Obama: Sweeping Changes Pressure Israel-Palestinian Peace Deal

President Barack Obama said on Sunday and Israel-Palestine peace deal could not wait another decade, saying that challenges facing Israel would only grow and delay would undermine Israel's security.

President Barack Obama reiterated comments he made Thursday on Middle East policy to members of the American Israel Public Affairs policy conference in Washington D.C. which called for peace negotiations to continue on the basis of 1967 lines with mutually agreed swaps.

I know that stating these principles - on the issues of territory and security - generated some controversy over the past few days. I was not entirely surprised, he said.

What I did on Thursday was to say publicly what has long been acknowledged privately, he said.

He said urgency prompted him to make the comments.

I have done so because we cannot afford to wait another decade, or another two decades, or another three decades, to achieve peace. The world is moving too fast. The extraordinary challenges facing Israel would only grow. Delay will undermine Israel's security and the peace that the Israeli people deserve, he said.

Obama said facts we all must confront include demographic shifts and advancing technology.

Obama said the number of Palestinians living west of the Jordan River is growing rapidly.

This will make it harder and harder - without a peace deal - to maintain Israel as both a Jewish state and a democratic state, he said.

He also said technology will make it harder for Israel to defend itself in the absence of a genuine peace.

He also remarked on the revolutions and unrest across the Middle East and North African countries, which included pro-democracy movements in Egypt and Tunisia that toppled leaders there.

A just and lasting peace can no longer be forged with one or two Arab leaders. Going forward, millions of Arab citizens have to see that peace is possible for that peace to be sustained, Obama said.

Obama also said that impatience is growing with the peace process or the absence of one. Not just in the Arab World, but in Latin America, in Europe, and in Asia.