In a major triumph, No Other Land, a documentary highlighting Israel’s displacement of a Palestinian community, won the Best Documentary Feature trophy at the 97th Academy Awards on Monday. Directed by Basel Adra, Hamdan Ballal, Yuval Abraham, and Rachel Szor the film depicts Israeli soldiers demolishing homes and forcibly removing residents to establish a military training zone, as well as the encroachment of Jewish settlers on the Palestinian community.
“‘No Other Land’ reflects the harsh reality that we have been enduring for decades and still resist as we call on the world to take serious actions to stop the injustice and to stop the ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian people,” Adra said during his acceptance speech.
“We made this film, Palestinians and Israelis, because together our voices are stronger. We see each other, the atrocious destruction of Gaza and its people which must end, the Israeli hostages brutally taken in the crime of October 7, which must be freed. When I look at Basel, I see my brother but we are unequal. We live in a regime where I am free under civilian law and Basel is under military law that destroys his life and he cannot control,” Abraham noted.
“There is a different path. A political solution without ethnic supremacy, with national rights for both of our people. And I have to say as I’m here, the foreign policy in this country is helping to block this path. And why? Can’t you see that we are intertwined? That my people can be truly safe if Basel’s people are truly free and safe. There is another way. It’s not too late for life, for the living,” he added.
