On Monday 7 April, Palestinian film director Basel Adra, winner of the Oscar for best documentary with ‘No Other Land’ called on the European Union to take action against Israel, which is continuing its policy of colonisation and repression of the Palestinians.
While the assault and arrest of his co-director Hamdan Ballal have been widely condemned (see EUROPE 13608/27), Mr Adra pointed out that this kind of situation occurs every day. “The situation is getting worse and worse everyday. Double what you see in the documentary (which finished filming in 2023). Since 1 January, there have been more than 100 settler attacks” on Masafer Yatta, an area of 20 small villages in the West Bank mountains that is the subject of the documentary, he explained to the press at the invitation of MEP Hana Jalloul (S&D, Spanish). ‘No Other Land’ will be shown on Wednesday evening at the European Parliament.
“This is not the time for condemnations. Crimes are a daily occurrence and must be stopped by implementing international law”, stressed Mr Adra, calling for “critical decisions” from the international community.
He called on the EU to protect the humanitarian projects it had funded, explaining that an EU-funded school had been destroyed in his community. In addition, the EU should impose “sanctions on settlers, settlements, extremist ministers and stop trading with settlements”, advocated the director.
According to Basel Adra, the situation will not be resolved in the next few years, because “Israel receives money, arms, benefits from relations (with the EU and the United States, editor’s note), there is trade with the settlements, Israelis, even those who have committed crimes, can travel throughout Europe without a visa” and therefore has no interest in changing its policy, he regretted.
The director highlighted the ‘double standards’ between the Ukrainian and Palestinian situations. “You can boycott Russia and impose sanctions, but when it comes to Israel, politicians always have excuses to justify not applying international law and demanding action. It’s sad to see these double standards”, he told Agence Europe. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)