The Oscar-winning co-director of the 2024 documentary No Other Land addressed the UN Security Council on Friday, highlighting escalating Israeli settler attacks and life under occupation in Masafer Yatta, south of Hebron in the occupied West Bank. Basel Adra , speaking more than a year after the documentary examining Israeli settler and military violence in the West Bank won an Academy Award, described the continued mistreatment of Palestinian villagers.
The acclaimed film drew international attention to the destruction of Palestinian communities in Masafer Yatta by Israeli settlers, whom Adra said act with the support and complicity of the Israeli army. "This is our daily life. The settlers ban pogroms to torture our homes, to destroy our properties and to kill us," Adra told the UN.
"The soldiers are there to give a hand to the settlers and to make sure that the settlers do what they came to do, which is to attack, destroy, and to burn cars, homes, farms, and to steal and to kill."
"So there’s no difference in our daily life in what the soldiers, police, and settlers [commit]. We are the innocent living in these communities facing violations from all these Israeli settlers, soldiers, and police," he continued.
The filmmaker warned that Masafer Yatta faces "a serious threat of destruction" due to demolition orders issued by Israeli authorities, as well as "serious threat[s] of attacks by the settlers living in illegal outposts and settlements nearby this village". "Settler harassment is happening every day in Masafer Yatta and across the West Bank. In the last three years, dozens of Palestinian communities have fled from their villages under the attacks and torture of Israeli soldiers and settlers," Adra said. "Some of the people lost their life like my best friend and brother Awdah Hathaleen who was murdered at the hands of the settlers just last July."
Awdah Hathaleen, a Palestinian activist and consultant on No Other Land, was shot dead by Israeli settler Yinon Levi . Adra described Hathaleen, who campaigned against Israeli efforts to expel Masafer Yatta residents from their land, as "an amazing activist" and "a person who loved life". Adra also argued that "Israeli courts are built to legalise and legitimise the existence of the occupying power, the army and the settlers and to delegitimise our villages and our existence on our land". He added: "Masafer Yatta is really the clearest example of what’s happening to millions of Palestinians across the West Bank."
Adra’s warning about the worsening humanitarian situation in the occupied West Bank comes amid increased forced displacement of Palestinians and an escalation in attacks by Israeli settlers, which have surged since the outbreak of the war on Gaza in October 2023.
Settler violence has also intensified across the West Bank since the start of the Iran war on 28 February . This week alone, three Palestinians were injured in a settler attack in Masafer Yatta, according to the Palestinian news agency WAFA . Citing local activist Osama Makhamra, WAFA reported that settlers targeted the community of Rujum I‘li, injuring three people, including a child. All those wounded were members of the al-Adra family. Settlers reportedly assaulted herders and attempted to seize livestock, while attacks were also reported in the nearby communities of Khallet Amira and Umm al-Qubur. Several Palestinians were treated for tear gas inhalation during the incident. 'Act now' Thursday’s UN briefing on the West Bank also followed an open letter signed on Wednesday by more than 400 former diplomats, ministers, and senior officials urging the European Union to "act now" against Israel’s illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank. The appeal comes as Israel plans to advance the E1 settlement project, a proposed development spanning around 12 square kilometres and including approximately 3,400 housing units in the occupied West Bank. The project would further separate East Jerusalem- occupied and annexed by Israel and predominantly inhabited by Palestinians- from the rest of the West Bank. The letter was signed by more than 440 figures, including former EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell and former Belgian prime minister Guy Verhofstadt. The signatories called for targeted sanctions, including visa bans and business restrictions, against "all those engaged in illegal settlement activity", as well as measures targeting those promoting or implementing the E1 project. According to the letter, the Israeli government plans to publish an initial tender on 1 June for housing intended for up to 15,000 settlers, urging the EU and its member states to "act now". The proposal has drawn widespread international condemnation. A spokesperson for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said the plan would pose an "existential threat" to the viability of a contiguous Palestinian state. According to a recent UN report, the expansion of Israeli settlements in 2025 reached its highest level since at least 2017, when the United Nations began monitoring the data. Excluding East Jerusalem, more than 500,000 Israelis now live in settlements across the occupied West Bank, which are considered illegal under international law, alongside around three million Palestinians. Israel has occupied the West Bank since 1967.