President Obama says Israel will face growing isolation without a credible Middle East peace process, telling AIPAC today that "we cannot afford to wait another decade, or another two decades, or another three decades, to achieve peace." After a contentious couple of days, Obama said today his endorsement of the Jewish state's 1967 boundaries as the basis for a Palestinian state reflected the urgent need for a two-state solution between Israelis and Palestinians.
"What I did on Thursday was to say publicly what has long been acknowledged privately," the president told the pro-Israel lobby. Obama said he brought the terms out in the open because delay will undermine Israel's security and peace prospects. He repeated his remarks from Thursday on Israeli-Palestinian borders and security verbatim. Click for full text of the president's speech. (More President Obama stories.)