Obama: Israel at a crossroads on peace with Palestinians

JERUSALEM (AFP) - US President Barack Obama warned Thursday that Israel was at a "crossroads" and should choose peace with Palestinians because it was necessary for its own ultimate security and was morally just.

Obama argued that though the Palestinian issue had receeded as Israelis felt safer in their own homes, it was necessary to solve the decades-old dispute so the Jewish state could fulfil its destiny.

"Today, Israel is at a crossroads," Obama said in a major speech, adding that although Israelis felt safer under Iron Dome missile defences and barriers to thwart suicide bombers, "peace is the only path to true security."

Obama made his most explicit case yet for Israelis to re-engage in peace talks which foundered two-and-a-half years ago in the speech at a Jerusalem convention centre that formed the centrepiece of his three-day visit to Israel.