‘I’m sorry my father is not here to greet you,’ said our seventeen year old guide. And then, after a pause: ‘He’s gone to Hollywood to the Oscars.’
By now we know that ‘No Other Land’ the documentary made jointly by an Israeli and a Palestinian film maker won best picture in the documentary category. Our guide’s father had been invited as a friend of the Palestinian filmmaker and activist Basel Adra.
Muriel’s young guide’s father is a Field Officer with B’Tselem, and his mother is a cousin of Basel, the filmmaker.
Basel is from the village of Tuwani, just a few miles up the road from Susiya. Some years ago a member of the Church of Scotland (and of The Friends) lived in Tuwani, next door to Basel and his family, when she was volunteering with Christian Peacemaker Teams. At that time there were close links between the village and St Andrew’s Jerusalem: Rev Clarence Musgrave visited regularly, sometimes bringing donations of cash from the church for humanitarian support; and Alice Abusharr came to visit with a group of friends.
The Oscar-winning documentary, No Other Land, is on Channel Four is available to stream here.
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