Near Chicago, the deep anger of the inhabitants of Little Palestine

Photo: Charly Triballeau Agence France-Presse In Little Palestine, near Chicago, posters calling for protests against American support for Israel are plastered under signs in Arabic and English.

Charlotte Causit – Agence France-Presse in Bridgeview

Published at 14:14

• United States

“They won't get our vote.” About twenty kilometers from Chicago, where the Democratic Party is preparing to triumphantly invest Kamala Harris, members of the country's largest Palestinian community are still angry.

In the alleys of Bridgeview, a few Palestinian flags stand out from the gray facades. Under the signs in Arabic and English, posters calling for demonstrations against American support for Israel are plastered.

After more than ten months of devastating conflict in Gaza, the holding of the Democratic convention this week is rekindling the resentment of the inhabitants of this city nicknamed “Little Palestine” against the duo who lead the country.

“What I can tell you is that people are furious with Joe Biden and Kamala Harris. “They are not welcome here,” says Ali Ibrahim, in his twenties.

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“They’re not going to get our vote this year, and we don’t want them to be elected, because what’s happening is wrong, and we don’t tolerate it,” says the young man, a Palestine-shaped pendant around his neck.

“Some members of our community worked hard to get Joe Biden elected in 2020, and now they feel betrayed,” says Souzan Naser, who was born in Palestine and raised in this Chicago suburb.

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Because here, she explains, everyone is closely or distantly connected to the conflict.

“I have a student who, for example, lost 35 members of her family,” confides this teacher and member of the pro-Palestinian association USPCN, her voice choked with emotion.

The war, triggered on October 7 by an unprecedented attack by Hamas in Israel, has left more than 40,000 dead in the Gaza Strip, the vast majority of them civilians, according to the Ministry of Health in Gaza.

“Betrayed”

A tragedy that could have been avoided, according to Ali Ibrahim. U.S. officials “could have easily called a ceasefire and made this war long over,” he said.

“With the stroke of a pen, they can end the genocide, they can choose to stop sending military aid that is slaughtering our people,” Naser says.

For her, as for other residents she met, President Biden’s withdrawal from the race and his replacement by the vice president, who has promised “not to be silent” in the face of the suffering of Palestinian civilians, changes nothing.

“Has she done enough?? No. Will she do it ? That’s what we hope,” summarizes the owner of a Palestinian restaurant, Muhammad Baste, calling for actions rather than promises.

Among those desired: a permanent ceasefire, the end of American aid to Israel and an arms embargo. A measure that would not be considered by the candidate, however, one of her close advisers had indicated at the beginning of the month.

Without a radical change in the Democratic Party’s policy on the matter, they will have to do without them in November, the voters of Little Palestine warn.

“You can’t expect us to vote for you when your values, your policies and your principles don’t match ours,” Ms. Naser asserts.

And don’t tell her, like Kamala Harris herself, that the abstentionists could be responsible for a return to power of the Republican Donald Trump.

A second Trump presidency would be a “disaster,” believes the teacher, “but we refuse to take responsibility for it. “We've given you plenty of time to change course and you keep insisting,” she accuses.

During a recent campaign trip, Kamala Harris was interrupted by pro-Palestinian activists shouting “We will not vote for genocide!”

“If you want Donald Trump to win, keep saying that,” the Democrat snapped. “Otherwise, I’ll be the one talking.”