Berlin - German Chancellor Angela Merkel has told Israel she hopes the peace process with the Palestinians will lead to a two-state solution, a government spokesman said on Friday.

Spokesman Thomas Steg said Merkel conveyed this message to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during a telephone conversation earlier in the day.

He said Berlin, along with the United States and the European Union, wanted to see a resumption of peace negotiations envisaged under the Annapolis declaration.

New Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said earlier this week the Jewish state was not bound by the internationally-endorsed peace process set in motion at the 2007 conference in the US town of Annapolis.

Steg said Lieberman was expressing his own view. Germany was waiting to hear the official line of the new Israeli government, he added.

During the telephone conversation both sides expressed an interest in expanding bilateral relations, Steg said.

Netanyahu accepted an invitation from Merkel to visit Germany. They also agreed to holding the next round of Israeli-German government consultations in Germany this year, probably after the summer break. (dpa