For the previous 13 months, Ahmed Jarad has been dwelling with the dim hope that he would possibly at some point return to his house in Beit Lahiya, a village within the north of the Gaza Strip.
However on Wednesday, as former US President Donald Trump declared his triumphant return to the White Home following an in depth race in opposition to Vice President Kamala Harris, Jarad stated his dream of returning to his hometown, at the moment being pounded by Israel and its stranded inhabitants sealed off from the south, has been crushed.
The 43-year-old left his house precisely a 12 months in the past – in November 2023 – fleeing to al-Mawasi, west of Khan Younis in southern Gaza. One month earlier, Israel launched its battle on Gaza after Hamas, the political and army group that guidelines the Strip, led an assault on military outposts and villages in southern Israel, leaving 1,139 folks lifeless and taking greater than 250 captive.
Since then, Israel has subjected Gaza to near-relentless bombardments and floor invasions. Greater than 43,000 Palestinians have been killed – with 1000’s extra lacking and presumed lifeless underneath the rubble – whereas practically all the enclave’s 2.3 million inhabitants has been displaced.
Israeli officers preserve that the battle is critical to remove Hamas, which has been categorised as a “terrorist group” by most Western nations. However Palestinians, the United Nations and human rights defenders level to the truth that a lot of the victims of the battle are ladies and youngsters.
Jarad stated he’s sure that Israel’s brutality will solely worsen as soon as Trump, who loved an in depth relationship with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu throughout his first presidency, is as soon as once more sworn in as chief of the world’s strongest superpower.
“Trump and Netanyahu are an evil alliance against the Palestinians and our fate will be very difficult, not only in the fateful issues but also in our daily concerns,” Jarad advised Al Jazeera from his tattered tent in al-Mawasi, the place he now lives along with his spouse and their 5 youngsters.
Netanyahu, who’s dealing with strain each domestically and internationally to carry an finish to the battle that has spilled over into Lebanon and threatens to escalate into all-out battle between Israel and Iran, was fast to congratulate Trump after he claimed his victory on Wednesday.
Calling Trump’s election “history’s greatest comeback”, Netanyahu described Trump’s return as a “fresh start for America” and a “powerful recommitment to the great alliance between Israel and America”.
Throughout Trump’s first four-year tenure as president from 2016 to 2020, the US embassy in Israel was relocated from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem – a big transfer within the eyes of the Israeli authorities. Support to Palestinians was minimize – significantly to UNRWA, the UN’s Palestinian refugee assist company, which Israel designated a terrorist group simply days earlier than the US election.
Trump’s administration additionally ignored the constructing of unlawful Israeli settlements within the West Financial institution regardless of worldwide condemnation, and brokered the “Abraham Accords” which noticed a number of Arab nations normalising ties with Israel.
Because the battle on Gaza started in October final 12 months, Democratic President Joe Biden has been unwavering in his help of Israel, persevering with to ship army assist and reaffirming Israel’s “right to protect itself”.
However relations between Netanyahu and Biden have soured considerably over worsening regional tensions and the failure to succeed in any of the ceasefire offers, which the Individuals have been concerned in negotiating. Netanyahu now says {that a} Trump presidency may sign a brand new leaf in Israeli-American relations.
Like many Palestinians, significantly these trapped in Gaza, Jarad says he dreads this will probably be at their value.
“This is a sad day for Palestinians,” he stated, despairing. “Trump will endorse Netanyahu’s free hand regarding the possibility of the return of settlements to the Gaza Strip and even the displacement of large numbers of Palestinians outside it.”
“We hoped to return to the north and now all our hopes have been shattered,” he stated.
Trump and Netanyahu: ‘Peas in a pod’
Zakia Hilal, a 70-year-old doctor, has resorted to humour to get by the devastation of the battle on Gaza. She was listening to the radio for information of the US election along with her husband, youngsters and grandchildren – all gathered collectively of their tent in al-Mawasi.
As quickly as they heard the information that Trump had received, she cried: “Two peas in a pod,” referring to Netanyahu and Trump. “Our situation wasn’t bad enough? Trump had to come to complete it,” she stated sarcastically.
Hilal, who’s initially from Rafah within the south of Gaza, was pressured to depart her house in Could when Israeli troops commenced a floor operation on Could 6 into the southernmost a part of the enclave, the place a lot of the inhabitants had taken shelter.
Since then, the Rafah border crossing to Egypt, the principle gateway by which humanitarian assist usually trickles by, has been shut. Humanitarian assist accessing the besieged enclave by different smaller crossings has dropped to its lowest ranges for the reason that starting of the battle.
“We are certainly headed for a very difficult period. What’s coming ahead may be even worse than what we’ve experienced so far,” Hilal advised Al Jazeera. “It is true that American administrations do not differ in supporting Israel, but some are more severe and more intense than others, like Trump.”
In his victory speech in Florida, Trump stated he’s “going to stop wars”, one thing which many Arab Individuals criticised Biden’s administration for failing to do. In accordance with reviews from The Occasions of Israel, Trump has expressed considerations in regards to the potential for a chronic battle in Gaza. In July, he reportedly advised Netanyahu in a gathering that the dispute ought to ideally be resolved by the point he takes workplace in January 2025.
“I told Bibi [Netanyahu], we don’t want endless wars, especially ones that drag America into them,” Trump stated, referencing the personal dialog. How he plans to “end” this one is unclear and fills Palestinians who spoke to Al Jazeera on Wednesday with concern.
Jehad Malaka, a researcher in worldwide relations on the Gaza-based analysis organisation, the Palestinian Planning Centre, doesn’t count on Trump’s upcoming administration to be a lot completely different from Biden’s by way of help for Israel.
Talking to Al Jazeera from the tent he shares along with his household in al-Mawasi, the place they fled from northern Gaza, Malaka stated the Biden administration did nothing for the Palestinians through the battle, nor did it reverse any of the selections taken throughout Trump’s first presidency.
“Trump uses rough tools, and Biden and the Democrats resort to soft tools, but the politics are the same,” he stated.
He added, “Biden did not make any decision in favour of the Palestinians and was unable to achieve a ceasefire. He did not change the reality of the decisions of his predecessor Trump at all. The positions of the two administrations regarding Israel are the same and identical, and they put its interests above all other considerations.”
Malaka, nevertheless, stated he doesn’t imagine that Trump would endorse the pressured elimination of Gaza Palestinians from the whole enclave and hopes that maybe the brand new president could carry a swifter, albeit extraordinarily painful, finish to the battle.
“Given Trump’s power of pressure and influence over Netanyahu, he may be able to open a horizon for a partial solution to the Palestinian issue, and he is able to pressure Netanyahu, while Biden did not succeed in pressuring for a single day of calm,” he stated.
Ahmed Fayyad, 45, an impartial researcher in Israeli affairs who has taken refuge in Deir el-Balah in central Gaza, is much less optimistic. He stated he believes Trump’s affect will probably be completely dangerous tor Palestinians as a complete, and Gaza Palestinians, particularly.
“Trump’s election only means that Netanyahu will continue his plans of invading Gaza and evicting its people, but with less pressure and more ease,” Fayyed, who fled to Deir el-Balah to flee intense bombing in jap Khan Younis practically a 12 months in the past, stated.
Trump is “a more dominating figure” whose “influence on all parties would mean Netanyahu will get away with doing what he wanted all along, which is to conquer Gaza”, he stated.
“Amidst the weakened Palestinian front, and absence of any Arab unity and solidarity, the whole Palestinian cause faces its worst threat yet.”
This piece has been printed in collaboration with Egab.
