Secretary of State John Kerry said the growth of Jewish construction in Judea and Samaria has led to the recent spate of terror attacks. Photo: Twitter.

JNS.org – The growth of Jewish construction in Judea and Samaria has increased Palestinian frustration and has led to the recent spate of terror attacks, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said during a talk at Harvard University on Tuesday evening.

“What’s happening is that, unless we get going, a two-state solution could conceivably be stolen from everybody,” Kerry said during the talk. “And there’s been a massive increase in settlements over the course of the last years, and now you have this violence because there’s a frustration that is growing.”

Kerry added that he plans to travel to the region “soon” to help calm tensions, saying that he held phone calls with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas last weekend.

Kerry’s rhetoric comes as a stark difference to the views of many Israeli leaders who see the cause of the wave of Palestinian terror attacks in recent weeks as a direct result of Palestinian incitement.

In a briefing to journalists Israeli Infrastructure, Energy, and Water Minister Yuval Steinitz pointed to Palestinian propaganda videos and images glorifying the stabbings of Jews, and to a recent statement by Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas claiming that Jews are desecrating the Temple Mount with their “filthy feet” and blessing “every drop of blood spilled for Allah.”

“This is not new. It is just a new wave of terrorism and violence and this time it’s totally clear that the main approach here is a religious approach. Defending Islam from the enemy of the mosque, the enemy of Islam – against the Jews. It’s all about horrible, anti-Jewish, racist incitement,” Steinitz said, the Associated Press reported.

Israel’s new Ambassador to the United Nations Danny Danon echoed the same sentiment on Wednesday in a statement to the UN Secretary-General and the Security Council stressing that “only the cessation of the incitement will alleviate this dangerous situation and bring calm and security to the region.”

“Israelis do not feel safe walking down the street, they avoid taking the bus to work, and they fear for the lives of their children every time they walk out the door,” he said, the Jerusalem Post reported.