US envoy: Israel 'does not have to wait' to annex settlements

US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman said that Israel was free to immediately annex West Bank settlements, minutes after US President Donald Trump's plan to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict was released.

"Israel does not have to wait at all," he said, when asked whether there was a "waiting period" over when the country could extend Israeli sovereignty to the settlements.

"The waiting period would be the time it takes for them to obtain internal approvals and to obviously create the documentation, the calibration, the mapping, that would enable us to evaluate it, makes sure it's consistent with the conceptual map," he added.

"If they wish to apply Israeli law to those areas allocated to Israel, we will recognise it."

Shortly after, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told reporters that he would bring the annexation of the Jordan Valley and all West Bank settlements for a vote in Sunday's cabinet meeting.