unearthed the remains of a heavily armoured dinosaur, complete with rib spikes, a bony neck collar and a tail that may have doubled as a weapon. The fossil, discovered in Morocco’s Atlas Mountains, dates back 165 million years and belongs to a newly identified species of ankylosaur called Spicomellus. And this wasn’t

Why is Amsterdam’s Van Gogh Museum warning it may have to close?

ADVERTISEMENT Amsterdam's Van Gogh Museum, home to the world’s largest collection of works by Vincent van Gogh, has issued an extraordinary warning: without fresh government funding, it may be forced to shut its doors. The museum says a shortfall in state support threatens a €104m renovation plan - and with it the safety of the

Must read

Newly discovered document adds evidence that Shroud of Turin is fake

ADVERTISEMENT The Shroud of Turin is one of the most treasured ancient artefacts, attracting countless tourists to the Italian city - despite the fact that the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist in Turin only publicly displays it on special occasions. Also known as the Holy Shroud, the linen cloth bears the faint image of

Original Harry Potter director on reboot series: ‘What’s the point?’

ADVERTISEMENT Chris Columbus, the celebrated American director of both Home Alone films, Mrs. Doubtfire and the first two Harry Potter films, has questioned the need to reboot the series with the upcoming HBO adaptation of J.K. Rowling’s novels. The filmmaker is currently promoting his Netflix film The Thursday Murder Club, which is based on the
- Advertisement -

You might also likeRELATED
Recommended to you