Ibtisam Mara'ana

Ibtisam Mara'ana
Faction represented in the Knesset
2021–2022	Labor Party
Personal details
Born	(1975-10-14) 14 October 1975 (age 49) Fureidis, Israel
Occupation	Filmmaker

Ibtisam Mara'ana-Menuhin (Arabic: ابتسام مراعنة منوحين, Hebrew: אִבְּתִיסָאם מַרְאַעְנֶּה־מְנוֹחִין) is an Israeli Arab politician, film director, and producer.^[1] She was a member of the Knesset for the Labor Party from 2021 to 2022. Upon her election, she made history as the first Knesset member in a mixed Jewish-Muslim relationship.^[2] Mara'ana was not reelected in the 2022 election.^[3]

Biography

Ibtisam Mara'ana was born in 1975 in Fureidis, a Muslim Arab village in northern Israel. She attended film school at Givat Haviva.^[4] In 2000 she initiated a film and television program at her former high school in Fureidis.

In June 2014, Mara'ana married Boaz Menuhin, a Jewish Israeli man.^[5] The couple has a daughter. The marriage was sealed in Tel Aviv in a non-religious ceremony, and is therefore not officially recognised in Israel,^[5]

Film and teaching career

Mara'ana filming in 2011

In 2003 Mara'ana founded Ibtisam Films, to produce documentaries that investigate the borders and boundaries of Palestinian and Israeli society, with a focus on women and minorities. Her work explores gender, class, racism, and collective and individual identity. Her films show the plight of Arab-Palestinians living as a minority within Israel, while, at the same time, critique deep-rooted practices within Arab-Palestinian society. Her work has been screened on television and at festivals worldwide.^[6]

Mara'ana teaches at various educational institutions, including the Bezalel Academy of Art and Design in Jerusalem. As a feminist activist, she appears at universities and conferences as a public speaker, and has published numerous articles in Israeli newspapers. In 2009, the Israeli newspaper Haaretz named Mara'ana as one of the 10 most influential women in Israel.

In 2011 Druze-Israeli Jamila "Maya" Fares, the sister of Angelina Fares, the subject of Mara’ana's Lady Kul El Arab documentary, was murdered in an honour killing. In response to the murder, Mara'ana created a foundation to support Arab women fleeing gender-based violence in Israel.^[7][8]

Political career

Prior to the 2009 Knesset elections Mara'ana was placed twelfth on the Meretz list. However, she withdrew her candidacy shortly before the elections after Meretz expressed support for Operation Cast Lead in Gaza.^[9]

Knesset

In January 2021, Mara'ana ran in the Israeli Labor Party primaries, and placed seventh on the party's list for the March 2021 elections.^[10] On 17 February Mara'ana was disqualified from running in the election by the Central Elections Committee by a 16–15 vote, with two abstentions, citing anti-Zionist remarks, as well as her public refusal in 2012 to observe the Memorial Day siren – she later apologized for the latter.

The disqualification was subsequently repealed by the Supreme Court.^[11][12] She was subsequently elected to the Knesset as the Labor Party won seven seats, becoming the first Knesset member in a mixed Jewish-Muslim relationship.^[2] Mara'ana received the 8th slot on Labor's 2022 list, but was not elected as the party won just 4 seats.^[13]

Filmography

• Paradise Lost (2003). Mara'ana traces the hidden history of her village, Fureidis, investigating issues of national identity and womanhood within traditional Arab village life.^[14]
• Al-Jiser (2004), a look into the lives of residents of the Jisr az-Zarqa village in Israel who face poverty and discrimination. The film focuses on the struggle of a group of young single women who are determined to bring social change to their village.^[15]
• Badal (2006). A Badal marriage refers to the custom of a brother and sister from one family marrying a sister and brother from another family. Divorce on the part of one couple means the other couple must also divorce. The film follows a family during the process of arranging such a marriage. It portrays the lives of Palestinian women in Israel: their struggles in being a part of their traditional society vs. the quest to maintain their full rights as women and citizens of a Jewish state.^[16]
• Three Times Divorced (2007) is about a Palestinian woman from the Gaza Strip who marries an Arab Bedouin from Israel. After bearing six children, her husband divorces her and maintains custody of the children, while the woman, whose residency status in Israel becomes uncertain, is left with nothing.^[17]
• Lady Kul El-Arab (2008). Angelina Fares, a young woman from the Druze village of Sajur in northern Israel and the country's first Druze model, becomes a finalist in the 2007 Miss Israel beauty pageant. Facing severe pressure and death threats from her village, Angelina must decide whether to go forward with her fashion world dreams, or to resign. The story follows Angelina's struggle to reconcile the traditions and values of her society with her bold efforts to choose her way in life.^[18]
• 77 Steps (2010) documents the personal journey of the director who leaves her Arab-Muslim village to live in Tel Aviv. In an attempt to find an apartment in the city, she encounters discrimination and rejection by most landlords because of her Arab origins. She finally finds an apartment and meets her neighbor – Jonathan, a Jewish-Canadian and recent immigrant to Israel. A complicated love story develops.^[19]
• Write down, I Am an Arab (2014) is a biographical documentary film about the national Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish. The movie covers Mahmoud Darwish's love letters to his Jewish girlfriend from the past, Tamar Ben-Ami, his marriage with Rana Kabbani, his first wife, and his part in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. The movie contains interviews with Ahmad Darwish (Mahmoud's brother) and with his fellow poets and writers as well as with Samih al-Qasim, who was Mahmoud Darwish's friend.^[20]

Awards and recognition

In 2017, Mara'ana received an honorary degree from the British Open University.

Year	Award	Category	Work	Result
2003	Docaviv	Best Debut Film	Paradise Lost	Won
		Best Cinematography	Paradise Lost	Won
	International Women's Film Festival in Rehovot	Best Documen	Paradise Lost	Won
2005	Lady Globes	50 Most Influential Women in Israel[21]		Won
	Jerusalem Film Festival	Film Art Prize	Badal	Won
2006	HotDocs	Best Mid-Length Documentary[22]	Badal	Won
	Sole e Luna Doc Fest	First Prize[23]	Badal	Won
	Jerusalem Film Festival	Spirit of Freedom	Badal	Won
	Award of the Mayor of Olomouc, Czech Republic		Badal	Won
2007	Docaviv	Best Film[24]	Three Times Divorced	Won
	Award of the Israeli Film Academy	Best Documentary	Three Times Divorced	Nominated
2008	Fippa-Biarritz International Film Festival	Silver Award[25]	Three Times Divorced	Won
	IDFA	Special Jury Award Silver Wolf Competition[26]	Lady Kul el-Arab	Won
	The Marker	40 Most Influential Women in Israel		Won
	International Women’s Film Festival in New Delhi	Best Director		Won
2010	International Documentary Association	IDA Award	Continuing series, Wide Angle (2002) for episodes: "Contestant No.2", "Heart of Jenin", "Crossing Heaven' s Border", and "Once Upon a Coup"	Nominated
2019	Sami Michael Award for Equality and Social Justice			Won

See also

• Women of Israel

References

1. Mara'ana Menuhin, Ibtisam (10 May 2018). "To Be a Palestinian Documentary Filmmaker in Israel". Haaretz. Retrieved 28 April 2019.
2. MK Mara'ana-Menuhin calls to recognize shared Palestinian-Jewish trauma The Jerusalem Post, 27 April 2021
3. Fox, Nina (3 November 2022). "שרים מכהנים, ח"כים שזגזגו: הנציגים שלא יחזרו לכנסת". Ynet (in Hebrew). Retrieved 20 November 2022.
4. 'We Were Raised to Feel Shame': The Arab Lawmaker Challenging Israel's Old Politics, Haaretz
5. Alona Ferber, When the Palestinian National Poet Fell in Love With a Jew, in Haaretz, 4 June 2014 [1]
6. "IMDB Page". IMDb.
7. "Are women's rights on the Arab agenda?". Haaretz.
8. "Fund for Women Fleeing Violence".^{[permanent dead link‍]}
9. סניור, אלי (January 2009). "בשל המבצע בעזה: מספר 12 במרצ פורשת". Ynet. Retrieved 13 September 2012.
10. "Labor primaries results: Omer Barlev in 2nd place, Emilie Moatti in 3rd". www.timesofisrael.com. Retrieved 3 February 2021.
11. Allon, Gideon (17 February 2021). "In blow to Labor, Arab candidate banned from Knesset elections". Israel Hayom. Retrieved 8 April 2021.
12. "Supreme Court nixes disqualification of Arab Labor candidate Ibtisam Mara'ana". The Times if Israel. 28 February 2021. Retrieved 8 April 2021.
13. Fox, Nina (3 November 2022). "שרים מכהנים, ח"כים שזגזגו: הנציגים שלא יחזרו לכנסת". Ynet (in Hebrew). Retrieved 20 November 2022.
14. Paradise Lost
15. Al-Jiser
16. Badal
17. Three Times Divorced
18. "İstanbul Escort". Archived from the original on 8 October 2012.
19. 77 Steps
20. "Write Down, I Am an Arab". Archived from the original on 17 May 2014. Retrieved 17 May 2014.
21. "Lady Globes: 50 most influential women". Globes. 21 September 2005.
22. "HotDocs awards 2006". Archived from the original on 26 December 2012. Retrieved 19 September 2012.
23. ""Sole e Luna" Doc Fest". Archived from the original on 17 July 2014. Retrieved 19 September 2012.
24. Docaviv 2011 Jury
25. "Three Times Divorced at FIPA".^{[permanent dead link‍]}
26. "Lady Kul el Arab at IDFA".^{[permanent dead link‍]}

External links

• Ibtisam Mara'ana on the Knesset website
• Ibtisam Mara'ana at IMDb 
• Write Down, I Am an Arab: The Film About Mahmoud Darwish Archived 17 May 2014 at the Wayback Machine
• Haaretz Article by Ibtisam Mara'ana "I Carry the Virus"
• Haaretz Article by Ibtisam Mara'ana "Gender Before Nationality"
• Lady Kul-el Arab at IDFA^{[permanent dead link‍]}
• Now Magazine Review
• Badal on LinkTV
• Three Times Divorced on Women Make Movies
• Three Times Divorced on Media Reviews Online Archived 3 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine
• Haaretz Article by Ibtisam Mara'ana "I was once ashamed of my mother's power"
• Haaretz Article by Ibtisam Mara'ana "Yalla, intifada!"
• Al Jazeera on Paradise Lost & Badal Archived 3 September 2017 at the Wayback Machine
• Al Jazeera "Palestinian Filmmaker wins at HotDocs"
• Al Jazeera on Lady Kul El-Arab Archived 15 April 2009 at the Wayback Machine
• Badal
• [2]