Hilltop. Assaf Gavron. 2014.

On a beautiful, rock-strewn hilltop in the heart of the West Bank stands a lone second-hand shipping container, a generator, and some goats, signs of a fledgling community flying below the radar. On this contested land, Othniel Assis - under the wary gaze of the neighbouring Palestinian village - plants asparagus, rocket and cherry tomatoes - and installs his ever-expanding family. As he cheerfully manipulates government agencies, more settlers arrive and, with a hodge-podge of families and singles, bankers and teachers, kibbutzniks and townies, religious and secular, the outpost takes root. A plan is hatched to sell the ‘artisan’ olive oil from the Palestinian village to Tel Aviv yuppies, and so the settlement Ma’aleh Hermesh C begins to flourish.

When the local army commander arrives at the site, tempers soon flare. The Israeli Civil Administration for the occupied territories claims there is no permit to install the trailers, but there is no permit to remove them either. According to the government it doesn’t exist; according to the military it must be defended. But when a curious Washington Post correspondent stumbles into their midst, it becomes the focus of an international diplomatic scandal and faces its greatest test yet.