Review: Atlantic Council Launches New Project "Realign for Palestine"

Atlantic Council Launches “Realign For Palestine” Initiative (Zayd Haufe)

DC-based think tank Atlantic Council held a panel to launch its new program, “Realign for Palestine,” on March 14, 2025. Jenna Ben-Yehuda, the organization’s executive vice president, described the initiative’s goals as “to be a starting point for a new school of thought that is deeply pro-Palestine, while also holding space for multiple truths such as the rejection of violence, acknowledging the rights of Israelis to safety and security, the promotion of radical pragmatism, the rejuvenation of the Palestinian narrative, and the evolution of peace and reconciliation into courageous and admirable acts.”

Ahmad Fouad Alkhatib, the initiative’s lead, highlighted the main challenge to its ability to accomplish these goals. “Yes, we can talk about Israeli extremism,” he said, “but … for that to actually matter … we need to talk internally as Palestinians and have dialogue.” He later continued, saying, “there is, I believe, an existential risk to the very existence of the Palestinian people from within by somebody like Hamas, that has been a useful idiot to the far right in Israel to make our people vulnerable.” 

The implication is that the existence of Hamas is a legitimate justification for the actions of Israeli governments since the 2006 elections that brought it to power and that its removal is a precondition for a peaceful resolution to conflict.

This perspective is erroneous and unhelpful for two reasons: first, because it treats Israel as purely reactionary in its response to Palestinian armed resistance. This, aside from ignoring the fact that Israel is an actor that can change its decisions at any time, neglects the Israeli government’s well-documented financial support for Hamas and near-total blockade of the Gaza strip which serves no military purpose. 

Second, Hamas has consistently expressed a willingness to negotiate a settlement to the conflict, up to and including their acceptance in early May of 2024 of the ceasefire proposal that went into effect with Israel's acquiescence (and was later collapsed at its direction) on January 19, 2025. Asserting that Hamas must be eliminated prior to any possibility of peace represents a lack of good faith, compounded by Israel’s refusal to permit any situation other than “open-ended security control” over both Gaza and the West Bank.

Alkhatib later expressed the view that “we wasted two decades thanks to Hamas and not calling them out.” In their absence, it would be possible to “make Gaza into the role model, the jewel of the Palestinian people.” Not only does this fail to acknowledge the destitute reality of Gaza before Hamas, it blames Hamas for the Israeli blockage of items such as building materials that would be instrumental in any potential future for Gaza.

Finally, the project as a whole fails to address the main issues presented by critics of a two-state settlement: that it would simply create a situation in which the neighboring states are in perpetual conflict with one another, and that it makes permanent the 1948 displacement of Palestinians, known as the Nakba or “catastrophe.” Solving these is critical to any serious discussion of a negotiated resolution to the conflict, making “Realign for Palestine” a half-baked project based on the fundamental misunderstanding that Hamas is the only obstacle to peace.

A full recording of the panel can be found on YouTube here.