“Israel has every right in the world to defend itself. It has an obligation to defend itself. And it will and it is,’’ said US Secretary of State John Kerry as he met Tuesday in Jerusalem with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

“I am here today to talk with the Prime Minister about ways how we can work together to push back against terrorism, to push back against senseless violence and to find a way forward to restore calm and begin to provide the opportunities that most reasonable people in every part of the world are seeking for themselves and for their families,” Kerry said at the beginning of the meeting.

It was Kerry’s first visit in Jerusalem in over a year. He also met later with Israeli President Reuven Rivlin later before heading to Ramallah for a meeting with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.

Kerry was a frequent visitor to the region during an intense period of diplomacy which he spearheaded. Kerry oversaw peace talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority (PA), which broke down in April 2014 after the PA agreed a national unity government with Hamas.

According to a report in the Haaretz daily, Netanyahu was expected to demand of Kerry that the US accept Israeli construction in the settlement blocs in exchange for a series of measures in the West Bank to calm recent tensions with the Palestinians.

Many assume that major settlement blocs such as Ariel and Gush Etzion will remain under Israeli sovereignty under any agreed peace accord.

As Kerry's plane touched down, a Palestinian motorist rammed his vehicle into a group of Israeli soldiers, wounding three, before the attacker was shot and wounded, the Israeli military said. It was the latest in a spate of Palestinian attacks that have killed 22 Israelis since October.

“There can be no peace when we have an onslaught of terror — not here, not anywhere else in the world, which is experiencing this same assault by militant Islamists and the forces of terror,” Netanyahu told Kerry. “Israel is fighting these forces every hour.”

Jerusalem is combating the terrorists themselves in the field as well as sources of incitement, he added. “We believe that the entire international community should support this effort. It’s not only our battle; it’s everyone’s battle. It’s the battle of civilization against barbarism.”