The Palestinian-led project promotes a pragmatic vision for the future of Palestine.
WASHINGTON, D.C. –MARCH 14, 2025 – The Atlantic Council today launched Realign For Palestine, a groundbreaking new project to challenge entrenched narratives in the Israel and Palestine discourse. The project aims to cultivate a generation of Palestinian voices committed to a renewed Palestinian political vision premised on the two-nation solution, nonviolence, and rejuvenated Palestinian governance.
Through the cultivation of a pragmatic and sensible approach to achieving Palestinian freedom and statehood, Realign For Palestine champions a constructive new vision and path forward to a viable and free Palestinian state next to a secure Israel.
The project will be led by Gazan-American Ahmed Fouad Alkhatib, resident senior fellow at the Atlantic Council. As a writer, analyst and peace advocate, Alkhatib has become internationally recognized as one of the foremost outspoken voices criticizing Hamas’s violence and terrorism while challenging the status quo of the failed Palestinian national project and presenting a new vision for a free Palestine.
Realign For Palestine will convene a network of activists, scholars, journalists, and policymakers who will shape a new era of Palestinian advocacy that prioritizes state-building and coexistence. The network will engage with governments, NGOs, and multilateral organizations to advocate for policies that support Palestinian self-determination and security guarantees for Israel.
“The Atlantic Council champions working together with partners and allies to shape solutions to global challenges, and this is precisely the ethos that Realign for Palestine embraces,” said Frederick Kempe, president and CEO of the Atlantic Council. “The Council is proud to be the home of this critical project and for bold voices advocating for the future of Palestinian statehood.”
“There is an urgent need to move Palestinian discourse beyond cycles of violence and grievance, and toward pragmatic state building and coexistence,” said Alkhatib. “While I cannot speak on behalf of all Palestinians, and the project does not claim to represent all Palestinians, it is time that pragmatic Palestinian voices are amplified and not silenced by extreme factions. It is time for a future-oriented and practical approach to the Palestinian national project for our people in Gaza and the West Bank, and a better future for the entire region.”
“It is impossible – logically, strategically, and morally – to be both pro-Palestine and pro-Hamas,” said William F. Wechsler, senior director of the Atlantic Council’s Middle East Programs. “Ahmed is representative of a new generation of pragmatic Palestinians leading this critical debate within their communities and among those who support their aspirations.”
Realign For Palestine’s launch event will take place in Washington DC with a panel discussion featuring Alkhatib as well as Kamal Almshhawari and Hamza Howidy, two other leading Gazan peace advocates who reject Hamas and desire a better future for Gaza. The program will be moderated by the Wilson Center’s Merissa Khurma and discuss the imminent need for a nonviolent two-nation solution, the Israel-Palestine conflict, and offer new perspectives on ending the cycle of violence in Gaza.
For more information, contact press@realignforpalestine.org.
###
About the Atlantic Council
The Atlantic Council promotes constructive leadership and engagement in international affairs based on the Atlantic community’s central role in meeting global challenges. The Council provides an essential forum for navigating the dramatic economic and political changes defining the twenty-first century by informing and galvanizing its uniquely influential network of global leaders. The Atlantic Council—through the papers it publishes, the ideas it generates, the future leaders it develops, and the communities it builds—shapes policy choices and strategies to create a more free, secure, and prosperous world.