Policy Council

Our Policy Council is comprised of non-resident fellows–expert scholars and practitioners–whose work makes a significant contribution to reorienting US policy to support Palestinian rights and freedom.

Members of the Policy Council author policy papers, brief Members of Congress and the public, and engage with the media in their areas of expertise.

2026 inaugural cohort of the Policy Council

Jehad Abusalim

  • Jehad Abusalim is a writer, historian, and nonprofit executive originally from Deir el-Balah in the Gaza Strip. He serves as Executive Director of the Institute for Palestine Studies USA in Washington, DC, and is a PhD candidate in History at New York University. Jehad has worked across Palestine and the United States for more than seventeen years on research, public education, and advocacy focused on the Gaza blockade, its political and humanitarian consequences, and questions of Gaza’s future and Palestinian rights. He is co-editor of Light in Gaza: Writings Born of Fire and a contributor to outlets including the Journal of Palestine Studies, The Nation, In These Times, The New Arab, Al Jazeera English, and The Washington Post. He has appeared in national and international media including CNN, ABC News Live, Democracy Now!, and Al Jazeera English. Jehad's work brings historical depth and clarity to urgent conversations on Gaza and Palestine today.

Matthew Duss

  • Matthew Duss is Executive Vice-President at the Center for International Policy. Before joining CIP, Duss was a visiting scholar in the American Statecraft Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. From 2017-22, he was foreign policy advisor to Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vt). From 2014-17, he was the president of the Foundation for Middle East Peace. From 2008-14 he was a National Security and International Policy analyst at the Center for American Progress.

Noura Erakat

  • Noura Erakat is Professor of Africana Studies and Criminal Justice at Rutgers University, New Brunswick. She is the author of Justice for Some: Law and the Question of Palestine (Stanford University Press, 2019), which received the Palestine Book Award and the Bronze Medal for the Independent Publishers Book Award in Current Events/Foreign Affairs.  She is co-founding editor of Jadaliyya and an editorial board member of the Journal of Palestine Studies as well as Human Geography. She is a co-founding board member of the DC Palestinian Film and Arts Festival. She has served as Legal Counsel for a Congressional Subcommittee in the US House of Representatives, as Legal Advocate for the Badil Resource Center for Palestinian Refugee and Residency Rights, and as National Organizer and Legal Advocate of the US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation. In 2023, Noura co-chaired an Independent Task Force on the Application of National Security Memorandum-20 to Israel, a report documenting how U.S. arms to Israel have been used in violation of U.S. and international law and which was submitted to the White House. Noura has also produced video documentaries, including "Gaza In Context" and "Black Palestinian Solidarity.” Noura completed a non-resident fellowship of the Religious Literacy Project at Harvard Divinity School as well as a Mahmoud Darwish Visiting Professorship at Brown University.  In 2022, she was selected as a Freedom Fellow by the Marguerite Casey Foundation. In 2025, the University of Ghent awarded the Amnesty International Chair in recognition of her contribution to human rights and scholarship. 

Laila El-Haddad

  • Laila El-Haddad is an award-winning Palestinian author, social activist, policy analyst and journalist. She frequently speaks on the situation in Gaza, the intersection of food and politics, her own personal journey as a Palestinian mother and journalist, as well as on contemporary Islam.  She has written for numerous newspapers and magazines, including the Baltimore Sun, Washington Post, International Herald Tribune, The New Statesman, The Daily Star, Le monde diplomatique, and has appeared on many international broadcasting networks, including NPR, CNN, Aljazeera, and CCTV.

    She is the author of Gaza Mom: Palestine, Politics, Parenting, and Everything In Between and, co-author of the critically acclaimed The Gaza Kitchen: A Palestinian Culinary Journey, which was the recipient of ‘Best Arab Cuisine Book’ award from Gourmand magazine, and a finalist at the 2013 MEMO Palestine Book Awards.  She is also the co-editor the anthology Gaza Unsilenced.

    From 2003-2007, El-Haddad was the Gaza correspondent for the Al Jazeera English website and a regular contributor to the BBC World Service, during which time she covered such events as the Gaza Disengagement and the 2006 Palestinian elections.  She also co-directed two Gaza-based documentaries, including the award-winning Tunnel Trade.  

John Ramming Chappell

  • John Ramming Chappell is an Advocacy & Legal Advisor at Center for Civilians in Conflict. He engages with US policymakers to enhance the protection of civilians and has coordinated advocacy campaigns regarding crises in Palestine, Sudan, and the Eastern Pacific and Caribbean Sea. His work focuses on US law and policy related to civilian harm, arms sales, and the use of military force. John regularly writes for leading policy publications, and his commentary has appeared in New York Times, CNN, NPR, Politico, and other media outlets.

    John holds a Juris Doctor and a Master of Science in Foreign Service from Georgetown University. He is a member of the District of Columbia Bar. John is recognized as an Expert by the Forum on the Arms Trade and was a Strategic Leaders Fellow at the John Quincy Adams Society.

Hala Rharrit

  • Hala Rharrit is a foremost authority on U.S. diplomacy and MENA affairs who has emerged as a leading voice dedicated to anchoring humanitarian integrity and international law within global statecraft. In April 2024, she became the first American diplomat to resign in protest of U.S. policy in Gaza, exposing the extent of U.S. complicity while advocating for a return to true diplomacy and an end to corrupt militarism. This principled departure concluded a distinguished 18-year tenure in pivotal posts across Africa and Asia, most recently serving as the State Department’s Spokesperson for MENA.

    A prolific political commentator, she has appeared on major American media, including CNN, Washington Post, The Hill, NPR, MSNBC, Democracy Now, in addition to international media, including from France, UK, Mexico, UAE, Qatar, India, Japan, Turkiye, Egypt, and Canada. Her advocacy as a global justice and peacemaker helped shatter mainstream media coverage of Gaza—notably through her landmark 2025 interview on CBS’s 60 Minutes and her participation in the Global March to Gaza. As a sought-after public speaker and writer, Rharrit bridges the gap between high-level diplomacy and individual responsibility, providing an inspiring call to action for all of us to create a world that honors our shared humanity.