Secretary of State John Kerry said Tuesday that he is planning on a visit to Israel in the near future, in an effort to help quell the violence that has led to the death of several Israelis and Palestinians over the last few weeks.
“Over the weekend, I was in touch with Prime Minister [Benjamin] Netanyahu and [Palestinian] President [Mahmoud] Abbas, and we’re working on trying to calm things down,” he said in remarks at Harvard University.
“And I will go there soon at some point, appropriately, and try to work to reengage and see if we can’t move that away from this precipice,” he said.
The surging violence has both Israelis and Palestinians pointing fingers at each other over its causes. Netanyahu convened an emergency meeting of his security cabinet Tuesday to deal with it, and urged Abbas to “stop lying” and stop encouraging violence against Israelis.
A few Israeli citizens were brutally murdered Tuesday, but Palestinian sympathizers say the violence is due to the ever-tightening control of controlled areas by Israel, and that violence is a natural result of this.
While many Republicans have said Israel has the right to defend itself from Palestinian attacks, the Obama administration has so far called on both sides to take steps to reduce violence.
