Israeli journalist, Palestinian lawyer document violence, displacement in West Bank
Beyond the political conflict, the Oscar-winning film explores a complex friendship defined by stark inequality.
No Other Land is a powerful, Oscar-winning documentary filmed between 2019 and 2023. It is the result of a unique collaboration between four friends: Palestinian filmmakers Basel Adra and Hamdan Ballal, and Israelis Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor. Together, they document the systematic destruction of Palestinian communities in the West Bank.
The film centers on the lives and partnership of its two primary narrators. Basel Adra is a young Palestinian lawyer from Masafer Yatta who is unable to practice his profession. Instead, he spends his years filming the Israeli military and settlers as they demolish his community’s homes, schools, and water wells. Yuval Abraham is an Israeli journalist who joins Basel to help bring global attention to the displacement occurring in the occupied West Bank.
The documentary is filmed in Masafer Yatta, an area the Israeli government designated as a military firing zone in the 1980s. In 2022, after a 20-year legal battle, Israel’s High Court of Justice ruled against the villagers, labeling them squatters.
The footage is harrowing, capturing life being dismantled piece by piece. Many violent encounters with the Israeli military and settlers were filmed. In one particularly terrifying scene, a man is shot and paralyzed while simply trying to save his family's generator. The title, No Other Land, underscores the desperate reality; for these villagers, there is nowhere else to go.
Beyond the political conflict, the film explores a complex friendship defined by stark inequality. Abraham, driven by an idealistic desire for change, is free to leave the West Bank and return to his home in Israel at any time. He looks forward to a future of freedom and security. Adra’s future is a life of constant oppression and violence.
When accepting the award for Best Documentary, Adra said No Other Land reflects the harsh reality Palestinians have been enduring for decades.
“About two months ago, I became a father, and my hope to my daughter that she will not have to live the same life I’m living now, always fearing settlers, violence, home demolitions and forcible displacements that my community is living and tasting every day under Israeli occupation,” said Adra.
He also called on the world to “take serious actions to stop the injustice and to stop the ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian people”.
Despite its international acclaim, the filmmakers, particularly Adra and Ballal, have experienced intense harassment. Last March, Ballal was arrested after an assault by settlers, reportedly left beaten, blindfolded, and handcuffed.
No Other Land is a difficult but essential film – a haunting look at a dark reality and a friendship that can provide hope. The film faced significant difficulty getting distributed in the U.S. due to its sensitive subject of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The directors stressed the need to bypass traditional routes to share their story.
The film is currently streaming (for a fee) on Prime Video.
Israeli journalist, Palestinian lawyer document violence, displacement in West Bank © 2026 by Carol Lenz is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 4.0
