U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said Sunday he will meet Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Germany this week.

This will be followed by Kerry heading to the Middle East in an attempt to discuss and potentially calm the ever-present violence in the region.

Speaking at a lunch in Paris at the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization’s headquarters, Kerry stated that he will also be using the trip to hold meetings to discuss the crisis with Syria.

“Later this week I will meet with Prime Minister Netanyahu because he will be in Germany…and then I will go to the region, I will meet with President Abbas, I will meet King Abdullah [of Jordan] and others and in between I will have some key meetings on the subject of Syria with critical players,” Mr. Kerry said.

Four separate stabbings earlier this week have added to a month long spat of attacks by Palestinians, resulting in at least thirty-four Palestinians and eight Israelis being killed in total.

Mr. Netanyahu criticized the U.S. last week with it's assessment that Israel has used excessive force in response to the stabbing attacks.