Ahmed Fouad Alkhatib
{{Short description|Palestinian American humanitarian activist and blogger}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=April 2025}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Ahmed Fouad Alkhatib
| citizenship = American
| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1990|04|25}}
| nationality =
| birth_place = Saudi Arabia
| occupation = Executive Director, Project Unified Assistance
}}
Ahmed Fouad Alkhatib (born April 25, 1990){{Cite web |last=Ehsanipour |first=Asal |date=December 15, 2023 |title='I'm Pro-Humanity': One Palestinian's Call for Peace in the Face of Tragedy |url=https://www.kqed.org/news/11969805/im-pro-humanity-one-palestinians-call-for-peace-in-the-face-of-tragedy |access-date=March 3, 2024 |website=www.kqed.org |language=en}}{{Cite tweet |number=1783369706445152325 |user=afalkhatib |title=Today is my birthday, and I don't desire to celebrate or do anything but continue helping my family & others in Gaza, promote meaningful engagements between Palestinians & Israelis, and push for a pragmatic path forward. |first=Ahmed |last=Alkhatib |date=April 25, 2024 |access-date=April 25, 2024}} is a Palestinian American humanitarian activist and blogger. He is the founder and executive director of Project Unified Assistance, a nonprofit organization working towards the establishment of a humanitarian airport in the Gaza Strip, to be run and operated by the United Nations.
Early life and education
Alkhatib's family is originally from the Gaza Strip. His grandparents had lived in Hamama and Ramla, but left in 1948 during the Egyptian invasion of the area during the 1948 Arab–Israeli War.{{Cite news |last=Alkhatib |first=Ahmed Fouad |date=October 20, 2023 |title=An Israeli airstrike just destroyed my family home in Gaza. I refuse to be consumed by hate and revenge |newspaper=The Forward |url= https://forward.com/opinion/566095/gaza-airstrike-israel-palestinian-jewish-solidarity/ |access-date= March 3, 2024}}
Alkhatib was born in Saudi Arabia, where his father worked as a United Nations physician.{{Cite news |last=Alkhatib |first=Ahmed Fouad |date=January 4, 2024 |title=Israel Killed My Family, but Not My Hope |newspaper=The Atlantic |url= https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2024/01/gaza-israel-air-strike-family-home/677016/ |access-date= March 3, 2024}} He and his family returned to Gaza in 2000,{{Cite news |title=Let there be an airport in Gaza |newspaper=The Times of Israel |url= http://blogs.timesofisrael.com/let-there-be-an-airport-in-gaza/ |access-date= July 9, 2017}} and his father began working at the Jabalia refugee camp.{{Cite web |last=Mackinnon |first=Amy |date=January 9, 2025 |title=A Palestinian Who Holds Many Truths |url=https://foreignpolicy.com/2025/01/01/ahmed-fouad-alkhatib-palestinian-voice-peace-gaza-israel/ |access-date=January 9, 2025 |website=Foreign Policy |language=en-US}} As a child, Alkhatib hoped to become a politician or diplomat. At age 11, Alkhatib was caught in an Israeli airstrike, which killed three of his friends and left him with permanent hearing loss in his left ear.
Alkhatib left Gaza in 2005, at the age of 15,{{Cite news |last=Alkhatib |first=Ahmed Fouad |title=A failed trip to Jerusalem |newspaper=The Jerusalem Post |url=http://www.jpost.com/Opinion/A-failed-trip-to-Jerusalem-493699 |access-date= July 9, 2017}} for a one-year-long U.S. Department of State-sponsored cultural exchange program. He spent the year in Pacifica, California, where he learned meditation from his host mother, a Buddhist and retired social worker. He also attended sessions with Living Room Dialogue, a Jewish-Palestinian group based in San Mateo, marking the first time he had spoken to Jews or Israelis.
Upon completing the program, Alkhatib attempted to return to Gaza via Egypt but was unable to do so. The abduction of an Israeli soldier had resulted in the closure of the Rafah border between Gaza and Egypt. Alkhatib remained in Egypt for months without being able to enter Gaza.{{Cite news |last=Chorin |first=Ethan |title=A Humanitarian Airport For Gaza: An Interview with Ahmed Alkhatib |work=Forbes |url= https://www.forbes.com/sites/ethanchorin/2016/11/18/a-humanitarian-airport-for-gaza-an-interview-with-ahmed-alkhatib/#50d01413635a |access-date=July 9, 2017}} He applied for and received political asylum in the U.S., where he finished high school at San Francisco Waldorf High School and went on to City College and the University of San Francisco,{{Cite news |last=Wall |first=Alex |date=January 24, 2024 |title=Bay Area Gazan turns loss into compelling case for a 'different future' |work=J. The Jewish News of Northern California |url= https://jweekly.com/2024/01/24/bay-area-gazan-turns-loss-into-compelling-case-for-a-different-future/ |access-date= March 3, 2024}} where he studied marketing and became interested in social entrepreneurship.{{Cite web |title= Project Unified Assistance - A Proposal for Hope and Stability in Gaza |website= Project Unified Assistance - A Proposal for Hope and Stability in Gaza |url= http://www.pua-gaza.org/founder |access-date= July 9, 2017}} In 2023, he earned a master's degree in intelligence studies at American Military University.
Career
Alkhatib has published work in The Atlantic,{{Cite web |last= |first= |title=Ahmed Fouad Alkhatib |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/author/ahmed-fouad-alkhatib/ |access-date=March 3, 2024 |website=The Atlantic |language=en-US}} The Forward,{{Cite web |title=Ahmed Fouad Alkhatib Archives |url=https://forward.com/authors/ahmed-fouad-alkhatib/ |access-date=March 3, 2024 |website=The Forward |language=en}} Haaretz,{{Cite web |title=Ahmed Fouad Alkhatib |url=https://www.haaretz.com/ty-WRITER/0000018d-30cf-db8f-a7df-32fff1b10000 |access-date=March 3, 2024 |website=Haaretz |language=en}} Newsweek,{{Cite web |last=Alkhatib |first=Ahmed Fouad |date=February 26, 2024 |title=The Origin of Hamas's Human Shields Strategy in Gaza |url=https://www.newsweek.com/origin-hamass-human-shields-strategy-gaza-opinion-1873499 |access-date=March 3, 2024 |website=Newsweek |language=en}} The Times of Israel,{{Cite web |title=Ahmed Fouad Alkhatib |url=https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/author/ahmed-fouad-alkhatib/ |website=The Times of Israel}} The Jewish Chronicle,[https://www.thejc.com/author/ahmed-fouad-alkhatib-gw6bn44j Ahmed Fouad Alkhatib], The Jewish Chronicle The Wall Street Journal,[https://www.wsj.com/articles/hamas-sees-peace-as-weakness-israel-war-in-gaza-civilian-deaths-9027c01d?page=1 Hamas Sees Peace as Weakness], by Ahmed Fouad Alkhatib, December 18, 2023, WSJ and The Washington Institute for Near East Policy.[https://www.washingtoninstitute.org/experts/ahmed-fouad-alkhatib Ahmed Fouad Alkhatib], WINEP Alkhatib is a Nonresident Senior Fellow with the Atlantic Council,[https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/expert/ahmed-alkhatib/ Ahmed F. Alkhatib], Atlantic Council and also leads the Realign For Palestine project, which pushed for nonviolence and the two-state solution for peace between Israel and Palestine.{{cite web | title=Realign for Action | website=Realign for Palestine | date=10 April 2025 | url=https://realignforpalestine.org/realign-for-action | access-date=16 April 2025}}
Project Unified Assistance
Alkhatib has had a lifelong interest in aviation and desire to work in the field, especially during the time when Gaza's international airport was operational. After the destruction of the Gaza airport by Israeli air strikes during the Second Intifada, he was convinced of the need "to play a role in restoring aviation services to the people of Gaza". Project Unified Assistance represents the culmination of Alkhatib's interests in aviation, social entrepreneurship, and desire to help the Palestinian population living in Gaza.
Personal life
= 2017 Ben Gurion Airport incident =
In 2017, while attempting to visit his sister and parents in Israel, Alkhatib was deported from Ben Gurion Airport. Although he is a naturalized U.S. citizen and had not traveled to Palestinian territories for over a decade, Israeli authorities claimed that he was a Palestinian with "active citizenship." Later, Alkhatib published details about what took place during the deportation in an op-ed in The Jerusalem Post.
=Israel-Gaza war (2023-25)=
Alkhatib has said that 30 of his relatives have been killed during the 2023-24 Gaza war, many of them from Israeli airstrikes.{{Cite news |date=February 5, 2024 |title=Israel shouldn't keep a military presence in Gaza after the war, analyst says |url=https://www.npr.org/2024/02/05/1229115138/israel-shouldnt-keep-a-military-presence-in-gaza-after-the-war-analyst-says |access-date=March 3, 2024 |work=NPR}} Several relatives, including his uncle Abdullah Shehada, were killed by an Israeli airstrike in 2023.{{Cite news |last=Hubbard |first=Ben |last2=Leatherby |first2=Lauren |last3=Yazbek |first3=Hiba |last4=Bashir |first4=Abu Bakr |last5=Abdulrahim |first5=Raja |last6=Bubola |first6=Emma |date=March 2, 2024 |title=Lives Ended in Gaza |url=https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2024/03/02/world/middleeast/gaza-deaths.html |access-date=April 3, 2025 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- {{twitter}}
- [https://english.alwatanvoice.com/news/2016/11/09/988004.html Alkhatib to Mladenov: The airport is a core and real issue in Gaza]
- [http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2016/11/gaza-un-humanitarian-airport-hamas-israel.html Liberman's airport comment not so ridiculous, says Gaza activist]
- [http://www.jpost.com/Opinion/An-airport-in-Gaza-for-the-benefit-of-all-482943 AN AIRPORT IN GAZA, FOR THE BENEFIT OF ALL]
- [http://www.haaretz.com/opinion/.premium-1.786562 An Israeli Airstrike on Gaza Nearly Killed Me. But I Recognize Both Sides' Trauma]
{{Authority control}}
Category:21st-century American people
Category:21st-century Palestinian writers
Category:Activists from the San Francisco Bay Area
Category:American activists with disabilities
Category:American anti-war activists
Category:American people of Palestinian descent
Category:City College of San Francisco alumni
Category:Naturalized citizens of the United States
Category:Palestinian activists
Category:Palestinian anti-war activists
Category:Palestinian people with disabilities