Kerry condemns Palestinian attacks against Israeli civilians

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Secretary of Defense Ash Carter are meeting with their Australian counterparts in Boston to discuss security and trade issues.

Kerry now faces several foreign policy conflagrations, from continuing trouble in Syria to a sharp spike in violence in Israel and the Palestinian territories to recent reports that Washington Post correspondent Jason Rezaian was convicted in Iran after an espionage trial.

Twin attacks in Jerusalem on Tuesday morning took the lives of three Israelis, and wounded over 20 others.

Days of violence have been stirred in part by Muslim agitation over increasing Jewish visits to the al-Aqsa mosque compound in Jerusalem, Islam’s holiest site outside the Arabian Peninsula.

“The situation is simply too volatile, too risky, and it is not going to lead to the outcome that people want, which is to have a peaceful resolution of the differences”, Kerry said at a press conference held in Boston after the annual Australia-U.S. Ministerial Consultations.

“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.

Three Palestinians, including two attackers, also were killed. He said he urged both sides to work to restore calm.

Tuesday’s Hub diplomacy isn’t the first time Kerry, a former U.S. senator, has used Massachusetts as a venue for connecting with world leaders.