“The holocaust in Palestine could be stopped if the European Union, Israel's biggest trading partner, would suspend trade agreements and impose crippling sanctions and the United States would impose an arms embargo." — Rula Jebreal, Award-winning Palestinian journalist and author

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“The holocaust in Palestine could be stopped if the European Union, Israel's biggest trading partner, would suspend trade agreements and impose crippling sanctions and the United States would impose an arms embargo." —  @rulajebreal, Award-winning Palestinian journalist and author

Palestinian voices need support - The Hill's Congress Blog

Palestinian voices need support - The Hill's Congress Blog

By Rula Jebreal - 03/31/11 04:02 PM ET

Controversy continues to swirl over the recent release of “Miral,” a film about Palestinians made by acclaimed Jewish-American director Julian Schnabel. The spark was a remarkable and inspiring event that occurred at the United Nations building in New York in mid-March when the General Assembly played host to some of Hollywood’s biggest stars for the film's premiere.

Remarkable because “Miral” is the first mainstream Hollywood film about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict told from a Palestinian point of view, and inspiring because so many people came out in support of the filmmakers despite criticism from the Israeli government, the American Jewish Committee, and others who called for the cancellation of the screening.

Based on my autobiographical novel and directed by Julian Schnabel, “Miral” follows the lives of three generations of women in my family, including my own, from the creation of the State of Israel in 1948, through the 1967 War, the first Intifada in 1987, and the signing of the Oslo Accords in 1993.

Because “Miral” is a Palestinian story told through Palestinian eyes, it has been attacked by some as “anti-Israel.” It would seem that to these critics the mere existence of Palestinians is threatening. “Miral” is not “anti-Israel,” it is pro-understanding and pro-peace. It is intended to advance dialogue by giving voice to the Palestinian narrative, which has gone unheard in Israel and the United States for far too long....READ MORE

Rula’s View ... in Vogue Magazine

Rula Jebreal: Photographed by Annie Leibovitz

Rula’s View

by Dodie Kazanjian

In the spring of 2007, Rula Jebreal, a prominent political journalist and TV anchorwoman in Rome, was lunching with her friend Walter Veltroni, the city’s mayor. He told her that a man wearing pajamas had come to his office that morning and asked him to turn off the lights—to improve the view of the Roman ruins outside the window. “Who was that nut?” she inquired. “He’s an artist, an interesting guy,” Veltroni said. “His name is Julian Schnabel, and he’s having a show at the Palazzo Venezia tonight—you should go.”

Rula did go to the Schnabel opening and stayed for the festive dinner afterward. Toward the end of it, the artist made his way down the long table, exchanging pleasantries with some of the 300 guests. He stopped when he got to Rula and introduced himself.

“Are you Indian?” he asked.

“No, I’m Israeli.”

“So you’re Jewish?”

“No. I am Palestinian.” (Pause.) “What’s wrong? Are you scared?”

“Should I be?” Schnabel wasn’t scared. He was dazzled—by her dark-skinned beauty, her intelligence, and her reputation as a writer, which he had already heard about. “He had a charming smile,” she remembers. “Very innocent, like a child.” He asked if he could see something she had written.

She sent him her first book, Miral, in a rough English translation. Published in Italy in 2003, it is an autobiographical novel about three generations of Palestinian women, told through the eyes of a girl growing up in Jerusalem during the first intifada—the Palestinian uprising that began in 1987 against the Israeli occupation. The book, surprisingly, is not anti-Israel; it recognizes the conflict as an ongoing tragedy for both sides. “I found the story was very important, heartbreaking,” Julian tells me. “It was a learning experience for me, as a Jewish person, like taking a walk in somebody else’s shoes. I also thought, This is a movie—it’s actually written like a movie.”

Having just won the Palme d’Or in Cannes for his third film, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, Schnabel wasted no time. By the end of 2007, the Jewish artist and the Palestinian journalist were collaborating on a screenplay for Miral, which opens in theaters on December 3. Penguin has just published an English edition of the book. And Julian and Rula, who fell in love while making the film, now live in Palazzo Chupi, Julian’s pink, twelve-story town house in New York City.

Rula Jebreal was born in Haifa in 1973 and grew up in the Old City of Jerusalem. Most of the wrenching stories in her book and the film are true....READ MORE