Joe Kennedy and Palestine

By Mary Barrett

In 1968, when Joe Kennedy was just 15 years old, his father, Robert, was gunned down in Los Angeles by Palestinian refugee Sirhan Sirban.

In 1974, at 22, Kennedy was aboard a routine flight from Bombay to London when it was hijacked by armed Palestinians and diverted to South Yemen, where the incident ended without violence after three days on the tarmac.

In 1988, now a Democratic member of Congress from Massachusetts, Kennedy faced a new challenge. Voters in his district directed his attention to a matter of urgent concern to them: justice for the Palestinians.

A Cambridge group, the Coalition for Palestinian Rights (CPR), collected enough signatures to put a referendum on the Nov. 8 ballot. There followed an intensive educational program by CPR, and strong opposition by Kennedy.

The non-binding measure instructed the district's congressional representative to vote in favor of a resolution calling on the president and Congress to: demand that Israel end its violations of Palestine human rights and its occupation of the West Bank and Gaza; stop all expenditures of US taxpayers' money for Israel's occupation of the West Bank and Gaza; and favor the establishment of an independent Palestinian state in the West Bank with peace for all states in the region including Israel.

Cambridge and Somerville voters said yes.

Kennedy had never visited either Israel or the occupied territories. It was three months before he sat down with those of his constituents who had sought to express their concern over US policy in the region through the referendum process. By the time of the meeting, however, Kennedy had begun his homework in earnest by visiting Israel, Gaza, and the West Bank.

His January trip was sponsored by the Anti-Defamation League of the B'nai B'rith, but Kennedy and his administrative assistant, Chuck McDermott, who accompanied him on the trip, told the ADL that they intended to meet with Palestinian representatives as well as Israeli representatives.

While in Israel, Kennedy saw Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir, Defense Minister Yitzhak Rabin, and Foreign Minister Shimon Peres. McDermott reports that the meetings with these Israeli leaders were very confrontational, with Kennedy expressing strong disapproval of the tactics used against protesting Palestinians. Kennedy brought up the Cambridge/Somerville referendum, as well as another question on the ballot in Berkeley, CA, with each of the ministers, describing the referenda as symptomatic of a major change in US public perceptions over the last year and a half. Kennedy found it significant that all three were already well aware of the initiatives.

Kennedy refused military escort when he, his sister Courtney, and McDermott went to Beach Camp and Gaza City as guests of the director of the Gaza Medical Association, Dr. Hatem Abu Ghazaleh, who took them to the Society for the Care of Handicapped Children and other medical facilities. Kennedy was apparently unaware, however, that he was followed by the military, and his driver beaten by soldiers after the party left the car, according to an eye-witness.

While in Gaza they experienced what McDermott calls "a little intifadah."

They saw soldiers chasing women down the street, firing. They heard the sound of automatic weapons fire and experienced tear gas first hand.

After speaking with both Israeli and Palestinian leaders, Kennedy was encouraged to observe some common ground between Israelis and Palestinians, although the differences among the Israelis themselves, on even the most basic questions, were readily apparent. For example, Israeli government officials told Kennedy that elections should be held in the occupied territories to choose representatives to negotiate with Israel. Peres said he would speak to anyone elected by the Palestinians, even Yasser Arafat. Rabin would speak only to any elected local Palestinian. Shamir qualified that still further, saying he would talk only to those local Palestinians who had no affiliation with the PLO. It was clear to Kennedy that this viewpoint is simply not dealing with reality, McDermott said.

A group of Palestinians—physicians, journalists, and academics with whom Kennedy met on the West Bank—indicated that such local elections were now appropriate. Some in the group noted that a long delay in peace negotiations could lead to increased influence by "Muslim fundamentalists," presumably to the distress of those on both sides seeking a compromise solution. This seems to illustrate Israelis working at cross purposes since the Israeli government has not only funded the Islamic fundamentalist movement, but has consistently spread rumors of battles between it and the PLO, and even released bogus leaflets in its name in the hope of diluting the energy of the intifadah.

Kennedy spoke with admiration of the sensitivity and savvy of the Palestinians with whom he held discussions. Expressing satisfaction at having made what he views as valuable personal contacts in the Palestinian community, he said, "hearing their description of the occupation, visiting areas of conflict, is incredibly disquieting given the kind of upbringing we have here in the United States. " Kennedy noted "a continuous turn around in one's perspective depending on who the last particular individual you spoke with was."

With regard to his impressions of the Israeli viewpoint, Kennedy referred to a lengthy meeting with Dr. Yossi Alpher, deputy chief of the Jaffe Center for Strategic Studies, the influential Israeli think tank which recently recommended the eventual establishment of an independent Palestinian state in the occupied territories. Alluding to the US opening of discussions with the PLO as very important, Alpher characterized Israel's failure to open the same dialogue as a serious tactical error. He told Kennedy that the "unrest" in the occupied territories presented no fundamental threat to the state of Israel, saying it was a political problem in need of a political solution.

However, presumably in reaction to the implied threat of ballot Question 5, which addressed American funding to Israel, Alpher stressed that Israel was "in very great danger" from the Syrian army and the "new level of military technology in the region due to the Iran-Iraq war." This perception was further enhanced during a, visit by Kennedy to Kibbutz Mannara, situated in the Galilee on the Lebanese border. His host there was the commander of the northern region (which includes southern Lebanon), General Yossi Peled who, while also playing down the importance of the internal "unrest," conveyed a sense of great and imminent danger to Israel from outside.

Asked what he learned from his trip, Kennedy said the US willingness to meet with the PLO represents "a new day dawning in the Middle East, as there is now room for serious and substantive negotiation." He believes that even Prime Minister Shamir recognizes that the American people are not happy with Israel's handling of the uprising because Americans are "brought up with a tradition of self-rule and self-determination."

Israel will have to come up with a peace plan that offers real self-determination to the Palestinian people, Kennedy notes, adding that a solution can be achieved only when Israel and the Palestinians negotiate directly. Leaving open the possibility of Palestinian statehood, Kennedy said, "Whatever entity that ends up creating, that should be done." He believes, however, that for the time being, economic sanctions are inappropriate as Israel itself is coming to terms with the need for change.

Rather than responding with resentment to the success of the referendum question which he opposed, Joe Kennedy seems to have used the opportunity to expand his horizons. While quickly revealing the extent of his own past trauma, it is clear that it has not closed his mind to the suffering of others.

Mary Barrett is a free-lance writer based in Boston. She is currently completing a book entitled View From Below: Palestinian Stories of Occupation and Rebellion.