Rula Jebreal (; ; born 24 April 1973) is a

Palestinian Palestinians () are an Arab ethnonational group native to the Levantine region of Palestine. *: "Palestine was part of the first wave of conquest following Muhammad's death in 632 CE; Jerusalem fell to the Caliph Umar in 638. The indigenous p ...

foreign policy analyst, journalist, novelist and screenwriter with dual Israeli and Italian citizenship. She was a commentator for

MSNBC MSNBC is an American cable news channel owned by the NBCUniversal News Group division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. Launched on July 15, 1996, and headquartered at 30 Rockefeller Plaza in Manhattan, the channel primarily broadcasts r ...

Early life and education

Jebreal was born in

Haifa Haifa ( ; , ; ) is the List of cities in Israel, third-largest city in Israel—after Jerusalem and Tel Aviv—with a population of in . The city of Haifa forms part of the Haifa metropolitan area, the third-most populous metropolitan area i ...

, Israel, to

Nigerian Nigerians or the Nigerian people are citizens of Nigeria or people with ancestry from Nigeria. The name Nigeria was derived from the Niger River running through the country. This name was allegedly coined in the late 19th century by British jo ...

-born Othman Jebreal and his wife Zakia, and grew up in

Jerusalem Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world, and ...

. Her father was a

Sufi Sufism ( or ) is a mysticism, mystic body of religious practice found within Islam which is characterized by a focus on Islamic Tazkiyah, purification, spirituality, ritualism, and Asceticism#Islam, asceticism. Practitioners of Sufism are r ...

imam Imam (; , '; : , ') is an Islamic leadership position. For Sunni Islam, Sunni Muslims, Imam is most commonly used as the title of a prayer leader of a mosque. In this context, imams may lead Salah, Islamic prayers, serve as community leaders, ...

and a groundskeeper at

Al-Aqsa Mosque The Aqsa Mosque, also known as the Qibli Mosque or Qibli Chapel is the main congregational mosque or Musalla, prayer hall in the Al-Aqsa mosque compound in the Old City (Jerusalem), Old City of Jerusalem. In some sources the building is also n ...

. 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 The University of Bologna (, abbreviated Unibo) is a Public university, public research university in Bologna, Italy. Teaching began around 1088, with the university becoming organised as guilds of students () by the late 12th century. It is the ...

, where she graduated with a degree in

physiotherapy Physical therapy (PT), also known as physiotherapy, is a healthcare profession, as well as the care provided by physical therapists who promote, maintain, or restore health through patient education, physical intervention, disease preventio ...

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 Julian Schnabel (born October 26, 1951) is an American painter and filmmaker. In the 1980s, he received international attention for his "plate paintings"—with broken ceramic plates set onto large-scale paintings. Since the 1990s, he has been a ...

, 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

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 The Lehman family (also Lehmann, Liehmann or Liehman) is a prominent family of Jewish German-Americans who founded the financial firm Lehman Brothers. Some were also involved in American politics. Members have married into the prominent Morgen ...

. She divorced Altschul in 2016 and started dating

Roger Waters George Roger Waters (born 6 September 1943) is an English musician and singer-songwriter. In 1965, he co-founded the rock band Pink Floyd as the bassist. Following the departure of the group's main songwriter Syd Barrett in 1968, Waters became ...

, founder of

Pink Floyd Pink Floyd are an English Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1965. Gaining an early following as one of the first British psychedelic music, psychedelic groups, they were distinguished by their extended compositions, sonic experiments ...

. 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, *''La sposa di Assuan'', (Bride of Aswan) Rizzoli, 2005, **''La promise d'Assouan'', Translated Lucie Comparini, Altal éd., 2007, **''A esposa de Assuão'', Campo das Letras, 2007, *''Divieto di soggiorno: l'Italia vista con gli occhi dei suoi immigrati'', (Rejected) Milan, Italy: Rizzoli, 2007,

References

External links

* * * Rula Jebreal on C-SPAN
"Rula Jebreal"
collected articles at ''Radyoheval'' (Italian) {{DEFAULTSORT:Jebreal, Rula 1973 births Living people Palestinian television personalities Writers from Jerusalem Italian Muslims Palestinian novelists Palestinian women novelists Israeli Arab writers Israeli people of Nigerian descent Palestinian people of Nigerian descent Arab politicians in Israel University of Bologna alumni Writers from Haifa Lehman family Palestinian broadcasters Italian people of Nigerian descent Italian people of Palestinian descent