Americans for Peace Now (APN) welcomes the news that Secretary of State John Kerry will soon travel to the Middle East to try to address the terrible violence that is sweeping across Israel, the West Bank and Gaza. Today, Israelis and Palestinians are increasingly locked in a dynamic of bloody escalation, with unbearable costs for both sides. Regrettably, it appears that their respective leaderships are incapable of breaking out of this dynamic. In this context, we urge Secretary Kerry to use his visit to take concrete steps that can calm the situation: