How Can We Make Change Happen?
A documentary that demands we face hard truths "No Other Land" follows Palestinian activist Basel Adra and Israeli journalist Yuval Abraham as they document Israel’s destruction of Masafer Yatta. It captures the devastating power imbalance and emotional realities of the occupation, urging us to honestly confront how change might finally happen.
Rev. J. Mark Davidson, Executive Director
2/28/20254 min read


There is a powerful scene in the Academy Award-nominated documentary, “No Other Land” that I can’t stop thinking about. First, the background: The two protagonists, Basel Adra, Palestinian activist and resident of Masafer Yatta, and Yuval Abraham, progressive Israeli journalist, have formed a friendship born of the struggle of the people of Masafer Yatta to hold onto their ancestral land. Masafer Yatta, a besieged village in the Occupied West Bank, has been under attack from settlers and the Israeli military for decades who have been trying to drive them off their land, and turn it into an Israeli military zone. Basel films everything the Israeli military and the settlers are doing. He is there with his phone, filming the demolition of his neighbor’s home. He is there with his phone, showing the bulldozer breaking apart the children’s school. He’s there with his phone when Israeli soldiers shoot his neighbor and leave him paralyzed from the neck down. Basel is there with his phone when his father is taken off to prison for peacefully resisting the systematic dispossession of his village. The footage is raw and harrowing. The film also shows the love and humor of Basel’s family, the quiet beauty of the Hebron Hills and the changing seasons, and the tenderness of Basel and Yuval’s friendship.
Yuval, for his part, has come to Masafer Yatta to document what the Occupation is doing to the Palestinians there, and to write stories about it for the periodical he works for, +972. Yuval speaks Arabic, and is warmly welcomed by Basel’s family and the villagers. They learn that he refused to serve in the Israeli intelligence service, and is strongly opposed to what Israel is doing in the Occupied Palestinian territories. Yuval is not naïve, but, for all his good intentions, he seems not to fully grasp the bleak situation the residents of Masafer Yatta are facing. He keeps thinking if only he could write better articles, he could reach his Israeli readers, they would understand, and press the powers-that-be to stop the oppression.
In the scene that left such a strong impression on me, Basel and Yuval are alone, deep in the night, pouring out their souls to each other. Basel gently upbraids Yuval for being “too enthusiastic,” playfully mocking him for imagining that better days are coming soon. Yuval knows Basel is right. He does not fully understand what it means to be oppressed as the Palestinians are oppressed. Although he is a person of conscience and moral courage, he lives a comfortable life in Beersheva in Southern Israel. Basel confesses he is weary and carries a “huge depression” within him. His life teaches him every day how great the power is that’s arrayed against Masafer Yatta. The soldiers come and go as they wish. They descend on the village, pointing their guns, shouting, bulldozers demolishing homes. They impose their will. Nothing restrains them. There is no accountability for the harm they cause. They will keep coming.
Remember: these flagrant violations of Palestinian human rights are in direct contravention of international law and American laws. They should long ago have triggered UN Security Council enforcement actions, and a cessation of U.S. military aid to Israel. And yet, it might as well be as if these laws don’t exist. What’s the point of having a law if it’s routinely ignored, if it’s rarely, if ever, enforced? Basel and Yuval, with their little weapons of phone and pen, painstakingly document these violations, but they have not been able to stop them. These crimes against humanity keep happening, and the cavalry, at least so far, is not coming. He wonders plaintively, “How can we make change happen?”
That question points to the depth of oppression the Palestinians are facing, and have been facing for over 75 years. It’s why the “oppressor-oppressed” paradigm is the only one that fits the realities on the ground. “No Other Land” offers no easy answers, no false hope, no quick fixes. What it does do, very powerfully, is ground us in the wrenching reality of Palestinian oppression. The film’s chief value is to center the Palestinian struggle, and focus our attention on the question, “How can we make change happen?”
I believe strongly that anyone with a heart cannot help but be moved by this film. Anyone with a conscience cannot help but know what is happening to the Palestinians – in Gaza, in East Jerusalem, and in the Occupied West Bank – is grievously wrong. Anyone with a shred of humanity and moral decency will want to do something to stop this injustice. Unfortunately, millions will never see this film. The Palestinian and Israeli co-directors of “No Other Land” have had great difficulty finding a U.S. distributor for their acclaimed film. Sadly, if millions of our fellow citizens did see it, they likely would not be moved, would not acknowledge that what is happening in the West
Bank is terribly wrong, nor would they want to stop the injustice.
How could this possibly be? Because millions of our fellow citizens are blinded by a deceptive narrative that dehumanizes Palestinians and exalts Israeli Jews. I refer to Zionism, in both its Jewish and Christian forms. This toxic belief-system holds that the West Bank – encompassing hundreds of communities like Masafer Yatta – does not belong to the Palestinian people, but instead belongs to the Jewish people. Those who are enveloped by this darkness believe Jews, by special right, are entitled to take the land of Palestine. Hence, when they look at Masafer Yatta, they do not see injustice. When they see the violence and destruction of the Israeli Occupation Forces and the extremist settlers, they excuse it.
Those of us who care passionately about Palestinian justice and liberation must redouble our efforts to dismantle the settler-colonial ideology of Zionism. It is the heart of what is causing all this death and destruction. And it is the dominant narrative for far too many Americans. It has infiltrated American religious institutions, it pervades American culture, and it has captured both major American political parties. Dismantling this false god is the single most important thing we can do to help make change happen. We should undertake this with the same passion that anti-racists work to undermine white supremacy. As long as Zionism holds the reins of power, justice and liberation will tragically continue to elude the Palestinian people.