BRIDGEVIEW, United States: On the outskirts of Chicago, as enthusiastic Democrats gather for their national convention, some residents of “Little Palestine” have a different message for presidential nominee Kamala Harris.
“They won’t be having our votes this year,” said Ali Ibrahim, the manager of a Palestinian bakery in Bridgeview, Illinois, a pendant in the shape of historic Palestinian lands hanging around his neck. “And we do not want them in office.”
Nestled by Midway International Airport and a soccer stadium, the Chicago suburb is home to the largest Palestinian community in the United States.
Palestinian flags flutter in the wind, shops display signs in both Arabic and English, and posters call for demonstrations against steadfast US military support of Israel as the death toll mounts in Gaza.
The kickoff of the Democratic National Convention on Monday, just 15 miles (24 kilometers) away in downtown Chicago, has only heightened divisions between Palestinian Americans and the national party, and comes amid similar fractures with the country’s larger Arab community, once a reliable Democratic voting bloc.
“We are angry. We are frustrated,” Souzan Naser, a 46-year-old professor, told AFP.
“You can’t expect us to vote for you when your values, your policies, your principles don’t align with ours.”
President Joe Biden has stuck by Israel in its war in Gaza, sparked by an attack by Hamas militants on October 7 that resulted in the deaths of 1,198 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures. Hamas also seized 251 hostages in the attack.
The Israeli military campaign in Gaza in response has killed more than 40,000 people, according to the territory’s Hamas-run health ministry, with the United Nations rights chief saying “most the dead” were women and children.
Swaths of the territory have been reduced to rubble, humanitarian aid has been blocked from entering the Strip and international observers have raised serious human rights concerns.
Amid the destruction, Gaza recorded its first case of polio in 25 years, with water infrastructure destroyed and civilians displaced in fetid conditions.
Biden and Harris “could have easily called for a ceasefire, had this war over a long time ago,” said Ibrahim.
Naser, a member of the activist group US Palestinian Community Network, was born in the Palestinian territories and raised in Bridgeview.
Residents in the Chicago suburb worked hard to elect Biden in 2020, she said, “and now they feel betrayed.”
For many, the war is more than a hypothetical question of foreign policy, she added.
“I had one student who lost 35 members of her family,” she told AFP, her voice choking with emotion. “And couldn’t reach others. Didn’t know if they were alive or not.”
Harris has, at times, struck a different tone than her boss, calling for a ceasefire in March before she was running for president.
Most recently, however, during her last-second campaign launched after Biden decided not to run for reelection, she rejected calls for an arms embargo.
“Has she done enough yet? No, will she? We hope,” said restaurant owner Muhammad Baste, 38, insisting on a change in US government policy rather than just rhetoric.
It is possible the Democratic Party will have to go into November without votes from “Little Palestine” and other Arab-American communities — including a large number of residents in nearby Michigan, viewed as a key battleground state.
“We know another Trump presidency would be a disaster,” said Naser, while insisting that the Palestinian community has given “Biden ample time to change course.”
Harris has been largely vague on foreign and domestic policy so far, and it is unclear what sort of relationship she will strike with Palestinian Americans — but the vice president got off to a rocky start.
As anti-war protesters interrupted a speech in Michigan earlier this month, she shot back: “If you want Donald Trump to win, then say that. Otherwise, I’m speaking.”
Ahead of Democratic convention, anger in Chicago’s ‘Little Palestine’
https://arab.news/mefqv
Ahead of Democratic convention, anger in Chicago’s ‘Little Palestine’
- Palestinian flags flutter in the wind, shops display signs in both Arabic and English, and posters call for demonstrations against steadfast US military support of Israel
- Harris has been largely vague on foreign and domestic policy so far, and it is unclear what sort of relationship she will strike with Palestinian Americans
Cross-border clash breaks out between Pakistan and Afghanistan amid rising tensions
- Border residents say exchange of fire in the Chaman border sector lasted nearly two hours
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan and Afghanistan witnessed yet another border clash, according to officials in both countries who spoke in the early hours of Saturday, with each side accusing the other of launching “unprovoked” attacks.
Fighting erupted in Pakistan’s southwestern Chaman border sector, with an AFP report saying that residents on the Afghan side of the frontier reported the exchange of fire began at around 10:30 p.m. (1800 GMT) and continued for roughly two hours.
The incident underscored how tensions remain high between the neighbors, who have seen deadly clashes in recent months despite several rounds of negotiations mediated by Qatar and Türkiye that resulted in a tenuous truce in October.
“There has been unprovoked firing by Afghan Taliban elements in the Chaman Sector which is a reckless act that undermines border stability and regional peace,” said a Pakistani security official on condition of anonymity.
“Pakistani troops responded with precision, reinforcing that any violation of our territorial integrity will be met with immediate and decisive action,” he continued.
The official described Pakistan’s response as “proportionate and calibrated” that showed “professionalism even in the face of aggression.”
“The Chaman Sector exchange once again highlights the need for Kabul to rein in undisciplined border elements whose actions are destabilizing Afghanistan’s own international standing,” he added.
Relations between Pakistan and Afghanistan have grown increasingly bitter since the Taliban seized power in Kabul following the withdrawal of international forces in August 2021.
Islamabad accuses the Taliban administration of sheltering anti-Pakistan militant groups such as the Baloch Liberation Army (BLA) and Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), which have carried out deadly attacks in its western provinces bordering Afghanistan, targeting civilians and security forces.
The Taliban deny the charge, saying Pakistan’s internal security challenges are its own responsibility.
The Pakistani security official said his country remained “committed to peaceful coexistence, but peace cannot be one-sided.”
“Attempts to pressure Pakistan through kinetic adventurism have repeatedly failed and will continue to fail,” he said. “The Chaman response has reaffirmed that message unmistakably.”
He added that Pakistan’s security forces were fully vigilant and that responsibility for any escalation “would solely rest with those who initiated unprovoked fire.”
Mosharraf Zaidi, spokesman for Pakistan’s prime minister, also commented on the clashes in a social media post, saying the Afghan Taliban had “resorted to unprovoked firing along the border.”
“An immediate, befitting and intense response has been given by our armed forces,” he wrote.
Afghan authorities, however, blamed Pakistan for the hostilities.
Border clashes that began in October have killed dozens of people on both sides.
The latest incident comes amid reports of back-channel discussions between the two governments, although neither has publicly acknowledged such talks.
