In Amman, our media regularly covered what was seen as Harris’ insensitive treatment of Arab and Muslim voters. The failure to invite Arab and Muslim Americans to speak at the Democratic National Convention resulted in much broadcast on major Arab satellite stations viewed in Palestine and elsewhere in the Arab region. One of the rare times television networks veered from covering the war in Gaza around the clock was when they aired stories about how Arab, Muslim, Black and progressive Americans were left out of the debate during Harris’ short-term presidency.

But my family, friends and While my colleagues and many in the Arab world were disgusted by Washington’s failure to stop the slaughter of our people, I was looking at the big picture of where America stood as the leader of the free world.

When I bet on Harris, I was hoping that even though the Gazans had failed, the American people would elect a person whose human rights standards and moral compass put her on the right side of history. I was confident that Americans would not elect an immoral person with little respect for the rule of law and law. Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Of course I was wrong. Trump’s election left us feeling like the world had lost an important defender of human rights. In the meeting we held with our human rights defender friends the day after the election, we questioned whether there was an important human rights defender. I shared with a senior European Union official my feelings that we are losing the United States and the United Nations on this issue. Consider the inability of the international community and the UN to hold Israel accountable for human rights violations in Gaza.

Palestinians are aware that a strong leader in the White House is needed to end decades of suffering and occupation.

If the president-elect keeps his campaign promise, he will seek to end the wars in Ukraine and Gaza. But Trump is the one who benefited from his campaign. from $100 million The donation from Israeli American Miriam Adelson, the widow of casino billionaire Sheldon Adelson, is unlikely to stand up to Adelson’s idol, Netanyahu.

Even though I lost the bet to Harris, I still have some hope. The violence in Gaza cannot continue. An independent Palestinian state will surely rise from the ashes. We want to live side by side with Israel in our own free and independent country. Will Trump help or hinder Palestine’s age-old dream of freedom and liberty?

Davud Kuttab A Palestinian journalist and former professor of journalism at Princeton University. He is a columnist for Washington-based Al-Monitor and Saudi English newspaper Arab News. Follow him on X @daoudkuttab and Threads @daoud.kuttab.