Biden was meeting former Israeli president Shimon Peres at the latter’s peace centre nearby.
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“It brings home that it can happen, it can happen anywhere, at any time”, he said, after meeting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem.
“There can be no justification for this hateful violence and the United States stands firmly behind Israel’s right to defend itself”, Biden said.
The U.S. State Department identified the American killed on Tuesday as Taylor Force, a 28-year-old graduate student at Vanderbilt University’s Owen School of Management who was on a trip to Israel organized by the school.
Most of the Palestinians were killed while carrying out attacks, Israeli authorities say.
A 50-year-old man, thought to be a Palestinian from east Jerusalem, was seriously wounded.
The attacks do not appear to have been coordinated but the violence will raise questions about whether Israel is in the midst of a worsening third Palestinian uprising, or Intifada.
“Let me say in no uncertain terms: The United States of America condemns these acts and condemns the failure to condemn”, he said in a clear reference to Palestinian officials.
Relations between Israel and the USA never fully recovered after Obama incensed Netanyahus government by pursuing and then agreeing to a nuclear deal with Iran.
The Jaffa assault came as Biden arrived on a two-day visit as part of a regional tour of the Mideast.
Some 30 settlers were killed on the Israeli side in Palestinian operatives.
Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas has repeatedly called for peaceful resistance against the Israeli occupation, but has not specifically condemned a wave of knife, gun and car-ramming attacks that erupted in October. “I just came to speak to a friend and to be able to have an open discussion in a closed room, where we brainstorm the whole range of things”, Biden said.
Force and other students were on a trip to the port city of Jaffa when police say a Palestinian crossed the West Bank and killed Force.
Palestinians attempted two more attacks on Wednesday, the Israeli police and military said. No injuries were reported. A motorist responded by shooting toward the suspects, who fled by auto. When it approached one that matched the description, shots were fired from the vehicle toward other cars.
The assailants who have been killed have been shot dead either by their victims or by security forces as they carried out attacks. The shootout took place on a main road alongside Jerusalem’s light rail and close to the New Gate of the Old City.
A Palestinian civilian at the scene was shot in the head and is in a serious but stable condition, an Israeli hospital said. In the chase that followed, the Palestinian wounded another officer before he was shot and killed, police said.
The attacker, Ahmed Amer, 16, asked his parents for forgiveness in a scribbled note.
Israeli police secure the area after a shooting attack in Jerusalem on Tuesday.
The number of attacks has diminished recently, but increased Israeli security has failed to stop them entirely.
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Ahead of the Ramallah talks, senior Palestinian official Ahmed Majdalani said he was expecting “nothing” from Biden’s visit. He spoke anonymously because he was not authorized to address the issue.
