President Netanyahu said the area would include all Israeli settlements and the Jordan Valley - territory Israel has kept under military occupation since its capture in the 1967 Middle East war but which Palestinians want in a future state.

"The only map that can be accepted as the map of Palestine is the map of the Palestinian state on the 1967 borders with Jerusalem as its capital," said Nabil Abu Rdainah, spokesman for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

Prospects for annexations, which have already been widely condemned, are unclear.

Israel will hold a national election on March 2 and Netanyahu, who is facing criminal corruption charges, is hoping to win a fifth term in office. He presently heads a caretaker government, whose legal authority to annex territory is still undecided by judicial authorities.

Settlers make up part of Netanyahu's right-wing voter base and many members of his coalition cabinet view the West Bank as the biblical heartland of the Jewish people.

Most countries consider Israeli settlements on land captured in war to be a violation of international law. Trump has changed US policy to withdraw such objections.

Trump's plan envisages a two-state solution with Israel and a future Palestinian state living alongside each other, but it includes strict conditions that Palestinians reject.

The blueprint gives Israel much of what it has long sought, including US recognition of settlements and Israeli sovereignty over the Jordan Valley.

Palestinians say the settlements make a future state non-viable as it would receive tracts of desert in return for arable land settled by Israelis.

Israel cites security needs as well as biblical and historical ties to the land on which they are built.

Australian Associated Press