Hanan has a BA in education and international relations from the Hebrew university of Jerusalem. At the Van Leer Jerusalem Institute she is the coordinator of Manarat: The Van Leer Center for Jewish–Arab Relations, at the Israel in the Middle East cluster; coordinator of the editorial staff of the Maktoob series of translations from Arabic into Hebrew; and coordinator of the Translators Forum. Hanan is also a member of the editorial board of Manbar, the online magazine that deals with issues related to Jewish–Arab relations and is a platform for critical discussion of social and political issues in Israel.