The United States has asked Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to keep alive the prospect of a Palestinian state as he considers West Bank annexation, a senior U.S. official said Thursday.  

Netanyahu's government had set July 1 as the date when it could begin formally taking over Palestinian areas seized in 1967 in line with a plan outlined in January by U.S. President Donald Trump. The plan also lays out the grounds for an independent Palestinian state, although it would be demilitarized and its capital would not be inside the contested holy city of Jerusalem.  

David Schenker, the top U.S. diplomat for the Middle East, said that Netanyahu was facing domestic pressure as some of his supporters "want annexation but aren't particularly enamored of the vision for peace that calls for a Palestinian state as well."  

"So we're calling on the Israelis not to do anything that would preclude the implementation of the vision," Schenker said at the German Marshall Fund of the United States.  

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He said he was unsure if Netanyahu would ultimately go ahead with annexation as he assesses the impact it would have. "It wouldn't surprise me if we didn't see anything, but I think that the prime minister would like to do something," Schenker said.  

Trump's administration, whose evangelical base is strongly pro-Israel, has said that Netanyahu has Washington's green light to annex Palestinian land. But Schenker said Israel was aware of the threat of repercussions from European powers as well as strong objections from friendly Arab states.  

The Palestinian Authority has rejected the Trump plan, accusing the administration of bias and of trying to buy off the Palestinians through promises of future investment.

China has expressed deep concerns about Israel's annexation plans and reiterated its support to Palestine in building an independent and sovereign state on the basis of the 1967 borders, with East Jerusalem as its capital. 

Zhang Jun, permanent representative of China to the United Nations, said in May that the Palestinian issue is not "something for trading" and that it is important to follow the "two-state solution" to resolve the Middle East conflict.

The Palestinian issue has always been at the core of the Middle East situation, and the two-state solution is the bottom line of international fairness and justice, Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi during a UN Security Council video conference on the situation in the Middle East last month. 

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres also urged Israel to abandon plans to annex settlements in the occupied West Bank and warned that the plans threaten prospects for peace with the Palestinians. 

After Trump unveiled his Middle East plan, Guterres said in February that the UN remains committed to its established position of a two-state solution with regard to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. 

Jerusalem's future can only be resolved on the basis of international law and through negotiations between the parties, he said. 

The Trump administration recognized Jerusalem as Israel's capital in a controversial move in December 2017. 

(With input from AFP, Xinhua)