
John Kennedy was public about his support for Arab repatriation to Israel.
Like all American Presidents since 1948, Kennedy came into office with a belief that he could find a way to bring long-term peace to the Middle East. As a House and Senate member, Kennedy had always been a public supporter of Israel, but he had repeatedly expressed understanding of the aspirations of Arab nationalism and sympathy for the plight of the Palestinian refugees. For example, in a February 1958 speech before a Jewish group, he declared that the refugee question “must be resolved through negotiations, resettlement, and outside international assistance. But to recognize the problem is quite different from saying that the problem is insoluble short of the destruction of Israel … or must be solved by Israel alone.”[1]
While serving as President, Kennedy worked with advisors to formulate a plan to carry out Arab repatriation. However, he was forced to make concessions with the refugee issue when dealing with Ben-Gurion because the nuclear proliferation issue took precedence for Kennedy: