Kerry heads to Israel this week for talks on terror surge

US Secretary of State John Kerry will visit the Middle East from Sunday to Tuesday, in a trip that will take him to Israel for the first time since the summer of 2014.

Kerry will travel to Abu Dhabi, Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, and Ramallah, State Department spokesman John Kirby said in a statement Saturday, with Israeli-Palestinian violence, Syria and the Islamic State group all on the agenda.

“In Abu Dhabi, Secretary Kerry will meet with senior government officials to discuss a range of bilateral and regional political and security issues, with a focus on Syria,” Kirby announced.

“While in Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, and Ramallah, Secretary Kerry will discuss bilateral and regional security issues, including Syria and Daesh [IS], and continue discussions on stopping the violence in Israel, Jerusalem and the West Bank, and improving conditions on the ground.”

Israel is in the midst of a wave of terror attacks that has so far claimed the lives of 16 Israelis, a US citizen, an Eritrean national and a Palestinian bystander in a series of near-daily stabbings, shootings or car-ramming attacks perpetrated by mainly Palestinian assailants. On the Palestinian side, over 80 have been killed since the uptick in violence began on October 1, at least half of them attackers.

Kerry is set to meet with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas during the visit.

His visit to Israel comes on the heels of Netanyahu’s trip to Washington earlier this month, where the prime minister discussed with US leaders a series of goodwill gestures Jerusalem intends to take to stabilize relations with the Palestinians.

Kerry at the time stressed that the Obama administration would keep pushing for an Israeli-Palestinian peace agreement in its remaining 16 months in office. US-backed talks collapsed in April 2014 after a nine-month effort and negotiations have been in a deep freeze ever since.

Addressing an audience at Harvard University last week, Kerry said the expansion of Israeli settlements has increased Palestinian frustration, leading to the recent upswing in violence.

“Unless we get going, the two-state solution will be conceivably stolen from everybody,” Kerry warned.