May Allah Protect Palestinian Villages - A Filmmaker's View from At Tuwani
As-salamu alaykum. From his terrace in At Tuwani, filmmaker Basel Adra has spent years recording daily hardships faced by Palestinians in the occupied West Bank. He points to the nearby settlement of Maon; the view looks quiet, but he says incidents involving settlers and soldiers happen almost every day. Adra, who co-directed the documentary “No Other Land,” says the situation has grown worse since the war in Gaza began in October 2023. “The world allows them - and gives them impunity - to commit crimes,” he told reporters at his home.
In the months after accepting his award, Adra says he has done many interviews and filmed hundreds of videos showing settler violence that he says takes place with army protection. He describes dozens of Palestinian communities and families being displaced during that time because of attacks and killings by settlers and occupation forces. To show the hardships, he took journalists to the nearby Bedouin village of Umm Al-Khair, which is reached by passing an Israeli settlement. On one wall is an Arabic phrase: “No future for Palestine.”
Since October, Palestinian officials say nearly 1,000 Palestinians in the West Bank have been killed in settler and army attacks, while Israeli sources report at least 43 Israelis killed in related violence. Even international and Israeli activists meant to deter attacks have not changed much for Palestinians on the ground.
Adra remembers the killing of his friend and activist Awdah Hathaleen on July 28. Awdah was filming settlers with a bulldozer destroying his family’s olive trees and fence when he was killed. The footage led to an investigation, but the authorities did not call it murder. A few days later, Adra says, the same settler returned and continued digging the land. Adra himself says he’s been arrested several times by the army and that he and his family have been attacked by settlers throwing stones and using sticks; one settler even had a gun, and two of his brothers were lightly injured. He says police came but the attacks continued while they watched. The military says it responded to reports of rock-throwing and conducted searches and questioning.
Adra says settler activity in Masafer Yatta, the area that includes At Tuwani, is constant: “They keep building settlements and illegal outposts 24 hours a day.” After a long legal battle, the Supreme Court ruled for the army in 2022, clearing the way for eviction orders affecting eight villages in the area.
In Umm Al-Khair, a few concrete homes sit surrounded by settler mobile homes and permanent structures flying Israeli flags. Community leader Khalil Hathaleen, brother of the slain activist, shows 14 demolition orders given on October 28 with 14 days to appeal. “Even if the entire village is demolished, we will stay on this land and we will not leave,” he says. “Because there is nowhere else to go.” The roughly 200 residents are descendants of Bedouins expelled from the Negev in the early 1950s.
About three million Palestinians live in the West Bank, which has been occupied since 1967, alongside roughly 500,000 Israeli settlers considered illegal under international law. At the end of October, parliament moved forward with bills supported by far-right factions that would annex the territory. Adra says he still believes in international law and hopes that the documentation he films will be seen abroad and prompt action.
May Allah grant patience, justice, and protection to the innocent, and guide those with power to do what is right.
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