No Other Land, attack update

On Wednesday 28 February representatives from the World Methodist Council, the Methodist Church in Britain, the United Methodist Church and the Methodist Liaison Office, Jerusalem visited Susya in Masafer Yatta, South Hebron Hills. We were greeted by Ahmad a teenager who apologised that his Dad, who would normally meet visitors, was unable to meet us as he was attending the Oscars ceremony! His Dad, Hamdan Ballal, was one of the directors of the documentary No Other Land which was nominated for, and won, the Best Documentary Feature Oscar 2025.

The documentary is the story of the relationship between a Palestinian activist and an Israeli journalist. It highlights the difference in their lives as they join together to challenge the intimidation and violence of Israeli policy, including house demolitions, and Israeli Settlers as they illegally seek to take Palestinian land by force in the West Bank.

In the Oscar acceptance speech Israeli co-writer Yuval Abraham said “can’t you see that we (Palestinians and Israelis) are intertwined… my people can only be truly safe if Basel’s (the Palestinian co-writer) people are truly safe and free…”

Update

On 24 March in Susya Israeli settlers violently attacked homes, cars and people. The attack was witnessed by five Jewish activists from the Centre for Jewish Nonviolence. They stated that “They started throwing stones towards Palestinians and destroyed a water tank near Hamdan’s house,” and that ‘‘the settlers destroyed his car with stones and slashed one of the tyres, all the windows and windshields were broken.’’ The witnesses also said that a group of soldiers arrived at the scene alongside other settlers dressed in military uniform, who chased Hamdan to his house and handed him over to the military.

Another witness added “There were dozens of settlers together with the Israeli soldiers and they were threatening us with weapons, the police were there from the beginning and did not intervene. While the soldiers were pointing their weapons at us, the settlers started attacking the houses of the Palestinians. Hamdan tried to protect his family and the settlers attacked him. He was shouting for help but soldiers started shooting in the air to prevent anyone from coming to his aid. They let the settlers attack him and then the army abducted him.”1

Hamdan has since been released having been held overnight in a police station.

Unfortunately, this is not an isolated story in the West Bank. In an article from Dec 2024 +972 reported that since 7 Oct 2023 over 50 Palestinian Communities had been forced from their land due to Israeli settler violence and intimidation.2 While such incidents have increased of late, they are a part of a much longer trend. The Israeli human rights group, Btselem, have recorded 1,520 instances of settler violence over the last five years. A quarter of these incidents took place in the presence of Israeli security forces.3 There is a widespread international consensus that Israeli occupation of the West Bank is illegal. This was again reinforced by a ruling of the International Court of Justice in July 2024.4 A sense of natural justice might cause us to feel that those engaged in a pattern of illegal activity should have to face the consequences of their actions, yet effective pressure on the government of Israel is rare.

When faced with an understanding of what is happening in the Holy Land people often ask ‘What can we do?’ Please continue to pray for all who live under the threat of violence and losing their land. Call on your Governments to work tirelessly for a permanent ceasefire in Gaza, to ensure protection to all Palestinians in the West Bank and for Israel to withdraw from their illegal occupation of the West Bank.

1. Oscar-winning Palestinian director is attacked by Israeli settlers and detained by army
2. The West Bank villages wiped off the map by Israeli settler violence
3. Btselem; Settler violence = state violence
4. ICJ says Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories is illegal

The Methodist Church’s Lebanon and Gaza Justice Appeal was set up to support projects that the Church has been involved with for many years. Supported by All We Can and the United Reformed Church, over twenty thousand pounds has been raised so far.

You can stream the film on All 4 - Watch No Other Land | Stream free on Channel 4.