WASHINGTON (AFP) - US President Barack Obama forcefully defended Sunday his call for an Israeli-Palestinian peace based on pre-1967 frontiers, suggesting critics had misrepresented him. In a speech in Washington that was generally well received by Israel's hardline supporters, Obama said delays in moving toward a two-state solution would undermine Israel's security. "There was nothing particularly original in my proposal," Obama told an estimated 10,000 delegates of the powerful pro-Israel lobby, the American-Israel Public Affairs Committee. "This basic framework for negotiations has long been the basis for discussions among the parties, including previous US administrations," he said. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday he shared President Barack Obama's vision for peace in remarks appeared aimed at defusing a deepening row with the US leader. "I am partner to the president's desire to foster peace and I value his efforts in the past and the present to achieve this goal," said Netanyahu, reacting to Obama's speech to the main pro-Israel lobby in Washington. "I am determined to work together with President Obama to find ways to renew the peace negotiations. Peace is crucial for all of us." "It allows the parties themselves to account for the changes that have taken place over the last forty-four years, including the new demographic realities on the ground and the needs of both sides," he said. Brookings Institution analyst Martin Indyk, a former US ambassador to Israel, told AIPAC that Obama's remarks echoed the language of president George W. Bush's letter of 2004 allowing for Israel to absorb major settlement blocs. "If there's a controversy, then, it's not based in substance," Obama said. "What I did on Thursday was to say publicly what has long been acknowledged privately," he continued, adding there was no time to lose in achieving 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." His remarks on the controversy - coming on the eve of Netanyahu's own speech to AIPAC - received loud applause from the thousands of delegates who drowned out a few boos. Obama also drew loud applause when he called on the Hamas movement to recognise Israel's right to exist, reject violence and accept previous Palestinian-Israeli agreements. Also well received was his promise to fight any efforts to isolate Israel at the United Nations, repeating that Palestinian efforts to win recognition as an independent state at the world body will fail. He also sought to reassure Israel's supporter of general US support for Israel's security, a traditional line from US presidents. "Even while we may at times disagree, as friends sometimes will, the bonds between the US and Israel are unbreakable, and the commitment of the US to the security of Israel is ironclad," Obama said to loud applause. He also said Washington was going "beyond" regular military assistance to the Jewish state in order to help "maintain Israel's qualitative military edge." Meanwhile, thousands of pro-Israel delegates packed a convention center here Sunday, strongly supportive of vital US-Israel ties but shaken by a public spat between Obama and Netanyahu. As the president prepared to speak at the annual policy conference for AIPAC, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, delegates appeared subdued in the aftermath of Obama's recent address to the broader Middle East in which he raised hackles by calling for use of the 1967 borders as a basis for peace talks. "Most of us are very disappointed in Obama's comments," Cheryl Rosenbaum, an AIPAC delegate from Glenview, Illinois, a suburb outside of Obama's hometown Chicago, told AFP. "I need a safe and secure Israel," she said, and while Washington must maintain its airtight relationship with the Jewish state, "we shouldn't be dictating Israeli policy." American politicians on both sides of the aisle flock to AIPAC, in large part to air their pro-Israel positions. In 2008, the main candidates in the presidential election, including Obama, fellow Democrat Hillary Clinton and Republican John McCain, all addressed the conference. "It's a bit more somber this year," Rosenbaum said. As for whether Obama stands to lose the Jewish vote - which he won in 2008 - in the 2012 election, she admitted it was too early to tell, but revealed that many of her friends voted for McCain. "They are not secure with Obama's talk about Israel," she said. The rocky ties between Obama and Netanyahu hit a new low this week as the Israeli leader dismissively rejected Obama's Middle East vision and then proceeded to lecture him in the Oval Office. Netanyahu said he had to stick up for Israel's crucial interests, and as such, he could not let the president's comments on the 1967 borders - which Israel views as a significant shift in US policy toward the Palestinian stance - pass without reaction. The comments rattled the Jewish community - and AIPAC itself, which said it was seeking clarification by Obama on the border issue after he called on Israel to accept a return to territorial lines in place before the 1967 Arab-Israeli war, with mutual land swaps with Palestinians, to frame a secure peace. On Sunday Obama delivered, to a degree, by stressing Washington's "ironclad" commitment to Israel's security, and by stressing that Israel and the Palestinians must "negotiate a border that is different than the one that existed on June 4, 1967." "It allows the parties themselves to account for the changes that have taken place over the last 44 years, including the new demographic realities on the ground and the needs of both sides." Delegates gave Obama thunderous applause, but not all were convinced. "He didn't put my mind at rest," Rosenbaum said. Others too appeared concerned that Obama was showing signs he was willing to embrace some Palestinian positions, to Israel's detriment. "There is a feeling that the administration wants to appease Israel's neighbors," said an AIPAC delegate from San Diego, California, who asked not to be named. If that's Washington's goal, "that's a mistake," he said. "The Palestinians need to recognise Israel - that has to be the number one thing." AIPAC will use its significant clout to burnish the US-Israel relationship, and pressure lawmakers to pledge that they have Israel's back. There are some 10,000 delegates attending the three-day event. On Tuesday, many of them head to Capitol Hill with some 500 meetings with US lawmakers, according to organizers.