Israeli soldiers bar media from visiting West Bank villages on tour organized by Oscar winners

Israeli soldiers on Monday barred journalists from entering villages in the West Bank on a planned tour organized by the directors of the Oscar-winning movie “No Other Land.”

JERUSALEM — Israeli soldiers on Monday barred journalists from entering villages in the West Bank on a planned tour organized by the directors of the Oscar-winning movie “No Other Land.”

The directors of the film, which focuses on Israeli settler attacks on Palestinians in the Israeli-occupied territory, said they had invited the journalists on the tour Monday to interview residents about increasing settler violence in the area.

In video posted on X by the film’s co-director, Yuval Abraham, an Israeli soldier tells a group of international journalists that there is “no passage” in the area because of a military order. Basel Adra, a Palestinian co-director of the film who lives in the area, said the military then blocked the journalists from entering two Palestinian villages they had hoped to visit.

Israel’s military said in a statement that entry into Khallet A-Daba was banned because it was in a live-fire training zone. Tuwani is not in the firing zone, but the military said it had barred “individuals who might disrupt order from entering the area,” in order to “maintain public order and prevent friction.”

“They don’t want journalists to visit the villages to meet the residents,” said Adra, who had invited the journalists to his home. “It’s clear they don’t want the world to see what is happening here.”