RAMALLAH, Palestine
With just six days until US voters go to polls to elect a new president, Palestinians see no difference between White House hopefuls Kamala Harris and Donald Trump. Palestinians in the occupied West Bank say that the results of the Nov. 5 elections will not change Washington’s unlimited political and military support for Israel amid its brutal war on the Gaza Strip.
More than 43,100 people have been killed, mostly women and children, and over 101,500 others injured in a devastating Israeli war on Gaza following a Hamas attack on Oct. 7, 2023.
“We expect nothing from the incoming US administration or the candidate who will win the elections,” Mahmoud Nawajaa, coordinator of the Palestinian National Committee for the Boycott of Israel (BDS), told Anadolu on Wednesday.
“The genocide being committed against our people in Gaza, and all other crimes taking place in Palestine and Lebanon would not have occurred without US support,” he added.
Nawajaa called Israel the “spearhead of an imperial project” in the region.
“The US elections will not change anything,” he said.
“The US administration is complicit and a partner in the crime of genocide and everything that is happening in Lebanon and all the bombing and destruction in Iraq and Yemen.
“The elections will make no difference; the only difference lies in the ability of the Palestinian people and Arab nations to pressure colonial regimes to change their positions and work toward the collapse of the colonial system," Nawajaa said.
“Two sides of same coin”
Jamal Juma, coordinator of the Palestinian grassroots Anti-Apartheid Wall Campaign (Stop the Wall), shares a similar view.
"We place no faith whatsoever in the US elections," he told Anadolu.
“For years, both American parties have proven to be two sides of the same coin.
“It’s clear that Zionists control US decisions due to their dominance over financial and media centers,” Juma opined.
He cited Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital when he was still in the White House in 2017.
“Current President Joe Biden has done even worse by justifying and continuing to justify the genocide,” Juma said.
"Our primary issue is with the US and its racist, superior, and inhumane approach to the Palestinian cause," he added.
US bias for Israel
Palestinian political activist Omar Assaf said the Palestinian people do not rely on the results of the US elections.
“I believe anyone who does is delusional, as America operates through its institutions and is biased toward Israeli aggression,” he added.
“The US is complicit in genocide with its aircraft and bombs, and they compete to offer the most support to the occupation, whether it's Republican candidate Trump or Democratic rival Harris. They view the Zionist project as part of their interests and agenda.
"We must rely on ourselves and our resistance, not the US elections. They will continue to support the Israeli aggression and will not hesitate to provide political cover for it,” Assaf said.
“Real face”
Osama Abdel Karim, a Palestinian engineer, said Palestinians expect nothing from the incoming US administration.
“We place no hope in any of the two candidates,” he said.
"All US administrations, whether Republican or Democratic, have a policy of supporting Israel politically and militarily and providing it with protection and a platform in various international forums, so we have no stake in these elections.
"The US is a primary partner and accomplice in the war of genocide on Gaza, and before that in the West Bank, through its support for settlement building, the Judaization of Jerusalem, and its annexation to Israel."
University student Obadah Muhaysen from Bethlehem, in the southern West Bank, said the Gaza war has exposed the “true face” of the US.
"The Israeli war on Gaza, supported and funded by the US, has revealed the true face of the US, which claims to stand for ethics, democracy, and human rights,” he said.
"I don’t think any Palestinian or Arab expects anything positive from US administrations or anticipates any change in US support for the occupation state," Muhaysen concluded.
