Trump to worsen our plight: Palestinian, Lebanese victims of Israel’s wars

Deir el-Balah, Gaza, Palestine, and Beirut, Lebanon – Palestinian and Lebanese civilians are bracing for more devastation once Donald Trump begins his second term as president of the United States in January.

Many Middle Easterners are unsure about their future while millions of Trump supporters cheer his victory.

In Gaza, the occupied West Bank and Lebanon, there are fears the loyal ally of Israel will embolden its prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, and far-right coalition government to escalate regional conflicts and destroy any possibility of Palestinian self-determination.

“I have no trust in America,” said Abu Ali, an 87-year-old in Gaza who has been uprooted from his home like most people there. Under Trump, I anticipate the conflict in Gaza to worsen. ”

Israel’s campaign in Gaza has been supported by US President Joe Biden’s administration.

Israel’s genocide against Palestinians in Gaza, which used US weapons, has resulted in the deaths of more than 43,000 Palestinians and the displacement of nearly the entire population of 2, since the Hamas-led attacks on southern Israel on October 7, 2023, in which 1,139 people were killed and 250 were taken prison. 3 million people.

Those who live in the area fear that Trump will now approve his strip-ban plans.

The Republican president-elect has accused Biden, a Democrat, of restraining Israel in Gaza and made a vague promise to help Israel to “finish the job” if re-elected.

I’m not sure if Trump’s situation will change. He might just permit Israel to deport all of us from Gaza, Abu Mohamad said, sarcasm-free, from a camp for refugees there.

According to Abu Ali, Palestinians are free to choose who controls the US’s political system.

He claimed that he witnessed numerous US presidents support Israeli atrocities against his people as a survivor of the Nakba (“catastrophe”), the expulsion of 750,000 Palestinians by Zionist militias during the 1948 creation of Israel.

He emphasized that neither the ongoing genocide in Gaza by Israel nor the Nakba should be referred to as a “war” and that this trend should continue under Trump.

“There are no wars [between Israel and Palestine],” he told Al Jazeera. “It wasn’t a war then. And this isn’t a war [in Gaza]. It’s a genocide. ”

The view from Lebanon

In Lebanon, many people expect Trump to maintain or increase support for Israel’s war effort.

Israel claims to be fighting Hezbollah, but observers accuse it of attacking the Shia community in the region.

In Lebanon, political posts are allocated proportionally based on the country’s religious makeup. The prime minister is a Sunni Muslim, the president is a Maronite Christian, and the parliamentarian is a Shia Muslim.

Hezbollah has consolidated control over the Shia community by combining religion, identity, and resistance into a political movement that has attracted the most support since Lebanon’s civil war, which lasted from 1975 to 1990. Hezbollah has also repressed opponents.

Israel has bombed southern Lebanon’s cities and towns in addition to the Bekaa Valley in an effort to escalate its conflict with Hezbollah over the past month. Israeli fire has destroyed homes and sparked fears of permanent displacement, causing residents from entire villages and districts to be displaced.

Under Trump, Ali Saleem, who was forced to flee the southern city of Sour, said the conflict will continue. He claimed that the president-elect has the right to make a ceasefire proposal for Israel but not for Hezbollah or Lebanon.

“Trump will put an offer on the table, and he’ll say, ‘Do you want to end the war or not? ’” Selim, 30, told Al Jazeera. “If we say no, then war will continue. ”

Ali Aloweeya, 44, added that Trump will likely defend “Zionist interests” in the region.

He fears that Trump might permit Israel to attempt to establish illegal settlements in southern Lebanon, as some far-right Israeli activists and political figures have demanded.

“If Trump returns and works again for the interests of the Israelis, then we will resist. We are a people of resistance. ”

Fear of annexation

In the occupied territories and the surrounding region, Trump took measures that endangered Palestinians during his first term as president, which spanned 2017 to 2021.

He detained UNRWA, a Palestinian aid organization, and violated decades of Israeli policy by moving the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

According to Palestinians, the actions were intended to compel them to surrender occupied East Jerusalem as the birthplace of a new Palestinian state, as required by UN Resolution 194.

After defeating Arab armies in the Six-Day War in 1967, Israel annexed East Jerusalem and took control of the region’s Arab lands.

Tasame Ramadan, a Palestinian human rights activist, now fears Trump may allow Israel to  large sections of the West Bank are annexed. Activists, analysts and rights groups said  Israel has de facto done so already.

“As Palestinians, we don’t expect anything positive from Trump. His decisions are unpredictable, but he often ignores Palestinian voices, and his decisions have lasting impact on Palestinians,” said Ramadan, who lives in Nablus, a city in the West Bank.

She noted that Trump in 2019 recognised Israel’s sovereignty over Syria’s occupied Golan Heights, contravening international law.

She’s preparing for similar policies that could harm – even kill – Palestinian aspirations for self-determination.

Trump’s actions disregard our freedoms, our hopes for a free and independent Palestinian state, she told Al Jazeera.

But I don’t believe Palestinians would be happy if Kamala Harris, the US vice president, had won the election. Due to her opposition to the genocide in Palestine and her position, she deserved to lose.

Source: Aljazeera