The Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu told talks between Israel and the United States over construction in the settlements on the West Bank had ended, the Israeli Haaretz newspaper wrote.

"We solved the matter of the settlements with the Americans," Netanyahu at the meeting with his Spanish counterpart, Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero. 

"I cannot say more than that," added Netanyahu. 

Netanyahu's statement on the solution to the problem has recently become the first one when he U.S. called the settlements illegal at the UN General Assembly in September.

Netanyahu urged the Palestinians to start the talks without any pre-conditions.

"The Palestinians should talk to us already," Netanyahu told Zapatero, whose country will assume the EU presidency on Jan. 1.

The officials of the Israeli Cabinet of Ministers are expected to fly back to Washington this week for another round of talks. A Palestinian delegation headed by Palestinian chief negotiator Saeb Erekat will also be there at the same time, Haaretz wrote.

During the last visit to the region, the U.S. Middle East Envoy, George Mitchell said that the U.S. is looking for ways out to unlock the peace process in the region and to resume the talks between Israel and the Palestinians.

The Palestinian administration refuses to resume the talks which were broken almost a year ago, until Israeli freezes the construction of the Jewish settlement on the West Bank and East Jerusalem, demanded by the U.S.