President Barack Obama has told the UN General Assembly that Palestinians must reach a negotiated accord with Israel, rather than try to gain statehood through the UN.
"Peace will not come through statements and resolutions at the UN," Mr Obama said of Palestinian plans to seek the world body's recognition, which the US and Israel oppose.
“Ultimately, it is Israelis and Palestinians - not us - who must reach agreement on the issues that divide them: on borders and security; on refugees and Jerusalem.”
The president's remarks came as the US and Israel work publicly and behind the scenes to head off the Palestinian move to seek full recognition by the UN Security Council.
The US has said it would use its veto to block such a resolution. Mr Obama addressed the UN in a period of change and turmoil in the Middle East and economic uncertainty in the US, Europe and the world.
Mr Obama's speech reflected events since he spoke to the group last September. At that time, he'd said it was possible there could be an Israeli-Palestinians peace agreement by this year's session of the general assembly.
Since then, talks broke down and the Palestinians said they would take their case to the UN. "I believed then and I believe now that the Palestinian people deserve a state of their own," he said today.
That won't be possible without a negotiated agreement with Israel. US support for Israel is "unshakeable," he said, recounting the Holocaust and "centuries of exile" and persecution for Jews.
He told UN members to "be honest" about Israel's being surrounded by nations that want to "wipe it off the map" and said "friends of the Palestinians do them no favours by ignoring this truth."
The US opposition to the Palestinian bid at the UN could isolate the US from Arab states and western nations that back the Palestinian effort. Obama said he recognized the controversy as a test for US foreign policy.
Before Mr Obama spoke, Brazilian president Dilma Rousseff said that she believes that "the time has come" for Palestinians to have full representation at the UN.
After the speech, Mr Obama sat down with Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who told the US president, "I want to thank you for standing with Israel."
Mr Obama repeated to Netanyahu that the "bonds between the United States and Israel are unbreakable."
A meeting later today with Palestinian Authority president Mahmoud Abbas was added to Mr Obama's schedule in New York.
Full membership as a nation-state would require approval by the UN Security Council, and the US has said it would veto such a resolution.