Israeli soldier, three Palestinian attackers killed ahead of Kerry visit

US Secretary of State John Kerry expressed strong support for Israel and condemned Palestinian attacks Tuesday as he met Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to try to ease weeks of violence.

Kerry, whose nine-month peace mediation between the parties collapsed in April 2014, reiterated the American goal of establishing an independent Palestinian state alongside Israel.

The official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was discussing closed meetings, said that in return for such steps, including approval of building permits for Palestinian projects, Netanyahu demanded global recognition of major Israeli settlement blocs in the West Bank that Israel hopes to keep under a future peace deal. The assailant, 16-year-old Ahmad Taha from nearby Qatanna, was shot dead on the spot by army soldiers.

This week, a Palestinian radio station playing music that glorified violence was forcibly closed.

In other incidents, the Israeli military said another knife-wielding Palestinian was shot dead in the West Bank before he could harm anyone.

On 23 November, in a new round of violence, an Israeli soldier and three Palestinian alleged attackers were killed.

An 18-year-old Palestinian woman, identified by medical sources as Samah Abdullah, was shot and severely wounded in the same attack, apparently by accident.

Kerry also mentioned American victims of the attacks, with at least three U.S. citizens – two with dual citizenship and one from Kerry’s home state of MA – killed in the wave of violence that began on October 1.

Palestinians blame the upswing in violence on the near 50-year Israeli occupation of the West Bank, a lack of progress toward a Palestinian state and a growing sense of despair and frustration amongst youth.

“It happens nearly every day over there and it’s awful, and too many Israelis have been killed and stabbed, and too many Palestinians”, he told reporters traveling with him in the Middle East on Monday.

Abbas in his speech to the United Nations in September said he was no longer bound by accords with Israel, saying “we will not remain the only ones committed to the implementation of these agreements”.

He added: “But this street violence doesn’t provide any leader with a framework within which they can look their people in the eye and say, “There’s a reason to be sitting down and talking about this or that”. So it came as an anomaly to see the SecState warn before his latest arrival to the region that “people aren’t in the mood for concessions”, presaging little expected success in lowering the level violence and the tension that has gripped Israeli and Palestinian societies.

It was not clear if this suggests willingness to freeze construction elsewhere, or to signal which West Bank areas Israel would agree to part with.

Abbas, who believes a deal with Netanyahu is impossible, has provided no indication that he wants to restart direct peace talks anytime soon.

“This is one of the rare things in which Israel stands alone”, Ghassan Khatib, a Vice President at Bir Zeit University and a former Palestinian government spokesman told The Media Line.

US Secretary of State John Kerry has denounced as “acts of terrorism” a wave of Palestinian attacks targeting Israelis, on a visit to Jerusalem.