By Cedric Prakash, SJ
For many years American children used to sing a popular song at camps, picnics and other get-togethers. Thanks to its very catchy tune, it was always a hit. The chorus of the lyrics went: “This land is your land, and this land is my land/ From California to the New York island/ From the Redwood Forest to the Gulf Stream waters/ This land was made for you and me.”
A special stanza of the song said: “There was a big, high wall there that tried to stop me/ A sign that was painted said ‘Private Property’/ But on the back, it didn’t say nothing/ This land was made for you and me.”
The song is essentially a protest song, first composed by the American folk singer Woody Guthrie in 1940. It was a critical response to Irving Berlin’s ‘God Bless America.’ The song was a hit then, particularly during World War II; over the years, the lyrics of the song have undergone several changes and adaptations. The essence however remains the same, “this land was made for you and me.” In 2025, it was listed at No. 11 of ‘The 100 Best Protest Songs of All Time.’
Given the context of the highly polarised and divided world we live in– this song is definitely all the more relevant today!
On 2 March 2025, at the 97th Academy Awards, No Other Land won the coveted Oscar for the Best Documentary Film. The film has been made by four Israeli and Palestinian activists (Basel Adra, Hamdan Ballal, Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor) and is a powerful examination of life in West Bank. It is their directorial debut. They describe the film as an act of resistance on the path to justice during the Israeli–Palestinian conflict.
‘No Other Land’ is a portrait of a West Bank village under Israeli military occupation. The documentary film gets its title from a statement by a long-time West Bank resident who says, “We have no other land. It is our land. That is why we suffer for it.”
The documentary film gets its title from a statement by a long-time West Bank resident who says, “We have no other land. It is our land. That is why we suffer for it.”
‘No Other Land’ is a breathtakingly powerful chronicle of what it means to live with the constant threat of eviction. The film captures with heartrending detail the relentlessness of Israel’s effort to remove any trace of Palestinian presence in the West Bank. This reality is what the world painfully witnesses today and yet does not dare to address collectively!
The documentary has the friendship between Basel and Yuval as a backgrounder. Their relationship is filled with intense emotions. Basel, a Palestinian who lives in the West Bank, is very anxious over the fate of his family and village, to the point of exhaustion. Yuval, an Israeli, expresses guilt and sorrow over being unable to prevent imminent destruction or to persuade his fellow- Israelis to see reason.
Nobody can miss the sad, grim irony when Basel says that he has a law degree, but can only find work as a construction labourer in Israel. The manner in which the judiciary can be used to redesignate land use and thus enable unfeeling eviction policies points to a familiar playbook predicated on absolute denial of basic human rights.
In their acceptance speech, two of the film’s four directors pleaded for an end to the Israeli- Palestinian conflict. Basel Adra, a Palestinian activist who is from Masafer Yatta, a region of the West Bank said, “About two months ago, I became a father, and my hope for my daughter is that she will not have to live the same life I’m living now – always fearing settlers’ violence, home demolitions and forceful displacements that my community is facing every day under the Israeli occupation.…We call on the world to take serious actions to stop the injustice and to stop the ethnic cleansing of Palestinian people.” Adra also described the issues faced by his village, including home demolitions and displacement.
Yuval Abraham, an Israeli investigative journalist, co-director of the film said, “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 laws that destroy his life. Israelis and Palestinians are ‘intertwined’; my people can be truly safe only if Basel’s people are truly free and safe.”
Israelis and Palestinians are ‘intertwined’; my people can be truly safe only if Basel’s people are truly free and safe.”
In February 2024, at the 74th Berlin International Film Festival, ‘No Other Land’ won the Berlinale Documentary Award and the Panorama Audience Award for Best Documentary Film. In his acceptance speech, Abraham said, “We are standing in front of you now, me and Basel are the same age. I am Israeli; Basel is Palestinian. And in two days we will go back to a land where we are not equal. I am living under a civilian law and Basel is under military law. We live 30 minutes from one another, but I have voting rights. Basel does not have voting rights. I’m free to move where I want in this land. Basel is, like millions of Palestinians, locked in the occupied West Bank. This situation of apartheid between us, this inequality, it has to end”.
Adra chipped in saying, “It’s our first movie; since many years my community, my family has been filming our community being erased by this brutal occupation. I am here celebrating the award, but also very hard for me to celebrate when there are tens of thousands of my people being slaughtered and massacred by Israel in Gaza. Masafer Yatta, my community in the West Bank, is also being razed by Israeli bulldozers.”
Since its release in February 2024, the documentary has won numerous awards and accolades from all over the world. However, for reasons unknown it has not been screened in India. Even in the United States, the film has failed to find a distributor because it reveals truths that some think Americans should not see!
No Other Land is about divisiveness and discrimination, about demonization and denigration, about demolition and destruction! At the receiving end are the Palestinian people – the ‘other’! It is not without reason that Pope Francis has been praying every single day for the people in Gaza. Even when he was hospitalized recently he didn’t forget to keep in touch with friends in Gaza, whose sufferings he understands.
This film is a powerful manifestation of the terrible reality faced by millions all over the world. It is time that the rulers of the world realize that “this land was made for you and me.”
Fr. Cedric Prakash, SJ (GUJ) is a well-known human rights, reconciliation and peace activist. He is a writer who writes regularly for Catholic and secular magazines. A recipient of several international and national awards, Cedric is currently engaged in Advocacy work.