MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Speaking at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace on Wednesday, Kerry said it was "absolutely vital" for Israel to take steps "that empower Palestinian leaders to improve economic opportunity and the quality of their lives on a day to day basis," according to The Jerusalem Post newspaper.
It is "equally important for Palestinian leaders to cease the incitement of violence and offer something more than rhetoric," Kerry stressed.
A renewed wave of violence broke out this month amid fears that Israel was planning to revise the status quo at Temple Mount, which houses Islam’s third holiest site, the Al-Aqsa mosque.
Last week, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu thanked the United States for condemning recent attacks against Israelis and accused Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas of inciting the violence.
Palestinians seek the recognition of their independent state, proclaimed in 1988, on the territories of West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip.
Most of the areas claimed by the State of Palestine were seized by Israel in 1967 during the Six-Day War. The Israeli government refuses to recognize Palestine as an independent political and diplomatic entity.
