US Secretary of State John Kerry is en route to the Middle East, where he is to meet Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and discuss “the regular things we talk about with Israel,” according to a senior State Department source. There will include the topics that were discussed in the recent meeting in Washington between Netanyahu and President Barack Obama, including Syria and ISIS.

However – the source said that he has heard of no request to allow Jonathan Pollard to leave the US and go to Israel. This runs counter to reports in Israel, according to which Netanyahu raised the subject with Obama.

Regarding Pollard, he said: “People are making more out of it than what it really is. Mr. Pollard carried out his sentence as is customary, and was freed. I heard of no request directed at us to let him leave the United States.”

“In the meeting between Netanyahu and the President, several ideas were raised about how to stop the violence and improve the living conditions of the Palestinians, and we see that there are positive initiatives in this matter, and there are talks, but thus far without a breakthrough,” the source said.

“Kerry will talk to the Prime Minister about stopping the violence, but at this point there is plan to reach any agreement with the Israelis on the subject, and certainly not with the Palestinians, in order to renew the peace negotiations. That is not our aim,” he added.

“We have called on both sides many times, publicly and in private, to take concrete steps in order to present a real commitment to the two-state solution, and that is what we continue to demand from them. This would likely also reduce tensions,” the source said.

“We have seen a surge of violence again in recent days. Five people were killed, one of them an American citizen. This is a terrible tragedy and we are worried about it.”