President Obama believes settlement of Israeli-Palestinian conflict is ‘more urgent than ever’

During a speech delivered at the State Department Thursday in Washington D.C., President Barack Obama stressed the urgent need for a resolution in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and called for a settlement based on where Israel’s borders were located prior to the Six-Day War in 1967.

“At a time when the people of the Middle East and North Africa are casting off the burdens of the past, the drive for a lasting peace that ends the conflict and resolves all claims is more urgent than ever,” he said, according to The New York Times.

“The international community is tired of an endless process that never produces an outcome.”

Obama urged Palestinians to accept Israel’s legitimacy, clarifying that our nation’s commitment to the Jewish state’s security is “unshakeable,” Bloomberg reports.

“The dream of a Jewish and democratic state cannot be fulfilled with permanent occupation,” he acknowledged. “For the Palestinians, efforts to delegitimize Israel will end in failure.”

A meeting between President Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been scheduled for Friday, with the need for Israel to end its occupation of Arab land expected to be at the forefront of the dialogue.

“I recognize how hard this will be,” Obama told U.S. and foreign diplomats during his speech about the Middle East, according to Reuters. “But I’m convinced that the majority of Israelis and Palestinians would rather look to the future than be trapped in the past.”