Kerry to visit Jerusalem, Ramallah next week

US Secretary of State John Kerry is scheduled to travel to Israel next week and meet with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the State Department announced Wednesday.

Though it was not revealed exactly when Kerry would arrive, he is slated to meet Netanyahu in Jerusalem and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah at the tail end of a trip to Belgium, Moldova and Israel from December 3-6.

Netanyahu and Kerry will discuss the Iranian nuclear program and ongoing peace talks with the Palestinians.

The visit comes amid strains in the US-Israel relationship resulting from Sunday morning’s nuclear deal between Iran and the six world powers known as the P5+1.

After a weekend of marathon talks which were described by various diplomats as “very difficult,” Iran and the P5+1 agreed on a “first-stage deal” meant to halt Iran’s advancement toward nuclear capability and allow unscheduled inspections at nuclear sites in exchange for access to a portion of revenue denied to the Iranian regime through sanctions.

Hours after it was signed, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu excoriated the agreement, calling it “a historic mistake.” He said he wasn’t bound by it and vowed to keep Tehran from getting a nuclear weapon.

Kerry has sought to allay the fears of Israel and Gulf Arab states over Iran’s nuclear program.

“The basic architecture of the sanctions is staying in place,” Kerry told CNN after the agreement was inked. “There is very little relief. We are convinced over the next few months we will really be able to put to the test what Iran’s intentions are.”

“From this day, for the next six months, Israel is in fact safer than it was yesterday because we now have a mechanism by which we are going to expand the amount of time in which [the Iranians] can break out [to obtain nuclear capability] rather than narrow it. We are going to have insights into their program that we didn’t have before,” he said.

Kerry was originally scheduled to make the trip last Friday, but put it off after Netanyahu and Kerry traded barbs over Israel’s rejection of the impending deal. The State Department said the timing of the trip would work out better after the Thanksgiving holiday.

Kerry hinted then that the Israeli prime minister was unaware of the details of the deal when criticizing it, while Netanyahu retorted that he is “continuously updated in detail.”

Kerry last visited Israel on November 6, as part of a Middle Eastern tour.

Kerry launched an unusually pointed public attack on Israeli policies in the West Bank during that visit, calling settlements “illegitimate” and warning that if current peace talks fail, Israel could face a third intifada and growing international isolation. Kerry made the comments during a joint interview with Israel’s Channel 2 and the Palestinian Broadcasting Corporation.

“The alternative to getting back to the talks is the potential of chaos,” Kerry said. “I mean, does Israel want a third intifada?” he asked.

“If we do not resolve the issues between Palestinians and Israelis, if we do not find a way to find peace, there will be an increasing isolation of Israel, there will be an increasing campaign of delegitimization of Israel that’s been taking place on an international basis,” he warned.

The Times of Israel staff and Associated Press contributed to this report.