Trump’s role in Gaza ceasefire fuels Arab American anger with Biden

Incoming US president suggests that he pressured Israel to take the deal, which is supposed to go into effect on Sunday.

Washington, DC – When Samraa Luqman voted for Donald Trump in November, she believed that, even if there were a one-percent chance that the former president would push for a ceasefire in Gaza, he would be a better option than the Democrats who had failed to stop the war.

Trump ultimately won that race and is slated to re-enter the White House on Monday. And in the lead-up to his inauguration, Israel and the Palestinian group Hamas have agreed to pause hostilities in Gaza, where more than 46,700 Palestinians have been killed in the last 15 months.

But Luqman says she doesn’t feel vindicated, even though Trump has claimed credit for pushing the ceasefire deal over the line.

Instead, she’s outraged at outgoing United States President Joe Biden for failing to finalise the agreement months earlier.

“I’m just even more angry because Trump, who is not even in office, did a little arm-twisting, and the ceasefire agreement was done right away,” Luqman told Al Jazeera. “This could have happened sooner. It’s so sad, all those extra lives lost.”