Obama urges Israelis to compromise for peace

JERUSALEM: President Barack Obama delivered an impassioned appeal Thursday for Israel to recognize that compromise will be necessary to secure peace and lasting security for the Jewish state.

Telling an audience of university students that the United States is their country's best friend and most important ally, Obama said the US will never compromise in its own commitment to Israel's defense, particularly against threats such as the one posed by Iran and its nuclear program.

But he also stressed that Israel must make peace with the Palestinians if it is to ensure its survival and long-term viability as a homeland for the Jewish people. Israeli occupation of areas that the Palestinians claim for their state must end, he said.

``The Palestinian people's right to self-determination and justice must ... be recognized,'' he said. ``Put yourself in their shoes - look at the world through their eyes. It is not fair that a Palestinian child cannot grow up in a state of her own, and lives with the presence of a foreign army that controls the movements of her parents every single day.''

Obama made no explicit demands of Israel but said its people should understand that specific actions, notably ongoing construction of Jewish housing on disputed territory, can hurt the chances for restarting stalled peace talks with the Palestinians, who have made a halt to such building a demand for returning to negotiations.

``Israelis must recognize that continued settlement activity is counterproductive to the cause of peace, and that an independent Palestine must be viable _ that real borders will have to be drawn,'' Obama said.

Earlier Thursday in the West Bank, standing alongside Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, Obama made similar comments but essentially abandoned his previous support for the Palestinian demand that settlement activity end before talks resume.

Obama said the United States continues to oppose the construction of Jewish housing on land claimed by the Palestinians but stressed that issues of disagreement between the two sides should not be used as an ``excuse'' to do nothing.

``If the expectation is that we can only have direct negotiations when everything is settled ahead of time, then there is no point for negotiations, so I think it is important to work through this process even if there are irritants on both sides,'' Obama said at a joint news conference with Abbas in Ramallah.