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JERUSALEM - Secretary of State John F. Kerry condemned a surge of Palestinian attacks as "acts of terrorism" and declared Tuesday that Israel has the right to defend itself amid a wave of violence that has derailed U.S.-led efforts to resume peace talks.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu welcomed Kerry with grim words, saying Israel is fighting a "battle of civilization against barbarism."
"There can be no peace when we have an onslaught of terror," he said before a private meeting with Kerry at the beginning of his visit to Israel and the West Bank.
But Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has blamed the unrest as reaction to Israeli crackdowns and expansion of settlements in the West Bank.
In a statement read at the United Nations on Monday, Abbas said Palestinians had been subjected to "repeated brutal attacks by Israeli terrorist settlers against our people and their property, and provocations and incitement against their holy places."
With tensions running so high, Kerry and his aides have acknowledged that they do not expect to accomplish any breakthroughs on his one-day visit.
"It is very clear to us that the terrorism, these acts of terrorism which have been taking place, deserve the condemnation that they are receiving," Kerry said as he stood beside Netanyahu, who nodded several times in satisfaction over Kerry's remarks. "And today, I express my complete condemnation for any act of terror that takes innocent lives and disrupts the day-to-day life of a nation.
"Israel has every right in the world to defend itself, and has an obligation to defend itself. And it will and it is," Kerry added.
The latest upheavals were touched off by clashes at a holy site in Jerusalem revered by both Muslims and Jews. Since early October, 22 Israelis have been killed in attacks by Palestinians. More than 90 Palestinians have been killed. Israel says many of the Palestinians killed were assailants.
The violence preceded Kerry and greeted him on arrival for his first trip to Israel since the Gaza war in the summer of 2014.
Before departing Abu Dhabi, Kerry called to offer his condolences to the family of Ezra Schwartz, an 18-year-old yeshiva student from Massachusetts, who was killed in a drive-by shooting in the West Bank last week.
On Monday, a Palestinian fatally stabbed a soldier, two Palestinian girls were shot after they stabbed an elderly Arab man and a vehicle struck a pedestrian before speeding off to a nearby West Bank town. On Tuesday, two soldiers and a Border Police officer were injured when they were rammed by a car driven by a Palestinian.
Israeli officials are now contemplating a tough crackdown on Palestinians to curb two months of stabbings, shootings and vehicular assaults, what is commonly called a "wave of terror" in the Israeli press.
Netanyahu has called for a new round of security measures, including more security checks on Palestinian drivers, new bypass routes and revoking the work permits for families of assailants.
Kerry's remarks are unlikely to smooth the way for his afternoon talks with Abbas in the West Bank city of Ramallah.
On Monday, the U.N.-declared International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People, Abbas unleashed a litany of accusations against Israel.
He claimed it had conducted "extrajudicial killings" of Palestinians, and was seeking to change the historic status quo arrangement at a holy site revered by both Muslims and Jews, the compound that Muslims call the Holy Sanctuary and Jews call the Temple Mount.
Israel has vehemently denied it wants to make any changes, and called on Abbas to say so publicly.
A senior State Department official said Kerry will not even attempt to get the Palestinians and Israelis to agree to resume negotiations, which collapsed last year. Rather, he will stress the need to avoid provocative statements that can incite violence.
"There's no highfalutin, grandiose, hidden agenda here, folks," Kerry told reporters traveling with him. "This is an effort to see if we can get some concrete steps in place - begin to build them, maybe - that could calm things down a little bit so people aren't living in absolute, daily terror that they might be stabbed or driven into or shot trying to walk around their city."
