President Obama on Wednesday made a final plea for Palestinians to abandon their push to achieve statehood through the United Nations, declaring there is “no shortcut” to Middle East peace.

“Peace will not come through statements and resolutions at the U.N. — if it were that easy, it would have been accomplished by now,” Obama said in a 40-minute address to the U.N. General Assembly in New York. “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.”