The Devil's Drivers

The Devil’s Drivers frequently resembles an action-thriller. Cars race through the desert, while the drivers keep one hand on the wheel. In the other, they have a phone, through which a network of scouts reports from the hilltops, where they keep an eye on the patrolling Israeli military police.

The Israeli West Bank barrier runs along the border of the majority of the Palestinian territory. The barrier is still incomplete at the southernmost point, which has enabled cousins Hamouda and Ismail to establish a smuggler’s route in the desert. Their cargo is people, desperate workers who are willing to risk everything to try their luck on the illegal Israeli job market. The stakes are no less for the smugglers, as the Israeli police retaliate with imprisonment and razing of villages. Over eight years, The Devil’s Drivers follows the cousins and their dangerous line of work, along the way outlining the hopeless situation that makes it necessary.