Washington, D.C.– When Samraa Luqman voted for Donald Trump in November, she believed that even if the former president had a one percent chance of pushing for a ceasefire in Gaza, he would A better choice than the Democrats who failed to stop a ceasefire in Gaza. war.
Trump ultimately won the race and is scheduled to return to the White House on Monday. Ahead of his inauguration, Israel and the Palestinian group Hamas had agreed to a moratorium on hostilities in Gaza, where more than 46,700 Palestinians have been killed in the past 15 months.
But Lukman said she didn't feel she was right despite Trump's claims of praise for pushing for a ceasefire.
Instead, she is angry that outgoing U.S. President Joe Biden failed to finalize a deal months ago.
"I'm more angry because Trump wasn't even in office yet and he did some pressure and the ceasefire was agreed very quickly," Lukman told Al Jazeera. "It could have happened earlier. All these extra It’s so sad that lives have been lost.”
She added that the manner in which the deal was reached "cemented Biden's legacy as Genocide Joe," a nickname that links the Democratic leader to Israel's atrocities in Gaza.
After overwhelmingly supporting Democrats in previous elections, many Arab-American voters turned against the party and its candidate, Vice President Kamala Harris, in the November election because of their support for Israel's war.
While many Arab voters said it was too early to celebrate the fragile ceasefire, they stressed that Trump's intervention showed they were right to abandon Harris.
The shift in Arab-American voting preferences is particularly pronounced in the swing state of Michigan.
In the predominantly Arab neighborhood on the east side of Dearborn, a suburb of Detroit, Harris received less than 20% of the vote. Most residents either voted for Trump or Green Party candidate Jill Stein.
While Harris argued that she and Biden had been working "tirelessly" to achieve a ceasefire in Gaza, the vice president also pledged to continue unconditionally arming Israel.
The Biden administration has also vetoed four U.N. Security Council resolutions calling for a ceasefire in Gaza.
Amer Ghalib, the Yemeni-American mayor of Hamtramck, Michigan, was among those who supported Trump last year and even appeared at his rallies.
He explained that negotiating a ceasefire in Gaza was a top demand of the former president's Arab and Muslim supporters.
"He knew it was a fair and humane request," Ghalib told Al Jazeera in a statement.
"We support him and demand a ceasefire, peace, the fight against Islamophobia, fair representation of Muslims in his government, and the promotion and protection of faith and family values and the safe education of our children. He has shown some signs that He is working hard to deliver on every promise he makes."
Both Trump and Biden claimed to applaud Wednesday's ceasefire, with the incoming president claiming the "epic" deal would not have been reached had he not won the November election.
However, it is difficult to assess the extent of Trump's role in behind-the-scenes diplomacy.
But multiple Israeli media reported that Trump decisively got Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to agree to the deal, which would lead to the release of Israeli captives in Gaza and hundreds of Palestinian prisoners held in Israel.
Trump last week sent special envoy Steve Witkoff to Qatar to meet with mediators and to meet with Israel's Netanyahu.
On Thursday, the U.S. president-elect appeared to confirm Israel's assertion that Vitkov urged Netanyahu to accept the deal.
He shared a Times of Israel article on social media, quoting an unidentified Arab official as saying: "The Trump envoy had more influence on Netanyahu in one meeting than Biden had in an entire year." The impact is even greater.”
Notably, Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani thanked Vitkov by name when announcing the deal on Wednesday.
Trump warned earlier this month that "everything is going to explode" if Israeli prisoners are not released when he takes office on January 20.
Some analysts viewed the message as a threat to Hamas. But Palestinian groups have repeatedly said they would accept a ceasefire proposed by Biden in May that would include a prisoner exchange and a permanent end to the war.
Netanyahu has repeatedly stated publicly that his government intends to continue the war.
Still, Biden administration officials — including Secretary of State Antony Blinken — insist Hamas has been blocking the deal.
Hala Rharrit, a former U.S. diplomat who resigned last year over the Biden administration's handling of the war, said the deal announced Wednesday was the same proposal that had been under discussion since May.
Larrit told Al Jazeera the Biden administration's months-long failure to finalize a deal was "a matter of political will."
"If there had been no change in government, I think we would have continued to hear the exact same rhetoric of 'we are working tirelessly to secure a ceasefire,'" Larrit said.
She added that there would be no shift if Harris were elected, but Trump's victory created momentum to achieve a ceasefire.
While Wednesday's announcement sparked cheers in Gaza, Arab-American supporters remained cautious about the celebrations.
It is unclear whether Israel will abide by the deal, which does not take effect until Sunday. In neighboring Lebanon, a U.S.-brokered ceasefire in November failed to stop daily Israeli attacks.
Israel has also killed dozens of people in Gaza since the deal was announced, including at least 21 children.
Suhaila Amen, an Arab American community advocate in Michigan, said she hoped a ceasefire would materialize but stressed it was difficult to take American and Israeli politicians at their word.
Still, she said the deal struck after Trump intervened was a further indictment of Biden's unwillingness to let Israel end the war.
“For many in the community, opposition to the Biden administration’s continued funding of genocide and turning a blind eye to verified and documented human rights violations remains our position,” Amen told Al Jazeera.
Amen said voters "clearly know" that Trump helped seal the ceasefire.
“As Biden leaves with a bloody legacy of genocide, our work will continue to ensure that our rights are protected and that Arab and Muslim American communities from the White House on down are not further victimized or harassed,” she said.
In Walid Fidama's view, the former president made a "concrete commitment" to end the war in Gaza when he met with Arab and Muslim advocates before the election. The Yemeni-American, a lifelong Democrat, ultimately voted for Trump in November.
"We are happy that he helped achieve a ceasefire in Gaza and we hope it is not just temporary," Fidama told Al Jazeera.
“We want the agreement to be fully effective and for displaced people to return home.”
But some members of the Arab-American community are skeptical that Trump can bring lasting peace to the Middle East as he promised during his campaign. After all, Trump has packed his incoming Cabinet with staunchly pro-Israel aides, including his nominee for secretary of state, Sen. Marco Rubio.
During his first term from 2017 to 2021, Trump made a series of policy shifts in support of Netanyahu's government, including moving the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem.
Lukman said she had no illusions that the Republican establishment would distance itself from Israel, but that "an immediate end to atrocities in Gaza to save more lives" was her top concern.
"I'm not going to support Marco Rubio. But at the same time, I'm seriously aware that there aren't a lot of good options," Lookman said.