UNITED NATIONS, Dec. 4-- UN Secretary-General Ban Ki- moon on Wednesday reiterated his belief that "negotiations between the Israeli and Palestinian sides are the best way to achieve the two-state solution," and expressed his support for the ongoing talks.

Ban made the statement while meeting with Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman.

During the discussion, he "stressed the importance for the parties to create the conditions conducive to a resumption of meaningful negotiations, and encouraged Israel to take steps to ease the situation in Gaza," UN spokesman Martin Nesirky told reporters after the meeting.

The two-state solution, widely backed by the international community, means a secure Israel to live in peace with an independent Palestinian State.

Ban and the Israeli foreign minister also exchanged views on the regional situation, Nesirky said.

Israeli and Palestinian peace negotiators held a new round of talks two days before U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry's return to the region slated for Wednesday, a well-informed Palestinian source told Xinhua Tuesday.

Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat and his Israeli counterpart Tzipi Livni held another round of direct talks without achieving any progress due to the sticky question of Israeli settlement, the source said.

So far, more than 20 rounds of talks have already been held between the two sides since late July after a three-year halt. However, the talks have failed to achieve any substantial progress.

Since the talks restarted, the Israeli government has approved the construction of 6,000 units and demolished more than 129 Palestinian houses.

The negotiations, whose resumption was brokered by Kerry, are supposed to last nine months. They are expected to tackle several outstanding final-status issues. However, the Palestinians say that Israel focuses only on security issues and keeps expanding its settlements, making a future Palestinian state geographically non-contiguous.