US elections and stopping the war on Gaza

For comparison, I would like to remind readers that the British magazine “The Economist” published its issue for the week of May 19-25, 2018, and put on the cover a picture of a Palestinian child aiming his slingshot into Israel from a place near the Gaza border with it. The cover title accompanying this wonderful symbolic image was “Gaza: There is a better alternative.”

The lead article, “Siege Mentality,” opens with a story about a Palestinian doctor named Mazen al-Qassas, who had been shot in the thigh by an Israeli sniper a few days before his interview with The Economist. Dr. al-Qassas did not say much, merely showing the journalist the location of the injury. “I have to cut short this interview,” he said, “because as you can see in the hospital, it’s crowded. There are more than fifty patients and wounded waiting for me.”

This introduction to the article represented the horror of the catastrophic health situation in Gaza during the 2018 war on the occasion of the seventieth anniversary of the Palestinian Nakba and the establishment of the Israeli entity on the land of Palestine. That war lasted only a few weeks and ended with massive destruction of homes and infrastructure. But the story of Dr. Al-Qassas and his suffering and patience with his wounds in order to treat the wounded and sick now seems like a small part of the routine of horror, destruction and continuous killing against Gaza. There is a huge difference between 2018 and the war that has been going on for more than three hundred days without stopping or abating. The news covering the developments of the war on the ground and politically have become carbon copies of each other except for the numbers and sometimes the names.

There have been many harsh statistics about the number of people killed, wounded and missing, their whereabouts when these brave people were unjustly attacked, their professions, whether they were UNRWA workers, health workers, children or women. We have heard numerical details, most of which are fully and convincingly documented, about the homes and buildings that were demolished, the hospitals that were destroyed, the schools that were blown up, and the universities that were targeted. We have precise statistics about the size of the infrastructure, including water pipes and tanks, and specific information about the amount of oil, medicine, food and medical equipment that was allowed to enter Gaza, the small amount required. All of this is documented, or let’s say enough of it, to make your hair stand on end.

On the other hand, there are two striking developments. The first is that the people of Gaza and the West Bank, and many members of the Arab people, civil institutions, and many international humanitarian and non-governmental organizations, are still holding fast to their position in describing what is happening as a heinous humanitarian war crime committed by Israel and its “high-moral” army!! According to the claims of Netanyahu and many of his newly-minted henchmen. On the other hand, we see that most governments in the world have begun to refocus their attention on other issues.

Perhaps the most important of these developments is that American television stations (liberal or conservative) hardly mention the war in their media directed at the United States. As for international news, they mention it shyly and with few words, as is the case on many Arab and Islamic satellite television stations.

The question is: Is the diminishing of reactions in the official Arab media and its continuation in unofficial media expected? Or does the continuation of the war mean that the people are increasingly attached to the resistance, and that Arab and Muslim officials are embarrassed by the continuation of the war because it ultimately reveals their desire to put the entire Palestinian issue behind them?

Some countries, such as Jordan, support the people of Gaza and use all means available to them to deliver aid to them, and they are remarkably successful in this regard.

Jordanian officials, especially Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi, express in clear and unambiguous language an advanced and influential Jordanian position, but Jordan says that it will not allow its forces to participate in any peacekeeping arrangements in Gaza, and stresses that any Israeli attempts to deport Palestinians to Jordan are a red line, and Jordan will confront them by all means, and rejects the claims of Netanyahu's henchmen, the hardline ministers, that Jordan is Palestine, which is rejected in text, spirit and direction, and Jordan will use all available means to prevent it. However, despite the importance of its strategic location, Jordan will not allow anyone to violate its sovereignty and the dignity of its lands.

There is no Jordanian, regardless of his origin, background, religion or ideology, who would accept that Jordan turns into Palestine. The Jordanian effort is stored for a day when it is feared that all of Israel will become an extremist state, and this is what is actually happening, so it will be incumbent upon Jordan to prevent these people’s goals.

It is recorded that the State of Qatar's official and unofficial media support the people of Gaza and expose Israel's practices. Qatar is playing a distinguished mediation role to put an end to these human massacres and the barbaric war of extermination that Israel is waging against the children, women and facilities of Gaza.

The second important position is the American position, which was evident in its reception of the Israeli Prime Minister. Although the election period and its timing made Jewish money and Jewish pressure centers in the United States capable of making America take a "hypocritical" position towards Netanyahu, it is clear that trust in the Republican candidate Donald Trump should have no place in the mind of the Arab official, because despite his disagreement with his son-in-law Jared Kushner, the man still insists on his previous positions and actions, and believes that he is able to impose a solution in Gaza whose goal is to release Israeli prisoners and give Netanyahu a free hand to finish off the resistance.

It is true that Netanyahu sought to appear comfortable in his meeting with President Joe Biden, but he addressed him by saying, “You are a Christian, Catholic, Zionist, and my friend is a Jewish Zionist.” This is language that Netanyahu uses to practically address his supporters in Israel, and also to address Israel’s Christian Zionist supporters in the United States, who constitute Trump’s political base. However, Kamala Harris, who has been severely criticized by Israel’s supporters because she reminded Netanyahu during her meeting with him of the need to end the unjust war in Gaza, reflects an advanced position compared to both Biden and Trump.

But more importantly, Kamala Harris believes that the American demographic component of Arabs, Muslims, Africans, some groups of Latin American origin, white youth and women will be important in determining who wins a number of volatile states such as Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, Georgia, Arizona, and Wisconsin, especially since Democrat Biden won them in the November 2020 elections with a small number of votes that will all go to the winner.

I believe that all Arab leaders who want to end the unjust war in Gaza and remove the embarrassment they are facing because of its continuation must have one position, which is to support the Democratic Party. It is true that some Arab regimes, especially in the Gulf region, see the Democrats as more difficult for them than the Republicans, but supporting the Republicans financially and economically will be very expensive.

This should not be understood as meaning that the Democrats will be a sweetheart, but the chances of influencing them, even with the liberal Jewish lobby, who fear for Israel or do not believe in its existence, are greater in the coming decades, because religious extremism in Israel will find a closer friend in white Christian extremism in the United States, and even in Europe. But bets on the right gaining ground in Europe have begun to recede after the elections in the United Kingdom and France.
Supporters must be contacted to lift the injustice in Gaza and open a political process to resolve the Palestinian issue as a whole within the United States. The coming months are crucial because they are decisive.

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There is no Jordanian, regardless of his origin, background, religion or ideology, who would accept that Jordan turns into Palestine. The Jordanian effort is stored for the day when it is feared that all of Israel will become an extremist state, and this is what is actually happening, and it will be incumbent upon Jordan to prevent the aims of these people.