Palestinian residents of Maghayer al-Deir in the occupied West Bank told AFP on Thursday that they had begun packing their belonging and preparing to leave the village following repeated attacks by Israeli settlers.Yusef Malihat, a resident of the tiny village east of Ramallah, told AFP his community had decided to leave because its members felt powerless in the face of the settler violence.”No one provides us with protection at all,” he said, a keffiyeh scarf protecting his head from the sun as he loaded a pickup truck with chain-link fencing previously used to pen up sheep and goats.”They demolished the houses and threatened us with expulsion and killing,” he said, as a group of settlers looked on from a new outpost a few hundred metres away.The West Bank is home to about three million Palestinians, but also some 500,000 Israelis living in settlements that are considered illegal under international law.Settlement outposts, built informally and sometimes overnight, are considered illegal under Israeli law too, although enforcement is relatively rare.The Israeli military told AFP it was “looking into” the legality of the outpost at Maghayer al-Deir.”It’s very sad, what’s happening now… even for an outpost,” said Itamar Greenberg, an Israeli peace activist present at Maghayer al-Deir on Thursday.”It’s a new outpost 60 metres from the last house of the community, and on Sunday one settler told me that in one month, the Bedouins will not be here, but it (happened much) more quickly,” he told AFP.The Palestinian Authority’s Colonization and Wall Resistance Commission denounced Maghayer al-Deir’s displacement, describing it as being the result of the “terrorism of the settler militias”.It said in a statement that a similar fate had befallen 29 other Bedouin communities, whose small size and isolation in rural areas make them more vulnerable.In the area east of Ramallah, where hills slope down towards the Jordan Valley, Maghayer al-Deir was one of the last remaining communities after the residents of several others were recently displaced.Its 124 residents will now be dispersed to other nearby areas.Malihat told AFP some would go to the Christian village of Taybeh just over 10 kilometres (six miles) away, and others to Ramallah.Uncertain they would be able to return, the families loaded all they could fit in their trucks, including furniture, irrigation pipes and bales of hay.

A state-approved Iranian movie featuring women constantly in headscarves premiered at the Cannes film festival on Thursday, with director Saeed Roustayi defending his decision to bend to the diktats of national censors.The Cannes Festival has long offered a platform for independent Iranian filmmakers whose work is lauded on the French Riviera but usually banned at home. Roustayi has previously defied his country’s authorities. His last film in Cannes — “Leila’s Brothers” in 2022 — landed him a six-month suspended jail term and film ban.”It affected my whole life, my family, and those around me,” the 35-year-old told AFP. Three years later, he is back again with “Woman and Child”, again chosen for the main competition — but this time with official approval.The script was approved by Iranian censors, and the actors follow Iranian law, with women wearing the government-mandated hijab at all times on screen — even during scenes at home, where headscarves are typically taken off.”I’d love to make films without the hijab. I truly want to do that because I know my films would be more real and natural,” Roustayi told AFP.He added: “I didn’t want a permit, but they force you to get one. If you want to film in big locations like hospitals or schools or use professional cinema equipment, they require a permit.” The women actors in Roustayi’s movie did not wear hijabs when the film’s team walked the red carpet for the Cannes premiere, though the lead actor, Parinaz Izadyar, wore a discreet headpiece.Ahead of its screening in Cannes, his work was hailed in Iran’s state media, with the IRNA agency calling it “a happy and important moment for Iranian cinema”. – Exiles -Roustayi’s films often focus on the plight of women and “Woman and Child” is no exception, following a widow who struggles to balance the demands of her children, love life and work as a nurse. The director said he wants to make socially conscious dramas, and was seeking to “save” Iranian cinema from the low-quality commercial features that most of his compatriots are forced to watch. But his desire to make a film that can be viewed in cinemas in his homeland, not just at international film festivals and cinemas abroad, has been condemned by some exiled Iranian film figures.The hijab has become a politically charged symbol since the 2022 “Women, Life, Freedom” demonstrations that saw women openly defy the security forces and remove their mandatory headscarves.”The women on the screen (in hijabs) are following the most discriminatory law in Iran. People were killed to dismantle it,” California-based exiled Iranian film critic Mahshid Zamani told AFP.She helps run the Iranian Independent Filmmakers Association, a collective of 300 exiled Iranian cinema figures which has condemned Roustayi’s decision to seek permits and permission. “Roustayi is in the tradition of what the Iranian government has been doing for 40 years: they have been sending out films to the international stage and saying ‘look everything is rosy, there is freedom of speech’,” she added.”We’re not saying the film is a propaganda film. The government is using films like his film as a propaganda tool.” – Contrast -Roustayi’s approach stands in stark contrast to that of his compatriot Jafar Panahi, whose latest production “It Was Just An Accident” features several women without headscarves and is also competing for the top prize in Cannes.Panahi is a symbol of defiance, someone who has continued to make films despite receiving a 20-year ban in 2010. He spent nearly seven months behind bars in 2022-2023 and smuggled a copy of a previous film to the Cannes Festival hidden in a cake.”It Was Just An Accident” was shot in secret and tackles political repression and torture head-on, with a story about four ordinary Iranians who believe they have found their jail interrogator. When asked  on Wednesday how Iranian filmmakers should approach the censors, Panahi said: “Everyone finds their path, their way of doing things relative to their abilities and knowledge. I don’t have any advice to give.”He added that, “despite everything, I have always found a way”.Another Cannes favourite from Iran, Mohammad Rasoulof, fled the country last year for fear of being jailed for a third time, after making a film about the 2022-2023 protest movement.He has defended Roustayi, telling Variety magazine that there’s a “clear distinction between the propaganda films of the Islamic Republic and the films that are made under the constraints of censorship”.Last month, Iranian directors Maryam Moghadam and Behtash Sanaeeha were given suspended sentences for their acclaimed romantic drama “My Favourite Cake”, which competed at the 2024 Berlin film festival.  They were convicted of “spreading lies with the intention of disturbing public opinion”.

Irish rappers Kneecap on Thursday denied supporting a proscribed group and vowed to defend themselves after a singer was charged with a “terror” offence for allegedly displaying a Hezbollah flag at a London concert.The Iran-backed Lebanese force Hezbollah and the Palestinian militant group Hamas are banned in the UK and it is an offence to support them.”We deny this ‘offence’ and will vehemently defend ourselves. This is political policing. This is a carnival of distraction,” the band said on X.Liam O’Hanna, 27, known by his stage name Mo Chara, was charged on Wednesday with showing support for a proscribed group during a London performance on November 21. Daring provocateurs to their fans, dangerous extremists to their detractors, the Belfast group rap in the Irish language as well as English.They have courted controversy since they were formed in 2017.Last year the group was catapulted to international fame by a semi-fictionalised film, partly in Irish, partly in English, that won multiple awards including at the Sundance festival.The movie, which is laced with music, drugs and biting satire, also made shortlists for Oscar nominations in the best international feature film and best original song categories.London’s Metropolitan Police said officers from its Counter Terrorism Command launched an investigation after a video of the Noveber event surfaced online last month.In its statement, Kneecap attacked the “establishment” for trying to focus attention elsewhere while the population of Gaza suffered, and accused Israel of committing genocide.”We are not the story. Genocide is. As they profit from genocide, they use an ‘anti-terror law’ against us for displaying a flag thrown on stage.” The charge follows growing scrutiny of Kneecap’s performances after footage circulated online showing political statements made by the band on stage.One video appeared to show a band member shouting: “Up Hamas, up Hezbollah.”- Confrontational style -The band, known for its confrontational style and Irish nationalist, pro-Palestinian and anti-Israel messaging, has denied supporting violence or banned groups.In April they debuted at the Coachella music festival in California, which band member DJ Provai said was another “milestone” for the group, whose signature look is wearing balaclavas.They said they had been surprised by the success of the film.Mo Chara told AFP in April: “It’s an international story of languages being oppressed, because obviously the first protocol for colonialism is to eradicate the language and the culture.” Another video clip under investigation by London police appears to show the band urging an audience to kill British Conservative MPs. Kneecap later issued an apology to the families of Labour Party MP Jo Cox, who was murdered in 2016, and Conservative lawmaker David Amess, who was killed in 2021.The rows have turned attention on a slew of European and US dates lined up for the group this year.The trio were to perform at a festival in London on Friday and sent a message on X on Thursday to say “London. We’re back” adding “Wide Awake Festival, see you tomorrow”.They also unveiled an exclusive gig Thursday at “The 100 Club tonight – tickets onsale at 4pm they’ll be gone in minutes.”Several of their gigs have already been cancelled, including three in Germany and one in the UK, while the British government has urged Glastonbury festival organisers to “think carefully” about the band’s planned appearance there next month.Kneecap’s manager Dan Lambert said there was a coordinated campaign to target the group for their outspoken views on Gaza.Israel has repeatedly denied charges of genocide in the occupied Palestinian territory.Prominent British musicians and groups including Paul Weller, Massive Attack, Brian Eno, Pulp and Primal Scream have defended the group and signed a letter denouncing a “concerted attempt to censor and de-platform Kneecap”.