Violence mars Joe Biden Israel visit

US vice-president Joe Biden on Wednesday implicitly criticised Palestinian leaders for not condemning attacks against Israelis, as an upsurge in violence marred his visit.

Six separate attacks took place shortly before or after Mr Biden’s arrival on Tuesday, including a stabbing spree on Tel Aviv’s waterfront by a Palestinian who killed an American tourist and wounded 12 people.

The stabbings in the Jaffa port area took place as Mr Biden met former Israeli President Shimon Peres about a kilometre away on Tuesday.

Mr Biden said his wife and grandchildren had been having dinner on the beach not far from the site of the stabbings.

“The United States of America condemns these acts and condemns the failure to condemn these acts,” Mr Biden said while meeting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

“The kind of violence we saw yesterday, the failure to condemn it, the rhetoric that incites that violence, the retribution that it generates, has to stop.”

Mr Biden offered his condolences to the family of the American victim, 29-year-old Taylor Force, whom he noted served in the military in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has repeatedly called for peaceful resistance against the Israeli occupation, but has not specifically condemned a wave of knife, gun and car-ramming attacks that erupted in October.

Islamist movement Hamas, which runs the Gaza Strip, often praises such attacks.

Mr Biden will travel to Ramallah later on Wednesday to meet Mr Abbas.

A large number of the attackers have been young people, including teenagers, who appear to have been acting on their own.

Many analysts say Palestinian frustration with Israeli occupation and settlement building in the West Bank, the complete lack of progress in peace efforts and their own fractured leadership have fed the unrest. Israel blames incitement by Palestinian leaders and media for the violence.