Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had phone talks with US President Donald Trump amid a statement by US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Israeli settlements in the West Bank, Times of Israel reported.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said the US rejects the previous administration of President Barack Obama, according to which Israeli settlement activity in the West Bank and East Jerusalem is a violation of international law.

“We are not in a foreign land. This is our homeland for over 3,000 years. The reason that we are called ‘Jews’ is that we came from here, Judea. This does not prevent negotiations. On the contrary, it advances peace because it’s not possible to build true peace on based on lies,” Netanyahu said, according to a statement from the Prime Minister’s Office.

Jewish settlements on the territories of the West Bank, which in Israel are called Judea and Samaria, appeared after the victory of Israel in the Six-Day War of 1967. Now there are about 120 large and small settlements in the West Bank in which hundreds of thousands of Israelis live. Settlements are not considered part of Israel, either in terms of international or even domestic law, unlike East Jerusalem or the Golan Heights. The UN considers these territories occupied, in Israel, opinions are increasingly heard that the state should extend its sovereignty to these lands.