Does it make any difference to the Palestinian people whether it is Harris or Trump who wins? I think it does, big time.
I get it on why many Palestinians, Arab Americans and strong progressives in the United States are so anguished and angry at the refusal of the Biden Administration to stop sending weapons of war to Israel, prolonging unnecessarily the agonizing suffering in Gaza. I feel the same way and express it in action every week at a local Free Palestine demonstration. But I don’t agree that, therefore, the right thing to do on November 5th, or before via early voting, is to vote for Jill Stein or Cornell West as a protest vote.
What are the likely consequences for Palestinians of Donald Trump winning?
Trump is Netanyahu’s, guy, and the MAGA Republicans are his US party. It was the Republican controlled House leadership which invited this war criminal to speak to Congress in late July. There are no Republican Congresspeople who have come out in support of a ceasefire. It was during Trump’s Presidency that the US Embassy was moved to Jerusalem. In a Reuters article on August 15th Trump is quoted as saying, “From the start, Harris has worked to tie Israel’s hand behind its back, demanding an immediate ceasefire, always demanding ceasefire,” Trump said, adding it “would only give Hamas time to regroup and launch a new October 7 style attack.”
A Trump victory will strengthen the hand of Netanyahu and his now-unpopular government, give a green light to settler and IDF violence in the West Bank and advance their explicitly racist and colonialist agenda of extending the state of Israel “from the river to the sea,” as they say.
If Harris wins, there is a basis to continue to pressure her and Democrats to make real their explicit verbal support for a ceasefire and an end to the war on Gaza by cutting off military aid, if the on-going pressure from below doesn’t achieve a ceasefire before election day. A Harris victory would allow the Free Palestine movement to build upon the massive progressive and liberal energy unleashed by her campaign and enlist additional numbers behind the demands for not just a ceasefire, the release of Israel hostages and Palestinian prisoners and massive humanitarian aid to Gaza, but also for a serious commitment to moving the ball forward as far as Palestinian self-determination. Harris has spoken a number of times in support of “Palestinian self-determination.”
In my view, bringing that self-determination demand forward, and giving it real content, would mean that there must be a Palestine-wide election to choose government leaders, not the imposition of the corrupt and unpopular Palestine Authority or any other scheme where Palestinians are unable to vote for who they want. And it seems to me that relatively soon, there should be a Palestine-wide referendum on what kind of new arrangement they support, whether a two-state solution, and what that would mean, how that would be done in a way which empowers them, or something else.
Only a Harris administration has the potential, if strongly pushed, to do all these things. Voting in the battleground states of Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, North Carolina, Georgia, Nevada or Arizona for anyone other than her will not advance and could even jeopardize the Palestinian cause, in my view.
Ted Glick has been a progressive activist, organizer and writer since 1968. He is the author of the recently published books, Burglar for Peace and 21st Century Revolution. More info can be found at https://tedglick.com
Featured image: Palestinian flag surrounded by peace doves (Ash Hayes, Unsplash).
