'It's getting harder for us': Palestinians weigh impact of Trump's victory | West Bank

TThe waiters in Ramallah's cafes and the tenders at the falafel stands all had more or less the same question: Is Donald Trump's victory good or bad? This question is reserved for outsiders. Palestinians in the West Bank's largest city already appear to have reached a tentative consensus: that the US election results have no real impact here because things couldn't possibly get worse.

“It won't make much difference,” said Eyad Barghouti, a retired university teacher, expressing a widely held view as the Gaza war rages on. “What Biden did previously inconspicuously, Trump will express more clearly.

“Biden would publicly say, 'We're not trying to starve Gaza, we're trying to give them food aid,' while at the same time supporting the Israeli army.” (Trump) will make it clear that we're trying to get rid of this and that people . He’s not going to play the game and try to act like a humanitarian.”

All the worst consequences of Trump's victory – the loss of freedom, the erosion of justice, economic collapse and, for US allies, the possible encroachment of an aggressive neighbor and devastating wars – are already a reality for most Palestinians, many of them argue.

Those in the West Bank point out that they only need to glance at their social media feeds to see today's equivalent of Guernica, Dresden or Grozny being streamed live from Gaza. They say when it comes to the flick, the liberal order mourned in the West this week wasn't just a spectator. It delivered the bombs.

“What we saw made us believe that the entire Western ideology is a lie,” said a librarian in his 50s, preferring not to give his name. “They never cared about us. What they care about is the well-being of Israel. That’s the one thing they all agree on.”

While the initial gut reaction in Ramallah is that Trump's reinstatement will not significantly alter the region's disastrous trajectory, many acknowledge that there is still room for the Palestinians' already bleak outlook to deteriorate further.

Barghouti said the “violence could get worse” and that Trump in the White House could make the desperation even more unpredictable. “It’s like a monkey holding a bomb,” he said. “You don’t know when he’s going to throw it or where he’s going to throw it.”

Lama Sheikha, who works in a printing company, said the U.S. election result would “make Israel even stronger.” “I think more and more that Israel makes the decisions, not the US. The US supports them and is ready to help,” Sheikha said.

A Trump administration is far more likely than the current U.S. administration to agree to Israel's proposed destruction of the U.N. aid agency Unrwa, which provides essential services to 871,000 Palestinians in the West Bank and virtually all of Gaza's 2.3 million population. Trump suspended US funding for UNRWA in 2018.

While Gaza's economy has been almost completely destroyed, the West Bank's GDP has fallen by more than 20% in the past year and the employment rate is now around 35%. And it could be worse. It is likely only pressure from the Biden administration that has prevented right-wing Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich from permanently withholding all of the customs tax that Israel collects on behalf of the Palestinian Authority. Without this revenue and UNRWA, the West Bank would be anything but an economic wasteland.

Meanwhile, the wave of settler violence against Palestinians has increased exponentially over the past year. Many have been killed or injured by militant settlers while harvesting olive groves, which are often set on fire. In the early hours of Monday this week, a band of masked militant settlers invaded Al-Bireh, a suburb of Ramallah, throwing petrol bombs at cars and buildings and shooting at firefighters who tried to reach the scene.

One of the few punitive measures the Biden administration has taken in recent months has been to impose sanctions on some of the militant settler leaders. It's questionable what impact these measures had on the ground, but they were nonetheless denounced by Republicans as anti-Israel. You can definitely bet that a Trump administration would drop them.

“People are already leaving. They will be forced to leave,” Sheikha said. “Now it will happen on a larger scale, it will be more difficult for us because of the economic situation, and people will be attacked on their land while harvesting olives.”

She said she understood those who wanted to escape but vowed not to be among them. “Whatever they do, they will not force me out of my country.”

Palestinian aspirations for a complete nation, already at a low ebb, have suffered another devastating setback with Trump's re-election, a fact celebrated by Israeli settlers.

“The threat of a Palestinian state is off the table,” Israel Ganz, head of the Yesha Council, the settlers’ umbrella organization, said in a statement Wednesday welcoming the U.S. result. “This is a historic moment and an opportunity for the settlement movement…Now, with the election of President Trump, it is time to also change the reality in Judea and Samaria (the West Bank) to ensure that it is forever remains part of Israel.” and to ensure the security of the Jewish state.”

Trump hasn't picked his team yet, but it's fair to say that his son-in-law Jared Kushner and his former bankruptcy lawyer and current ambassador to Israel, David Friedman, will likely have the president-elect's ear. Both are steadfast supporters of the settlements, and Friedman has published a book advocating full annexation of the West Bank.

The annexation is already taking place secretly. Smotrich has begun transferring parts of the West Bank from military to civilian control, a step toward integration with Israel.

Barghouti and his librarian friend agreed that a Trump White House, by enabling more open extremism on the Israeli right, would have the virtue of lifting the veil on the brutal realities of the Middle East and potentially provoking a reaction.

The librarian pointed to the emergence of Hezbollah in response to Israel's invasion of Lebanon in 1982. The Shiite militia became a formidable force and contributed to Israel's complete withdrawal from Lebanon in 2000 and 2006. He said, “We’re hoping for the same thing here – real resistance.”