Kerry Warns of a Third Intifada if Peace Talks Fail

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry delivered on Thursday a grim warning to Israel that failure to make peace with the Palestinians could trigger a new uprising.

"The alternative to getting back to the talks is the potential of chaos," Kerry said in a joint interview with Israel's Channel 2 and the Palestinian Broadcasting Corporation.

"I mean, does Israel want a third intifada?" the top U.S. diplomat asked, using the Arabic word for uprising.

The first Palestinian uprising against the Israeli occupation ran from 1987 to 1993, and was followed by a second one from late 2000 to 2005 in which rights groups estimated 3,000 Palestinian and 1,000 Israeli civilians and troops died.

Kerry was speaking on his seventh trip to Israel and the West Bank as he seeks to put the troubled Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations back on track.

Angered by continued Israeli settlement building, the Palestinians earlier this week threatened to pull out of the talks which only resumed three months ago after a three-year hiatus.

Kerry has slammed the settlements as illegitimate and said new construction should be limited.

He repeated grim predictions he made earlier this year that if Israel fails to make peace it will only find itself increasingly isolated by the international community.

"If we do not find a way to find peace, there will be an increasing isolation of Israel, there will be an increasing campaign of de-legitimization of Israel that's been taking place in an international basis," he said in a clip of the interview, shown ahead of the full broadcast.