Trump’s role in Gaza ceasefire fuels Arab American anger with Biden

Samra Luqman, in voting for Donald Trump in November, believed that even if the former president had only a one percent chance of pushing for a ceasefire in Gaza, he was better than the Democrats who failed to stop the war. She reasoned that Trump, at least, had the potential to take action to end the conflict in Gaza.

Trump ultimately won the election and is scheduled to return to the White House on Monday. On the eve of his inauguration, Israel and the Palestinian group Hamas agreed to a pause in hostilities in Gaza. Over 46,700 Palestinians have died in Gaza over the past 15 months. While Trump claims credit for pushing the ceasefire deal, Luqman stated she does not feel relief.

Instead, she is furious that outgoing US President Joe Biden failed to broker a deal in the preceding months. "I'm even more angry because Trump, who hasn't even taken office yet, just put a little bit of pressure and a ceasefire immediately happened," Luqman told Al Jazeera, "This could have happened sooner. It's so sad, all the extra lives that were lost." She added that the way the deal was made "solidifies Biden's legacy as 'Genocide Joe'," a moniker linking the Democratic leader to Israel’s violence in Gaza.

In previous elections, many Arab American voters had overwhelmingly supported the Democratic Party. However, due to the Democratic Party and its candidate, Vice President Kamala Harris’s support of the war in Israel, they turned against the Democrats in the November election. Many Arab voters said it was too early to celebrate the fragile ceasefire, but they stressed that Trump’s intervention showed they were right to abandon Harris. The shift in Arab American voting preference was particularly evident in the swing state of Michigan.

In the predominantly Arab community of East Dearborn, a suburb of Detroit, Harris received less than 20 percent of the vote. Most residents either voted for Trump or for Green Party candidate Jill Stein. Although Harris argued that she and Biden had been "working tirelessly" to achieve a ceasefire in Gaza, the vice president has also pledged to continue providing unconditional weapons to Israel. The Biden administration also vetoed four United Nations Security Council resolutions calling for a ceasefire in Gaza.

Yemeni American Mayor Amer Ghalib of Hamtramck, Michigan, was among those who supported Trump last year, even appearing at his rallies. He explained that negotiating a ceasefire in Gaza was the top demand of the former president's Arab and Muslim supporters. "He knew this was a just and humane demand," Ghalib told Al Jazeera in a statement. "We supported him in demanding a ceasefire, peace, combating Islamophobia, fair representation of Muslims in his government, and promoting and protecting faith and family values, and a safe education for our children. He has shown signs of making progress on every one of his promises."

Both Trump and Biden have claimed credit for brokering Wednesday’s ceasefire deal, with the president-elect claiming that the “historic” deal would not have been possible if he had not won the November election. However, it is difficult to assess how large a role Trump played in behind-the-scenes diplomacy. But some Israeli media reports suggest Trump played a decisive role in getting Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to agree to the deal, which will lead to the release of Israeli captives in Gaza, as well as hundreds of Palestinian prisoners held by Israel.

Trump sent his envoy, Steve Witkoff, to meet with mediators in Qatar and with Netanyahu in Israel last week. On Thursday, the president-elect appeared to confirm Israeli accounts that Witkoff had pushed Netanyahu to accept the deal. He shared an article from The Times of Israel on social media that quoted an unnamed Arab official as saying: “Trump’s envoy convinced Netanyahu in one meeting more than Biden did in a whole year.” Notably, Qatar’s Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani named Witkoff when announcing the deal on Wednesday.

Trump had warned earlier this month that “all hell would break loose” if Israeli captives were not released by the time he took office on January 20. Some analysts interpreted this as a threat to Hamas. But the Palestinian group has repeatedly stated that it would have accepted the ceasefire deal proposed by Biden in May, which included a prisoner exchange and a permanent end to the war. Netanyahu has repeatedly stated publicly that his government intends to continue the war. Despite this, Biden administration officials, including Secretary of State Antony Blinken, have maintained that Hamas has been the impediment to a deal.

Hala Rharrit, a former US diplomat who resigned last year over the Biden administration’s handling of the war, said the deal announced on Wednesday was the same proposal that has been on the table since May. Rharrit told Al Jazeera that the Biden administration’s failure to broker a deal for months was “a matter of political will”. “If there wasn’t a change in the executive branch, I think we would continue to hear the same rhetoric that ‘we are working tirelessly to ensure a ceasefire’,” Rharrit said. She added that there would have been no shift if Harris had been elected, but Trump’s victory created the momentum to broker a ceasefire deal.

Although Wednesday’s announcement sparked celebrations in Gaza, Arab American advocates are cautious about celebrating. It is unclear if Israel will abide by the deal, which does not go into effect until Sunday. In neighboring Lebanon, a US-brokered ceasefire in November failed to stop daily Israeli attacks. Israel has also killed dozens of people in Gaza since the deal was announced, including at least 21 children. Suhaile Amen, an Arab American community advocate in Michigan, said she hopes the ceasefire will hold, but stressed that it is difficult to trust US and Israeli politicians.

Nevertheless, she said that the deal brokered after Trump’s intervention further condemns Biden’s unwillingness to get Israel to end the war. “For many within the community, [pushing back] against the Biden administration’s continued funding of genocide and turning a blind eye to documented and verified human rights abuses remains our position,” Amen told Al Jazeera. Amen said voters “were very clear” that Trump helped get the ceasefire deal done. “As Biden leaves with the bloody legacy of genocide, our work continues to ensure our rights are protected and that the Arab and Muslim American community is not further harmed or harassed by the White House and beyond,” she said.

Waleed Fidama believes the former president made a “specific commitment” to ending the war in Gaza when he met with Arab and Muslim advocates ahead of the election. The lifelong Democrat ended up voting for Trump in November. “We are happy that he helped broker a ceasefire in Gaza and we hope it is more than just temporary,” Fidama told Al Jazeera. “We hope that the deal is fully implemented and allows displaced people 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 during his campaign. After all, Trump has staffed his incoming cabinet with staunchly pro-Israel aides, including his nominee for Secretary of State, Senator Marco Rubio. During his first term from 2017 to 2021, Trump made a series of policy shifts that supported the Netanyahu government, including moving the US embassy to Jerusalem.

Luqman said she is under no illusion that the Republican establishment will alienate Israel, but her top concern is to "immediately end the atrocities in Gaza to save more lives". “I wouldn’t support Marco Rubio. But at the same time, I am very much aware that there aren’t a lot of good options,” Luqman said.