The scene of Monday’s stabbing attack at a West Bank gas station, where an 18-year-old Israeli soldier was killed. Following his meeting with Netanyahu, he will meet President Reuven Rivlin and opposition leader Isaac Herzog.
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Earlier in the day, two teenage Palestinian girls attacked and slightly wounded a 70-year-old man with scissors in Jerusalem before a policeman shot them both and killed one.
“There can be no peace when we have an onslaught of terror — not here or not anywhere else in the world”, Netanyahu told reporters before meeting Kerry in Jerusalem.
The current spike in violence erupted in mid-September over tensions surrounding a sensitive Jerusalem holy site and quickly spread across Israel and into the West Bank and Gaza Strip. An Israeli woman in her 20s was lightly injured in the stabbing, and another was shot by bullets meant for the assailant.
Later, a military spokeswoman revealed that one of the soldiers, a man named as 18-year-old Ziv Mizrahi, had died while the other, a female officer, had been wounded and evacuated for medical treatment.
The larger vision of a two-state solution has been the centerpiece of American foreign policy in the Middle East for decades. Kerry conceded his visit had none of the ambitious agendas of past trips and was primarily focused on stemming the violence.
Israel says the violence stems from Palestinian incitement and incendiary videos on social media. The Palestinians say it is rooted in frustration over nearly five decades of Israeli occupation and little hope for obtaining independence.
In the US’ telling, the discussion was not about terror against Israelis, but rather more generic “violence” happening in “Israel, Jerusalem and the West Bank”.
Without confirming Netanyahu’s demand, State Department spokesman Mark Toner categorically rejected that possibility. They mistook him for an Israeli Jew; he was Palestinian.
Speaking on behalf of UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, Eliasson warned Israeli authorities that the use of excessive force only further angers and frustrates the Palestinians, calling on them to use maximum restraint, especially in relation to lethal force against Palestinians.
Eliasson underlined that “illegal settlement activities and settler-related violence, demolitions of Palestinian-owned structures have continued, including punitive demolitions”. The official said Israel would not agree to any freeze in settlement construction.
Against this backdrop, Kerry arrives for talks on Tuesday with Netanyahu and Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas.
According to the 1995 Oslo II Accord, the West Bank is divided into three parts: Area A, which is under full PA control; Area B, which is under Palestinian civil control and Israeli security control; and Area C, under full Israeli security and civil control. The script is well-trodden, with Kerry likely to ask both sides to avoid provocative actions.
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Shabib noted that Obama has clearly stated that “Palestinians and Israelis won’t reach a comprehensive final status agreement in the remainder of his term”, which eliminates hope of any serious and meaningful peace process in the region.
