As the final day of the American presidential election has already arrived, the Muslim press has started the early celebration of their expected winning of Democratic Party candidate Joe Biden, while Indian media are excitedly waiting to publish massive coverage once half-Indian Kamala Harris wins. Meanwhile, to Islamists and jihadists, Donald Trump is the “worst American president ever when it comes to the Palestinians and Iran” because he stopped enabling the “Palestinian” jihad as well as Iran’s notorious agenda of wiping-off Israel from the world map. President Trump stopped showering the rogue Palestinian Authority and Gaza with money and he also stopped echoing “Palestinian” jihad rhetoric. He has also harshly punished the Iranian mullah regime by enforcing a series of sanctions as well as withdrawing from the nuclear deal with Iran.
But of course, things will start moving in the opposite direction if Joe Biden becomes the president. He not only will re-enter the nuclear deal with Iran, but he also will most definitely shift the US embassy from Jerusalem to Ten Aviv and begin showering tons of money to Palestinian’s cause of jihad. He would also stop the ongoing process of normalization of relations between Israel and the Muslim nations, especially Israel’s Middle Eastern neighbors.
Meanwhile, Israeli news outlet YNETNEWS reports, two senior Palestinian officials have confirmed that they are maintaining direct channels of communication with the campaign of Joe Biden, the Democratic presidential candidate, with the hope of getting his support and favor, once Biden wins the election.
Palestinian Authority (PA) officials have roundly condemned the policies of the incumbent, Donald Trump. Under Trump, the US recognized Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and moved its embassy there from Tel Aviv. The PA claims East Jerusalem as the future capital of a Palestinian state.
In response, the Palestinian leaders cut off contact with the Trump Administration and refused to enter U.S.-led talks with Israel under the so-called deal of the century, which they swiftly rejected as biased toward Israel.
Washington also terminated millions of dollars of annual financial aid to the PA and ordered the Palestine Liberation Organization office in the American capital shuttered.
The PA has proclaimed that under Trump, the US is no longer an honest broker to mediate peace. Biden, on the other hand, is closely associated with the Obama administration, regarded by Palestinians and most Israelis as having been far-more friendly to Palestinian aspirations.
“We are sure that if he [Joe Biden] wins, he will reassert the U.S. position on the two-state solution and order the PLO office in Washington reopened,” said the second PA official.
Jihad Harb, a political analyst for several Palestinian media outlets, says the Palestinians are watching the election campaigns with great interest because whoever wins will have a major impact on the Palestinian cause.
“It is not surprising that there are relations with American parties,” he said.
“The Palestinians have reestablished relations with an important segment of the congressional leadership in the past few years,” he said.
“The Democratic Party has a majority in the House of Representatives, and there are certainly channels of communication.”
Harb says the PA is confident that as president, Biden would work to reopen additional channels for contacts.
They [Palestinian leaders] definitely want Trump to leave,” the analyst said. “He imposed a set of cruel, unfair and anti-Palestinian measures, and therefore they prefer Biden, at least because of their experience with him during his years as vice president in the Obama administration.”
Harb said the PA knows Biden well and would be “ecstatic” to see the Democrat in the White House.
“The Palestinians usually prefer the Democrats, and the Palestinian leadership prefers that the president be from the Democratic Party,” he said.
While Palestinian officials remain circumspect – publicly, at least – rank and file citizens are openly cheering for Biden, with many using the term “catastrophic” to describe the specter of a second Trump term.
“He’s the worst American president ever when it comes to the Palestinians,” said Fahmi Khalaf, a men’s clothing store owner in the West Bank city of Ramallah.
“He did all he could to serve Israel. We are aware that American presidents work for Israel, but Trump completely ignored our rights like no other U.S. president,” he stated.
Hassan Awwad, a US-based expert on the Middle East, says it is clear that Palestinian leaders prefer Biden.
“There’s no doubt in Palestinian officials’ minds that a Biden win will mitigate the economic hardship and provide [PA] President [Mahmoud] Abbas the ladder [he] desperately needs to climb down from the tree,” he told The Media Line.
It is no secret that the Palestinian leadership feels isolated. Three Arab countries are now normalizing ties with Israel, and Ramallah’s relations with many key Arab capitals are at best lukewarm.
The PA is thus eager for friendlier relations with Washington to help lift it out of its isolation and make it relevant again.
Khaled Elgindy, a senior fellow at the Middle East Institute in Washington and author of the new book Blind Spot: America and the Palestinians, from Balfour to Trump, says that while Biden and his running mate, California Sen. Kamala Harris, are staunch Israel supporters, they will take a different approach to that of Trump.
