By AFP
November 1, 2024
Palestinian-American entrepreneur Jamal Zaglul, in front of his olive press in Turmus Aya, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, speaks fondly of former US president Bill Clinton - Copyright AFP Zain JAAFAR
Chloe Rouveyrolles-Bazire and Hossam Ezzedine
As Palestinian-American entrepreneur Jamal Zaglul stood by his olive press at the end of harvest season in the occupied West Bank, his mind was far away on next week’s US election.
Like other US passport holders living in Turmus Aya — where they form the majority — he was sceptical the ballot would bring change to the region.
“Here we have problems. Nobody (in the US) cares about us,” said the businessman in his 50s.
Violence in the West Bank — occupied by Israel since 1967 — has surged since the Gaza war erupted after Hamas’s unprecedented October 7, 2023 attack on Israel.
Zaglul spoke fondly of former US president Bill Clinton, under whose administration the landmark Oslo Accords were signed, creating arrangements between the Palestinians and Israel.
“This time we need to start changing. We have to have another party, a separate party, independents,” Zaglul said. “The other ones, they’re not helping us.”
Fellow dual national Basim Sabri planned to vote for a third party candidate in protest after “eight years of miserable administration”.
The Minnesota-based native of the northern West Bank did not mince words about the current White House occupant, calling Joe Biden a “war criminal”.
He was equally critical of Biden’s predecessor and current Republican contender Donald Trump, calling him a “maniac, racist”.
Sabri said he would vote for Jill Stein, the perennial Green Party candidate who is on the ballot in nearly every battleground state this presidential cycle.
Stein ran in 2012 and 2016, securing just 0.4 percent and one percent of the vote, respectively.
– ‘Overlooked’ –
Deeply shocked by the Gaza war, Sabri hopes the United States will push more for peace.
“It’s the only country in the world that’s vetoing the decision of the majority of the world to stop the war and condemn Israel,” he said.
Hamas’s attack on Israel last year resulted in 1,206 deaths, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures.
Israel’s response has led to the deaths of 43,259 Palestinians in Gaza, a majority of them civilians, according to figures from the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry, deemed reliable by the United Nations.
California resident Odeh Juma, who returns to Turmus Aya several times a year, pointed bitterly to US military support for Israel.
“As Palestinians, we feel our concerns — like ending wars globally, in Palestine or Ukraine — are overlooked in favour of the politicians’ own electoral interests,” he said.
Juma planned to watch election night coverage but would not cast a ballot.
“If we don’t vote now, it will highlight the importance of the Arab, Palestinian and Muslim voices for future elections,” he said.
There are about 172,000 Palestinian-Americans in the United States, according to a 2022 census survey, with many from swing states like Michigan and Pennsylvania.
Thousands of Palestinian Americans live in the West Bank, a community shaken by the killings of an American and two dual citizens this year.
– Fear –
Juma’s son Adam said “people tend to be scared to vote for anybody, and especially for Trump”.
He recalled that during Trump’s first presidential run, some hoped he would be “different”, but he dealt numerous blows to Palestinians once elected.
Trump’s administration notably broke with US precedent by declaring it did not see Israeli settlements in the West Bank as illegal.
These settlements are considered illegal under international law.
Adam Juma has been following the election but will not vote, believing the United States no longer influences global conflict resolution.
“It won’t change anything if we vote for anybody… It’s not like how it used to be,” he said.
Ramallah resident Leila said she voted for Stein.
“The ongoing genocide is at the top of my mind and Harris has done absolutely nothing to win my vote in that regard,” she said.
Sanaa Shalabi, a Palestinian American, said she also planned to sit out the election.
“Here, no one cares about us… There is an American embassy here, but it does nothing,” she told AFP.
“They do not stand with us. In fact, Israel is the one that controls America.”
US-Israeli settlers hope to see a second Trump term
By AFP
November 1, 2024
Israeli-American Eliana Passentin, 50, says that unlike the Democrats, Trump understands Israel's right to defend itself - Copyright AFP Sharon ARONOWICZ
Ruth Eglash
Less than a week before the United States chooses its next president, American citizens living in faraway Israel know exactly who they hope it will be: Republican candidate Donald Trump.
Recent polls show that a majority of Israelis, 66 percent according to one conducted by Israel’s Channel 12 News, dream of the days when the former president inhabited the White House.
Trump prioritised Israel during his previous term, moving the American embassy to Jerusalem, recognising Israeli sovereignty over the occupied Golan Heights and helping to normalise ties between Israel and several Arab states under the so-called Abraham Accords.
Now, many Israelis believe Trump will offer yet more support as the country battles Iran-backed militant groups in Gaza and Lebanon, as well as Iran itself.
“I’m proud to tell you that I voted for President Trump,” Eliana Passentin, 50, who moved to Israel from San Francisco as a child, told AFP.
For Passentin, a mother and grandmother, the stakes are higher than for the average Israeli.
For the past 29 years she has lived in Eli, part of a cluster of Israeli settlements located in the heart of the West Bank.
The area has been occupied by Israel since 1967, but it could become Palestinian sovereign territory under a two-state solution favoured by the international community.
– ‘Our greatest ally’ –
Passentin is employed by the local regional council.
She recalls how successive administrations in Washington pressured Israel to stop expanding settlements in an attempt to mediate peace between Israelis and Palestinians and reach a two-state solution.
“United States of America, our greatest ally, we thank you, but please understand we know how to run our country,” Passentin said.
In her backyard, with sweeping views of the entire area, Passentin points to nearby Israeli and Palestinian towns.
“I don’t think that Israelis living here are an obstacle to peace. On the contrary, I think that the Israelis living here are building the region for everyone,” she said.
She said the region was a hub for Jews in Biblical times, and claims that under international agreements Israelis have a right to live here.
International law says otherwise, however, and Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank are considered illegal by the international community.
Among Israelis who vote for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s ruling right-wing coalition, 93 percent support Trump’s candidacy, according to the Channel 12 poll.
“Things have changed since October 7,” Passentin said, referring to Hamas’s attack on southern Israel on that day in 2023 which sparked the war in Gaza.
“Now it’s a whole different story — it’s not about Judea and Samaria, it’s about Israel,” she said, using the Biblical terms for the southern and northern West Bank.
“We have a right to defend ourselves… and I think President Trump respects and understands that.”
Gedaliah Blum, 45, a neighbour who was born in New Jersey, also said he voted for Trump based on the question of “what kind of future we want to have here in Israel”.
“Do we want a future that has an embargo threatened on Israel every time we defend ourselves?” he asked.
– Embargo threats –
“Trump is not going to pressure Israel to sign a ceasefire that will let Hamas remain in power in Gaza. They’re not going to push Israel to sign a peace agreement with Lebanon that will allow Hezbollah to remain in power.”
With Kamala Harris in the Oval Office, Israel will be under constant “pressure”, Blum said.
“We’re going to get pressure, we’re going to get embargoes, we’re going to get Iranian money in their pockets. It’s not in the best interest of Israel.”
In the nearby settlement of Shiloh, where an estimated 20 percent of residents hold US citizenship, New York-born Yisrael Medad, 77, said he believed Trump would be good not only for America but also for “America’s friends abroad, including Israel”.
“I think the policies that a Republican candidate such as Trump are promoting are most beneficial for the administration, Congress and the American people,” he said.
On Israel, Medad said he believed that Trump would treat Israel more “fairly in terms of not denying its rights to defend itself… not only in a physical sense but also on the ideological front”.
Referring to a recent incident at a Democratic campaign rally in which Harris did not push back against a demonstrator who said Israel was committing a “genocide” in Gaza, Medad said: “That’s not the type of candidate I want in the White House.”
Israeli analyst says Netanyahu 'putting his bets' on Trump victory
Jake Johnson,
Jake Johnson,
Common Dreams
November 1, 2024
Benjamin Netanyahu (RONEN ZVULUN/AFP)
An Israeli political analyst said Friday that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is "praying and putting his bets on the victory" of former U.S. President Donald Trump as Israel's military continues to bombard the Gaza Strip and Lebanon, dashing any lingering hopes of an imminent cease-fire agreement and deepening the region's war and humanitarian catastrophe.
Akiva Eldar, who previously headed the U.S. Bureau for the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, toldAl Jazeera that Netanyahu believes if Trump—who has signaled he would give Israel's government free rein in the Middle East—defeats Democratic nominee Kamala Harris on November 5, the Israeli prime minister "will be able to manipulate the president."
"There is another deadline for Netanyahu," Eldar added, pointing to "the first week of December when he will have to start testifying in his corruption trial, and he will do anything to avoid it. The best excuse or pretext that he has... [is that] he is busy with multi-frontier wars and he shouldn't waste his time in court, because we're talking about looking at four days a week for at least six weeks that he will have to spend in court."
Eldar's assessment came as Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati said Friday that the Israeli military's "expansion of the scope of its aggression" in Lebanon makes clear that Netanyahu is opposed to "all efforts being made to secure a cease-fire."
"Israeli statements and diplomatic signals that Lebanon received confirm Israel's stubbornness in rejecting the proposed solutions and insisting on the approach of killing and destruction," Mikati said in a statement.
Israeli bombings on Friday, including attacks on Beirut's southern suburbs, killed more than a dozen people. Reuters reported that "the strikes came after Israel issued evacuation orders for 10 separate neighborhoods."
"The attacks began before the final series of orders were published," Reuters added. "The hostilities have whittled away any hope a truce could be reached before the November 5 U.S. presidential election."
"There's no need for an elaborate 'October surprise' theory. Mr. Netanyahu's own cabinet members are accusing him of acting for political rather than military ends."
The Times of Israel's Ron Kampeas noted Friday that "Netanyahu had a famously close relationship with Trump and his administration, which fulfilled a checklist of Israeli government wishes" during its four years in power.
"In 2019, Netanyahu featured Trump prominently in his own reelection campaign," Kampeas wrote. "The prime minister likewise has had a series of high-profile clashes with Democratic presidents, from Bill Clinton to Barack Obama and, recently, [Joe] Biden."
While Trump has publicly tried to appeal to Muslim and Arab American voters by posturing as a "peace" candidate, Trump has privately given Netanyahu a green light to continue attacking Gaza, the West Bank, and Lebanon.
"Do what you have to do," Trump reportedly told Netanyahu during a phone call last month.
The Washington Post recently observed that "Netanyahu, for his part, has spent years cultivating Republicans and has shown a clear preference for Trump in this election."
"People familiar with the situation said he is trying to regain Trump's favor after antagonizing him by congratulating Joe Biden on winning the 2020 election, a victory Trump has never accepted," the Post added.
Palestinian rights advocates have warned that Trump could be willing to allow Netanyahu and other far-right extremists in Israel's government to pursue annexation plans for the illegally occupied West Bank and Gaza. New York magazine's Elizabeth Weil reported earlier this year that Miriam Adelson, an Israeli American billionaire who has spent tens of millions of dollars backing Trump's White House bid, views annexation of the West Bank as a top priority.
"Beyond unconditional support for the Israel-Hamas war, one can assume she'll press for the unfinished items of Trump's Israel agenda from last term," Weil wrote. "Top of that list: Israel annexing the West Bank and the U.S. recognizing its sovereignty there."
Speaking to reporters last month, Biden himself acknowledged speculation that Netanyahu was sabotaging cease-fire talks at every turn in order to influence the outcome of the 2024 election, nodding to concerns that outrage over U.S. complicity in Israel's assault on Gaza, the West Bank, and Lebanon could cost Harris critical support.
"No administration has helped Israel more than I have. None. None. None. And I think Bibi should remember that," Biden declared in early October. "And whether he's trying to influence the election, I don't know, but I'm not counting on that."
U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) was explicit about his concerns, tellingCNN last month that he's worried Netanyahu "is watching the American election as he makes decisions about his military campaigns in the north and in Gaza."
"I hope this is not true but it is certainly a possibility that the Israeli government is not going to sign any diplomatic agreement prior to the American election as a means, potentially, to try to influence the result," said Murphy.
In a column on Friday, The Globe and Mail's Doug Saunders wrote that Netanyahu's "refusal to follow any informed advice from the United States to stop bombing civilian areas now that top leaders of Hamas and Hezbollah have been killed, or to step back from violent escalations that could trigger a regional conflagration, have led a growing number of observers to call this what it really is: deliberate interference in the U.S. election."
"There's no need for an elaborate 'October surprise' theory. Mr. Netanyahu's own cabinet members are accusing him of acting for political rather than military ends," Saunders wrote, pointing to Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant's criticism of Netanyahu's approach.
"Mr. Gallant, despite being nominally involved in the organization of the war, has repeatedly questioned why Mr. Netanyahu is continuing to prosecute it in such a needlessly brutal fashion, without an end game or any willingness to seek a settlement, a surrender or a return of the hostages," Saunders continued. "This strategy-free tactic, he warned in June, will force Israel into a lengthy de facto occupation of Gaza costing the country 'blood and many victims, with no aim.'"
"It now appears that there is an aim," added Saunders. "It's a goal that might rescue Mr. Netanyahu’s political hide, and surround him with an international alliance of similar-minded elected autocrats. The price of that aim, in innocent human lives, is unspeakable."
November 1, 2024
Benjamin Netanyahu (RONEN ZVULUN/AFP)
An Israeli political analyst said Friday that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is "praying and putting his bets on the victory" of former U.S. President Donald Trump as Israel's military continues to bombard the Gaza Strip and Lebanon, dashing any lingering hopes of an imminent cease-fire agreement and deepening the region's war and humanitarian catastrophe.
Akiva Eldar, who previously headed the U.S. Bureau for the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, toldAl Jazeera that Netanyahu believes if Trump—who has signaled he would give Israel's government free rein in the Middle East—defeats Democratic nominee Kamala Harris on November 5, the Israeli prime minister "will be able to manipulate the president."
"There is another deadline for Netanyahu," Eldar added, pointing to "the first week of December when he will have to start testifying in his corruption trial, and he will do anything to avoid it. The best excuse or pretext that he has... [is that] he is busy with multi-frontier wars and he shouldn't waste his time in court, because we're talking about looking at four days a week for at least six weeks that he will have to spend in court."
Eldar's assessment came as Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati said Friday that the Israeli military's "expansion of the scope of its aggression" in Lebanon makes clear that Netanyahu is opposed to "all efforts being made to secure a cease-fire."
"Israeli statements and diplomatic signals that Lebanon received confirm Israel's stubbornness in rejecting the proposed solutions and insisting on the approach of killing and destruction," Mikati said in a statement.
Israeli bombings on Friday, including attacks on Beirut's southern suburbs, killed more than a dozen people. Reuters reported that "the strikes came after Israel issued evacuation orders for 10 separate neighborhoods."
"The attacks began before the final series of orders were published," Reuters added. "The hostilities have whittled away any hope a truce could be reached before the November 5 U.S. presidential election."
"There's no need for an elaborate 'October surprise' theory. Mr. Netanyahu's own cabinet members are accusing him of acting for political rather than military ends."
The Times of Israel's Ron Kampeas noted Friday that "Netanyahu had a famously close relationship with Trump and his administration, which fulfilled a checklist of Israeli government wishes" during its four years in power.
"In 2019, Netanyahu featured Trump prominently in his own reelection campaign," Kampeas wrote. "The prime minister likewise has had a series of high-profile clashes with Democratic presidents, from Bill Clinton to Barack Obama and, recently, [Joe] Biden."
While Trump has publicly tried to appeal to Muslim and Arab American voters by posturing as a "peace" candidate, Trump has privately given Netanyahu a green light to continue attacking Gaza, the West Bank, and Lebanon.
"Do what you have to do," Trump reportedly told Netanyahu during a phone call last month.
The Washington Post recently observed that "Netanyahu, for his part, has spent years cultivating Republicans and has shown a clear preference for Trump in this election."
"People familiar with the situation said he is trying to regain Trump's favor after antagonizing him by congratulating Joe Biden on winning the 2020 election, a victory Trump has never accepted," the Post added.
Palestinian rights advocates have warned that Trump could be willing to allow Netanyahu and other far-right extremists in Israel's government to pursue annexation plans for the illegally occupied West Bank and Gaza. New York magazine's Elizabeth Weil reported earlier this year that Miriam Adelson, an Israeli American billionaire who has spent tens of millions of dollars backing Trump's White House bid, views annexation of the West Bank as a top priority.
"Beyond unconditional support for the Israel-Hamas war, one can assume she'll press for the unfinished items of Trump's Israel agenda from last term," Weil wrote. "Top of that list: Israel annexing the West Bank and the U.S. recognizing its sovereignty there."
Speaking to reporters last month, Biden himself acknowledged speculation that Netanyahu was sabotaging cease-fire talks at every turn in order to influence the outcome of the 2024 election, nodding to concerns that outrage over U.S. complicity in Israel's assault on Gaza, the West Bank, and Lebanon could cost Harris critical support.
"No administration has helped Israel more than I have. None. None. None. And I think Bibi should remember that," Biden declared in early October. "And whether he's trying to influence the election, I don't know, but I'm not counting on that."
U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) was explicit about his concerns, tellingCNN last month that he's worried Netanyahu "is watching the American election as he makes decisions about his military campaigns in the north and in Gaza."
"I hope this is not true but it is certainly a possibility that the Israeli government is not going to sign any diplomatic agreement prior to the American election as a means, potentially, to try to influence the result," said Murphy.
In a column on Friday, The Globe and Mail's Doug Saunders wrote that Netanyahu's "refusal to follow any informed advice from the United States to stop bombing civilian areas now that top leaders of Hamas and Hezbollah have been killed, or to step back from violent escalations that could trigger a regional conflagration, have led a growing number of observers to call this what it really is: deliberate interference in the U.S. election."
"There's no need for an elaborate 'October surprise' theory. Mr. Netanyahu's own cabinet members are accusing him of acting for political rather than military ends," Saunders wrote, pointing to Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant's criticism of Netanyahu's approach.
"Mr. Gallant, despite being nominally involved in the organization of the war, has repeatedly questioned why Mr. Netanyahu is continuing to prosecute it in such a needlessly brutal fashion, without an end game or any willingness to seek a settlement, a surrender or a return of the hostages," Saunders continued. "This strategy-free tactic, he warned in June, will force Israel into a lengthy de facto occupation of Gaza costing the country 'blood and many victims, with no aim.'"
"It now appears that there is an aim," added Saunders. "It's a goal that might rescue Mr. Netanyahu’s political hide, and surround him with an international alliance of similar-minded elected autocrats. The price of that aim, in innocent human lives, is unspeakable."
No comments:
Post a Comment