Rula Jebreal

Early life and education

Jebreal was born in Haifa, Israel, to Nigerian-born Othman Jebreal and his wife Zakia, and grew up in Jerusalem. Her father was a Sufi imam and a groundskeeper at Al-Aqsa Mosque. Her mother, who suffered from severe abuse in her childhood, committed suicide by walking into the sea and drowning in 1978, when Jebreal was 5. She and her sister Rania were immediately put into the Dar El-Tifel orphanage by their father and were raised there until 1991. She regards its founder, Hind al-Husseini, as her teacher and mother, crediting her with saving her life.

In 1993, she received a scholarship from the Italian government to study at the University of Bologna, where she graduated with a degree in physiotherapy.

Career

Journalism

Jebreal worked as a journalist in Italy for twelve years. In 2006 she worked with Michele Santoro as an interviewer on AnnoZero, a political television show in Italy.

Books and films

Jebreal's first novel Miral was published in 2003. The film version, adapted by Jebreal, and directed by Julian Schnabel, was first released in 2010.

Jebreal's second novel The Bride of Aswan was published in 2007. Her third book, Rejected, is a non-fiction study based on interviews with immigrants who have either made their way to successful careers in Italy or otherwise live on the margins of Italian society.

Personal life

She has a daughter, Miral, whose father is artist Davide Rivalta.

Jebreal's collaboration with Julian Schnabel on Miral extended beyond the movie, being in a relationship with him from 2007 to 2011.

In 2013, she married Arthur Altschul, Jr., son of banker Arthur Goodhart Altschul Sr. and a member of the Lehman family. She divorced Altschul in 2016 and started dating Roger Waters, founder of Pink Floyd.

She is fluent in four languages: Arabic, Hebrew, English and Italian. She describes herself as a "secular Muslim".

Works

La strada dei fiori di Miral, BUR Biblioteca Univ. Rizzoli, 2005,

• Ørkenblomsten, Engelstad forl., 2005,
• Miral – Ein Land. Drei Frauen. Ein gemeinsamer Traum, Translated Leon Mengden, Btb, 2010,

References

References

1. (28 October 2014). "Minority Life in Israel". The New York Times.
2. (24 October 2010). "Rula's View".
3. (3 November 2014). "Rula Jebreal: How I'm Treated as a Minority in Israel".
4. (23 July 2014). "Rula Jebreal". TalkingPointsMemo.
5. (2010). "Rula Jebreal".
6. (13 January 2011). "Julian Schnabel falls for Palestinian tale, then for its writer". McClatchy Newspapers.
7. Malle, Chloe. (23 March 2011). "One Turbulent World Readied Her for Another". The New York Times.
8. Dodie Kazanjian, [http://www.vogue.com/865475/rulas-view/ 'Rula’s View,'][[Vogue (magazine). Vogue]] 24 October 2010.
9. [http://www.repubblica.it/2006/11/sezioni/spettacoli_e_cultura/frase-rula-jebreal/frase-rula-jebreal/frase-rula-jebreal.html?refresh_ce 'Rula "senza testa", caccia al colpevole ma è un giallo di cattivo gusto,'] [[La Repubblica]] 5 November 2006
10. Kazanjian, Dodie. (26 October 2010). "Rula's View". Vogue.com.
11. Arifa Akbar. (3 September 2010). "Schnabel's true romance inspires tale of love across cultural divide". The Independent.
12. Roberto Conti, [http://frontierenews.it/2011/03/divieto-di-soggiorno-litalia-vista-con-gli-occhi-dei-suoi-immigrati/ ''Divieto di Soggiorno: l’Italia vista con gli occhi dei suoi immigrati,''] Frontiere News, 8 March 2011
13. (11 March 2016). "Rula Jebreal: Tutto sulla giornalista palestinese".
14. (22 February 2011). "Rula Jebreal".
15. Rovzar, Chris. (11 August 2011). "Julian Schnabel and Rula Jebreal Have Broken Schnup". NY Mag.
16. "Rula Jebreal Photostream".
17. New York Post. (16 July 2016). "Pink Floyd's Roger Waters dating friend's ex".
18. "Rula Jebreal".
19. Schwartz, Ian. (31 October 2014). "Maher vs. Muslim Journo on Berkeley Speech: "Whoever Told You You Only Had To Hear What Didn't Upset You?"".