Israel, US to form team to discuss settlements: Benjamin Netanyahu

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday said he and US President Donald Trump has agreed to set up a team to discuss settlements in the occupied West Bank.

Netanyahu told his weekly cabinet meeting in Jerusalem that during his recent visit to Washington, the two leaders also agreed to establish teams in many areas, reports Xinhua.

"Even in areas, we did not previously agree on. I mean, of course, the settlements in Judea and Samaria," Netanyahu said, with Judea and Samaria being the Israeli government term for the West Bank.

"We agreed to create joint teams to upgrade relations between Israel and the US in all of the main areas," he said.

Earlier, Netanyahu and Trump met at the White House on Wednesday, where in a conference, the US President backed off from the two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, saying he is open to either a one-state or two-state solution.

The previous US administrations have pushed for the two-state solution to the West Asia peace process, an idea of establishing an independent Palestinian state that lives side-by-side with Israel.

Israel's settlement-building in disputed territory is a major dispute between the Israelis and Palestinians. The settlements are illegal under international law because they are built on lands seized by Israel in the 1967 Mideast War, where the Palestinians wish to form their future state.