Trump’s role in the ceasefire in Gaza increases the anger of Arab America against Biden Israel-Palestine conflict news

Washington, DC – When Samraa Logman voted Donald Trump In November, he believed the former president would be a better choice than Democrats, who have failed to end the war even if there was a one percent chance he would push for a cease-fire in Gaza.

Trump won that race and will re-enter the White House on Monday. And ahead of his inauguration, Israel and the Palestinian group Hamas agreed to end hostilities in Gaza, where more than 46,700 Palestinians have been killed in the past 15 months.

But Logman says that while Trump claims he is responsible for extending the ceasefire agreement beyond the border, he does not consider himself justified.

Instead, he’s angry at outgoing US President Joe Biden for failing to seal a deal months ago.

“I am even angrier because Trump, who is not in office, threw a little arm around and the ceasefire agreement was reached immediately,” Loghman told Al Jazeera. “It could have happened sooner. It’s so sad, all these extra lives lost.”

He added that the way the deal was reached “cemented Biden’s legacy of Genocide Joe,” linking the Democratic leader to Israel’s abuses in Gaza.

After overwhelmingly supporting Democrats in previous elections, many Arab American voters have turned against the party and its vice president nominee. Kamala HarrisFor supporting Israel’s fight in the November race.

While many Arab voters say it’s too early to celebrate the fragile cease-fire deal, they insist Trump’s intervention shows they were right to abandon Harris.

The shift in Arab American voting preferences was particularly evident in Michigan.

In Detroit’s east side of Dearborn, a predominantly Arab neighborhood, Harris received less than 20 percent of the vote. Most residents vote for either Trump or the Green Party candidate Jill Stein.

While Harris claimed that he and Biden were working “tirelessly” to broker a cease-fire in Gaza, the vice president vowed to continue arming Israel unconditionally.

Neither does the Biden administration four vetoes United Nations Security Council resolutions calling for a cease-fire in Gaza.

Trump’s role

Amer Ghalib, the Yemeni-American mayor of Hamtramck, Michigan, was among those people He supported Trump last year, she even appeared at his rallies.

He explained that negotiations on the cease-fire in Gaza are the main demand of the former president’s Arab and Muslim supporters.

“He knew it was a just and humane demand,” Ghalib told Al Jazeera.

“We supported him and wanted a ceasefire, peace, fight against Islamophobia, fair representation of Muslims in his administration, promotion and protection of faith and family values, safe education for our children. He has shown some signs of progress toward fulfilling each of his promises.

On Wednesday, both Trump and Biden argued that they were committed to the cease-fire agreement, arguing that the “epic” deal would not have been reached had the incoming president not been victorious. elections in November.

However, the extent of Trump’s role in behind-the-scenes diplomacy is difficult to assess.

However, a number of Israeli media reported that Trump was determined to convince Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of a pact that would lead to the release of Israeli prisoners in Gaza, as well as hundreds of Palestinian prisoners held by Israel.

Last week, Trump sent his representative, Steve Witkoff, to meet with mediators in Qatar and Israel with Netanyahu.

On Thursday, the US president-elect confirmed Israeli accounts that Witkoff pushed Netanyahu to accept the deal.

He shared “Trump’s envoy swung at Netanyahu more in one meeting than Biden did in an entire year,” the Times of Israel newspaper reported on social media, citing an unidentified Arab official.

It should be noted that the Prime Minister of Qatar Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani thanked Witkoff. announces the deal on Wednesday.

“Hell” breaks loose

Trump had warned If Israeli prisoners are not released by the time he takes office on January 20, “all hell will break loose” early this month.

Some analysts assessed this message as a threat to Hamas. However, the Palestinian group has repeatedly said that it will accept the ceasefire agreement Biden in Maythis included an exchange of prisoners and a permanent end to the war.

It was Netanyahu who made it clear on several occasions that his government intended to continue the war.

Still, Biden administration officials, including Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, insist that Hamas is blocking the deal.

Aunt RharritA former US diplomat who resigned last year over the Biden administration’s handling of the war said the deal announced Wednesday was the same proposal that had been under discussion since May.

Rharrit told Al Jazeera that the Biden administration’s months-long inability to finalize a deal was “a matter of political will.”

“If there hadn’t been a change in administration, I think we would have continued to hear the same rhetoric of ‘We are working tirelessly to secure a ceasefire,'” Rharrit said.

He added that if Harris had been elected, there would have been no change, but that Trump’s victory had created an incentive for the cease-fire agreement to take place.

Agreement concerns

While Wednesday’s announcement caused jubilation in Gaza, Arab American advocates are wary of celebrating for now.

It is unclear whether Israel will comply with the agreement, which does not come into force until Sunday. In neighboring LebanonA US-brokered cease-fire agreement in November has failed to stop Israel’s daily attacks.

Israel also killed dozens of people There are at least 21 children among them in Gaza since the agreement was announced.

Suehaila Amen, an advocate for the Arab-American community in Michigan, said she hopes the truce will work, but it is difficult to take US and Israeli politicians at their word.

Still, he said the agreement reached after Trump’s intervention was further indictment of Biden’s unwillingness to force Israel to end the war.

“For many within the community push back It continues to be something we stand against the Biden administration for their continued funding of genocide, as well as their condonation of confirmed and documented human rights abuses,” Amen told Al Jazeera.

Amen said voters “know full well” that Trump helped complete the ceasefire agreement.

“As Biden leaves a legacy of bloody genocide in his name, our work continues to ensure that our rights are protected and that no further harm or persecution of the Arab and Muslim American community, from the White House, must be tolerated,” he said.

“Hopefully it won’t be temporary.”

As Walid Fidaman sees it, the former president made “concrete promises” to end the war in Gaza. Arab and Muslim advocates before the elections. A lifelong Democrat, the Yemeni-American ultimately voted for Trump in November.

“We are happy that he has helped the ceasefire agreement in Gaza and we hope that it will not be temporary,” Fidama told Al Jazeera.

“We want the agreement to come into full force and allow the displaced to return to their homes.”

But some members of the Arab American community are skeptical that Trump will bring lasting peace to the Middle East as he promised on the campaign trail. After all, Trump filled his place included cabinet With staunch pro-Israel aides, including his secretary of state nominee, Sen. Marco Rubio.

And in his first term, from 2017 to 2021, Trump made a series of policy changes that strengthened Netanyahu’s government, including moving the US embassy to Jerusalem.

Loghman said he was under no illusions that the Republican establishment would distance itself from Israel, but that an immediate end to the atrocities in Gaza “to save more lives” was his main concern.

“I’m not going to support Marco Rubio. But at the same time, I am honest that there are no very good options,” Logman said.