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 Kerry, preparing for meetings with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu in Germany and then with Palestinian President Mahmoud
Abbas and Jordan's King Abdullah, likely in Amman, also rejected a
proposal by France at the United Nations for an international
observer presence at the holy site.
Israel called in France's ambassador on Monday to make clear its
opposition to the idea, a foreign ministry spokesperson said.
"Israel understands the importance of the status quo and ... our
objective is to make sure that everyone understands what that
means," Kerry told a news conference in Madrid.
The Palestinians' unrest, the most serious in years, has been
stirred in part by anger over what they see as increased Jewish
encroachment on the mosque compound, Islam's most sacred site
outside Saudi Arabia and also revered by Jews as the location of two
destroyed biblical Jewish temples.
 Netanyahu has said his government is committed to maintaining the
status quo at the compound, which has long been under Muslim
religious administration while Jews are permitted to visit the site
but not pray there.
"We are not seeking a new change or outsiders to come in, I don't
think Israel or Jordan wants that and we're not proposing it," he
said. "What we need is clarity."
Israel has deployed troops in and around Jerusalem and erected
roadblocks in Palestinian neighborhoods in East Jerusalem to try and
stop the most serious outbreak of Palestinian street attacks since
an uprising in 2000-2005.
Kerry said Israel had a right to protect citizens against random
acts of violence. Netanyahu had told him he was committed to
preserving the status quo at al Aqsa, he added.
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"I don't have specific expectations except to try to move things
forward," Kerry said of the upcoming meetings. "That will depend on
the conversations themselves as to what it is that we're able to
define in the context of steps that might be taken so people
understand that in fact leaders are leading and making a serious
effort to try and resolve the current ... conflict."
Some U.S. and Israeli officials have said that now is not the time
for diplomacy, but Kerry stressed that security and diplomacy should
go hand in hand. "There is not a time for one and then the other.
There is an importance to both."
He also said he would meet counterparts from Turkey, Saudi Arabia,
Jordan and Russia in Europe to explore "real and tangible options"
for a peaceful political transition in Syria, whose civil war has
intensified with Russia's intervention last month in support of the
Damascus government against insurgents.
"This is a human catastrophe unfolding before our eyes and it is a
catastrophe that now threatens the integrity of a whole group of
countries throughout the region," Kerry said.
(Additional reporting by Elisabeth O'Leary; Editing by Mark
Heinrich)
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