Washington denies discussing annexation of settlements with Netanyahu

The White House denied on Monday that the United States had discussed with Israel a plan to annex settlements in the occupied West Bank.

White House spokesman Josh Raffle, who works with Jared Kushner, President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, and who is in charge of this file, said the statements were "wrong" and that "the United States and Israel never discussed such a proposal, adding that the US president is focusing on his peace initiative between Israel and the Palestinians."

On Monday, Netanyahu announced that he was discussing with the US administration a bill that would lead to annexing settlements in the occupied West Bank.

A spokesman quoted Netanyahu talking to his right-wing Likud deputies about the issue of imposing Israeli sovereignty: “I can tell you that I have been talking to the Americans about it for a while."

Netanyahu explained that he wanted to coordinate these steps with the United States due to its strategic importance for Israel.