U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry confirmed for the first time on Sunday that he plans to travel to Germany this week to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Speaking in Paris at a luncheon held at the headquarters of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, the Secretary said, he would follow that meeting with another held somewhere in the Middle East with Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas, according to Reuters.
“Later this week I will meet with Prime Minister [Benjamin] Netanyahu because he will be in Germany,” Kerry said, adding, “…and then I will go to the region, I will meet with President [Mahmoud] Abbas, I will meet King Abdullah [of Jordan] and others and in between I will have some key meetings on the subject of Syria with critical players,” Kerry said.
The Secretary did not reveal details about where he would meet with Abbas, nor did offer any specific information about the talks he plans to hold on Syria while in Europe.
Just two days ago, however, Kerry made his views clear about the current wave of terror sweeping the State of Israel.
“There’s no excuse for the violence,” he told NPR in a radio interview Friday in the United States.
“No amount of frustration is appropriate to license any violence anywhere at any time. No violence should occur. And the Palestinians need to understand, and President Abbas has been committed to nonviolence.
“He needs to be condemning this, loudly and clearly. And he needs to not engage in some of the incitement that his voice has sometimes been heard to encourage. So that has to stop,” Kerry said.