“No Other Land” commentary

There’s an Oscar-nominated documentary, No Other Land, that’s having a hard time finding an American distributor. It’s getting screenings in a small number of theaters, and I saw it today at the Film Forum.

            It’s made by a Palestinian on the West Bank and an Israeli journalist. They appear to be friends, though the film doesn’t say how they know each other. Basel, the Palestinian, went to law school, and it’s hinted that he either can’t practice or maybe what he’d be able to do as a lawyer is too limited. When Yuval, the Israeli (he’s Jewish, but does that go without saying?), is introduced to some Palestinians in Basel’s village, one asks, “You’re a human rights Israeli?” The subtitles have quotes around “human rights,” perhaps to indicate an ironic tone?

            It’s very hard to watch No Other Land. Basel’s village, actually a series of small villages called Masafer Yatta, has been designated an army training zone, so people are supposed to be evicted. But they refuse to go, even after their homes are demolished. (Israel’s been demolishing Palestinian homes for decades for various reasons, including homes of families if any member has committed a violent attack against Israelis. Has that policy stopped attacks on Israelis?) Instead, they rebuild, and rebuild again when homes are destroyed again and again.

            The film alternates between scenes of the army arriving—bulldozing a house or multiple homes or buildings (one is a chicken house, and chickens scatter everywhere) or attacking people protesting the demolitions or simply marching in protest—and Basel and Yuval talking to each other, trying to understand what’s happening, what either of them can do about it, and what their positions are vis-à-vis each other. For instance, Basel and Yuval’s conversations mostly take place in Basel’s West Bank village, and Yuval can “go home,” which feels like code for a normal life that Basel and his people are not allowed to have. Well into the film there are TV clips of Yuval on Israeli TV being accused of being a Jew hater—because he’s critical of what the Israeli army is doing.

            When Basel was young, the village built an elementary school, and the army threatened to demolish it. This got some international attention—clips from MSNBC and British TV—and after Tony Blair, then the U.K. prime minister, visited Masafer Yatta, the army backed down. But in the period covered by this film, 2019–2023, the army comes in and knocks down the school. Watching bulldozers take bites out of these structures is like watching a monster eating its prey. Why is the Israeli government so opposed to education and shelter for Palestinians?

            No Other Land wrapped in October 2023, maybe shortly after October 7.  In a montage of statements at the end, we learn that a secret document reveals  the army designated the area of the villages as a training zone specifically to prevent expansion of Palestinian settlements; meanwhile, Israeli settlements on the West Bank, illegal by international law, expand relentlessly, and settlers also attack the Palestinian villages.

            In the exchanges between Basel and Yuval, the Israeli is disappointed that his stories get only a few thousand views. The Palestinian teases him for expecting to solve the problem in 10 days; he knows that maybe his people will never win, but they have to keep fighting, and they do.