For the previous 13 months, Ahmed Jarad has lived within the obscure hope of sooner or later with the ability to return to his residence in Beit Lahiya, a village within the northern Gaza Strip.
However on Wednesday, as former US President Donald Trump declared his triumphant return to the White Home after a detailed race towards Vice President Kamala Harris, Jarad expressed his dream of returning to his hometown, at present battered by Israel and its inhabitants stranded remoted from the south, has been crushed.
This 43-year-old man left his residence precisely one yr in the past (in November 2023) fleeing to Al Mawasi, west of Khan Yunis, in southern Gaza. A month earlier, Israel launched its warfare on Gaza after Hamas, the political and navy group that guidelines the Strip, led an assault on military outposts and villages in southern Israel, leaving 1,139 folks lifeless and taking extra. of 250 captives.
Since then, Israel has subjected Gaza to virtually relentless bombing and floor invasions. Greater than 43,000 Palestinians have died – and hundreds extra are lacking and presumed lifeless beneath the rubble – whereas virtually all the enclave’s 2.3 million inhabitants have been displaced.
Israeli officers keep that the warfare is critical to remove Hamas, which has been labeled a “terrorist group” by most Western nations. However Palestinians, the United Nations and human rights advocates level to the truth that the vast majority of warfare victims are ladies and kids.
Jarad mentioned he’s certain Israel’s brutality will solely worsen as soon as Trump, who loved a detailed relationship with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu throughout his first presidency, is sworn in as soon as once more as chief of the world’s strongest superpower. .
“Trump and Netanyahu are an evil alliance towards the Palestinians and our destiny shall be very tough, not solely within the fateful points but in addition in our every day considerations,” Jarad instructed Al Jazeera from his destroyed tent in al-Mawasi, the place he now lives. together with his spouse and 5 kids.
Netanyahu, who faces each home and worldwide strain to finish the warfare that has unfold to Lebanon and threatens to escalate right into a full-blown battle between Israel and Iran, was fast to congratulate Trump after he proclaimed his victory on Wednesday.
Netanyahu known as Trump’s election “the best comeback in historical past” and described Trump’s return as a “new starting for America” and a “highly effective new dedication to the nice alliance between Israel and america.”
Throughout Trump’s first four-year time period as president, from 2016 to 2020, the US embassy in Israel was moved from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, a big transfer within the eyes of the Israeli authorities. Assist to the Palestinians was minimize, notably to UNRWA, the UN Palestinian refugee help company, which Israel designated a terrorist group simply days earlier than the US elections.
The Trump administration additionally missed unlawful Israeli settlement building within the West Financial institution regardless of worldwide condemnation, and negotiated the “Abraham Accords” wherein a number of Arab nations normalized their ties with Israel.
For the reason that warfare in Gaza started in October final yr, Democratic President Joe Biden has been unwavering in his assist for Israel, persevering with to ship navy help and reaffirming “Israel’s proper to guard itself.”
However relations between Netanyahu and Biden have deteriorated considerably as a result of worsening regional tensions and the failure to succeed in any of the ceasefire agreements, in whose negotiations the Individuals have participated. Netanyahu now says a Trump presidency may flip a brand new web page in Israel-U.S. relations.
Like many Palestinians, notably these trapped in Gaza, Jarad says he fears this may take a toll on them.
“This can be a unhappy day for the Palestinians,” he mentioned desperately. “Trump will assist Netanyahu’s freedom from the potential for the return of settlements to the Gaza Strip and even the displacement of enormous numbers of Palestinians out of it.”
“We had been hoping to return north and now all our hopes have been shattered,” he mentioned.
Trump and Netanyahu: “Peas in a pod”
Zakia Hilal, a 70-year-old physician, has turned to humor to beat the devastation of the warfare in Gaza. She was listening to the information concerning the US elections on the radio along with her husband, kids and grandchildren, all gathered of their tent in Al-Mawasi.
As quickly as they heard the information that Trump had gained, she shouted, “Two peas in a pod,” referring to Netanyahu and Trump. “Wasn’t our state of affairs unhealthy sufficient? Trump needed to come full it,” he mentioned sarcastically.
Hilal, initially from Rafah in southern Gaza, was pressured to go away her residence in Might when Israeli troops started a floor operation on Might 6 within the southernmost a part of the enclave, the place many of the inhabitants had taken refuge. inhabitants.
Since then, the Rafah border crossing with Egypt, the primary gate by way of which humanitarian help usually arrives, has been closed. Humanitarian help getting into the besieged enclave by way of different smaller crossings has fallen to its lowest ranges because the begin of the warfare.
“We’re actually heading into a really tough interval. “What lies forward could also be even worse than what we’ve skilled up to now,” Hilal instructed Al Jazeera. “It’s true that US administrations don’t differ of their assist for Israel, however some are extra extreme and intense than others, like Trump.”
In his victory speech in Florida, Trump mentioned he’s “going to cease the wars,” one thing many Arab Individuals criticized the Biden administration for failing to do. Based on stories from The Instances of Israel, Trump has expressed concern about the potential for a chronic battle in Gaza. In July, he reportedly instructed Netanyahu in a gathering that the dispute would ideally be resolved when he takes workplace in January 2025.
“I instructed Bibi [Netanyahu]”We do not need limitless wars, particularly ones that drag america into them,” Trump mentioned, referring to the non-public dialog. It’s unclear how he plans to “finish” this and it strikes concern into the Palestinians who spoke to Al Jazeera on Wednesday.
Jehad Malaka, a world relations researcher on the Gaza-based analysis group the Palestinian Planning Middle, doesn’t count on the incoming Trump administration to be a lot totally different from Biden’s by way of assist for Israel.
Chatting with Al Jazeera from the tent he shares together with his household in al-Mawasi, the place they fled northern Gaza, Malaka mentioned the Biden administration did nothing for the Palestinians through the warfare, nor did it reverse any of the choices made through the first Trump administration. presidency.
“Trump makes use of crude instruments, and Biden and the Democrats use comfortable instruments, however the coverage is similar,” he mentioned.
He added: “Biden didn’t make any choices in favor of the Palestinians and couldn’t obtain a ceasefire. It didn’t change the fact of his predecessor Trump’s choices in any respect. The positions of the 2 administrations concerning Israel are the identical and an identical, and so they put its pursuits earlier than all different concerns.”
Malaka, nonetheless, mentioned he doesn’t consider Trump will assist the forcible removing of Gaza’s Palestinians from all the enclave and hopes that maybe the brand new president can deliver a faster, albeit extraordinarily painful, finish to the warfare.
“Given Trump’s energy of strain and affect over Netanyahu, he can open a horizon for a partial resolution to the Palestinian query, and is able to placing strain on Netanyahu, whereas Biden didn’t push for a single day of calm. ” mentioned.
Ahmed Fayyad, 45, an unbiased researcher on Israeli affairs who has taken refuge in Deir el-Balah in central Gaza, is much less optimistic. He mentioned he believes Trump’s affect shall be completely detrimental to Palestinians normally, and Palestinians in Gaza, specifically.
“Trump’s election solely implies that Netanyahu will proceed together with his plans to invade Gaza and dislodge its folks, however with much less strain and extra ease,” mentioned Fayyed, who fled to Deir el-Balah to flee intense bombing within the east. by Khan Younis virtually a yr in the past. saying.
Trump is “a extra dominant determine” whose “affect throughout all events would imply Netanyahu will get his manner and do what he all the time wished, which is to beat Gaza,” he mentioned.
“Amid the weakened Palestinian entrance and the absence of Arab unity and solidarity, all the Palestinian trigger faces its worst menace but.”
This piece has been revealed in collaboration with Egab.
